Plant non-target species in your yard and garden.Īmerican chestnut, American elm, linden, American mountain ash, apple, birch, black cherry, echinacea, flowering crab-apple, grapes, hollyhock, horse chestnut, lawns/grass, Norway Maple, plum, roses, walnut.Īmerican elder, white cedar, black oak, box elder, common lilac, euonymus, fir, green ash, hemlock, holly, juniper, pine, red maple, red oak, rhododendron, scarlet oak, silver maple, spruce, white ash, white oak, white poplar, yew. This is 'Milky Spore Powder- How It' Applied- St.Apply milky spore in August when grubs are close to the soil surface and actively feeding.Do not dump bucket until the beetles are dead. Knock beetles off into bucket of water and allow them to drown. Be sure not to mow the lawn until you’ve completed this step.

(It will look like a grid pattern when you’re finished.) Next, water in the spore so it can reach the grubs in the soil. When the adults emerge in June, go out in the dark with a bucket of soapy water to areas of suspect invasion. Apply one teaspoon of milky spore powder to your turf or garden every four feet in rows four feet apart.

Apply beneficial nematodes when the soil temps are above 45 degrees F and ensure soil is kept moist for the weeks following.

Used in combination with other biological control agents and mechanical tools, success will be observed readily. Milky spore is best used as part of a complete management strategy that employs more than one method of control. Management Strategies for Japanese Beetles The grubs must ingest the spore for it to be effective. Water in the spore so that the material penetrates the soil, working its way down to where the juvenile grubs are feeding on the root system. This means you usually only need to apply milky spore once.įor a more targeted approach, apply milky spore powder around the base of infected plants. The spore reproduces itself by several billion in a short period of time and the effectiveness can last up to 10 years. Once the host is dead, the spores contained inside are released as the body decomposes. The gaps in between application lines will be inoculated naturally as the grubs ingest the spore and it reproduces inside the host body, killing it within 7-21 days. Apply one teaspoon of milky spore powder to your turf or garden every four feet in rows four feet apart. It is very easy to apply using a commercial dust dispenser or a similar, homemade device. Milky spore is readily available online, and at many garden centers.

Tips on applying milky spore powder