Re: Do birds eat japanese beetles?

**J* B* <j*@starband.net>**

I have mine in MI at 2 1/2 in spring and fall and 3 in summer.   
Anything over 2" allows the bene bugs to move in.

Jeff

On Apr 7, 2008, at 3:46 PM, margaret lauterbach wrote:

Thank you, sir.  By "tall lawn" do you mean 3" or taller?  We mow at
a height of 3" to shade hopeful weed seedlings.  Margaret L
> Margaret,
> The beetles jumped the big river almost a decade ago.  Starlings,
> those bothersome ugly pests, are among only a few songbirds that eat
> mature Japanese beetles.  Lots of other birds such as robins nosh on
> the grubs when they up close to the surface.  If a person has a lawn
> mowed tall and not hit with any broad spectrum pesticides in the last
> year, they will have a population of ants, spiders, and ground
> beetles living and eating throughout their lawn. When there is a
> decent population of those three groups of beneficial insects, all
> the eggs of any pest laying eggs in the turf will have 80% of those
> eggs consumed within two days; pretty good pest control in my mind.
> That includes Japanese beetles, sod webworms, bill bugs and others.
> I have a pretty complete file on this subject in my website at http://
> gardening.yardener.com/YardenersPlantProblemSolver/
> DealingWithPestInsects/PestInsectsInTheLawn/Grubs/
> PreventingGrubsNextYear
>
> Jeff Ball

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