Does buring jap beetletraps full of beetles, kill them or just return them to the cycle??

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Under only favourable conditions, a trap will capture only about 75 percent of the beetles that approach it. Because the traps actually attract more beetles than they capture it may put your garden at risk from a serious infestation. The traps if used should be put at the borders of your property, away from plants the beetles may damage. Traps are more effective when many of them are spread over an entire community. Traps should not stay in place year 'round because the lures inside get stale. Trap placement should be timed to coincide with the emergence of adult Japanese beetles in your area. Adults generally emerge between early June and late August. But even so the capture of this many beetles in these traps does not signifcantly reduce the population and so makes them ineffective.

Burying the beetles may or may not return them to the cycle. If you bury them with the plastic bag some have been known to chew through the material and the female can lay the eggs on the soil where the larva will eventually feed. Its best to ensure that all the beetles are dead, and then you will attain the benefit of nutrients to your compost and dead and decomposing beetles may repel the beetles.

I do not personaly agree with chemical control of the Japanese Beetle with pesticides. When used improperly, insecticides can pose serious hazards to people, wildlife, and the environment. There is also increasing concern about the fate of insecticides in the environment and the potential for pesticide runoff to cause water contamination. Because of these concerns, scientists believe that biological control agents are preferable to pesticides in the suppression of turf insects.

Biological methods to control Japanese beetle populations can successfully use parasites, nematodes, fungi, or other biologically based approaches. While they take a little longer to produce the same results as insecticides, biological control agents last longer in the environment. More importantly, they do not adversely affect nontarget or potentially beneficial organisms.

Nematodes--Insect-eating nematodes--microscopic parasitic roundworms--actively seek out grubs in the soil. These nematodes have a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with a single species of bacteria. Upon penetrating a grub, the nematode inoculates the grub with the bacteria. The bacteria reproduce quickly, feeding on the grub tissue. The nematode then feeds on this bacteria and progresses through its own life cycle, reproducing and ultimately killing the grub.

The two nematodes that are most effective against Japanese beetle grubs are Steinernema glaseri and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora. The latter is commercially available.

When using nematodes, remember they are alive and have a fairly high oxygen requirement. They are typically sold on a carrier, which they can survive on for a month or 2 under cool conditions. They can be applied with any standard insecticide applicator. Once mixed with water, nematodes must be applied fairly quickly. Follow accompanying directions carefully for best results.

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)--Bt is a naturally occurring soil bacterium typically used as a microbial insecticide. The Bt strain registered for the Japanese beetle is for use on the grub stage only. Bt is a stomach poison and must be ingested to be effective. Apply it to the soil as you would insecticides. Effectiveness is similar to that of insecticides.

Milky Spore--Milky spore is the common name for spores of the bacterium Bacillus popillae. This bacterium was first registered for use on turf in suppression of the Japanese beetle grub in the United States in 1948. Upon ingestion, these spores germinate in the grub's gut, infect the gut cells, and enter the blood, where they multiply. The buildup of the spores in the blood causes the grub to take on a characteristic milky appearance. Milky spore disease builds up in turf slowly (over 2-4 years) as grubs ingest the spores, become infected, and die, each releasing 1-2 billion spores back into the soil. Milky spore disease can suppress the development of large beetle populations. But it works best when applied in community-wide treatment programs.