Japanese Beetle

[Meowmie]

These things have invaded the U.S. and so far all anyone says to do is when you see the beetles put them in a dish with soapy water. That works fine, they can't get out and they die, but these things are prolific. We can fill a dish with them in a few hours and it makes no difference.

Does anyone have any ideas to get rid of these other than spending my life picking these off my plants?
Even if I go over my whole garden, they are at the tops of 50' trees, the tell tale lacy looking leaves falling to the ground.

I'd like to get my hands on the people that decided to introduce these pests here, claiming they would eat harmful pests. Turns out they don't and have no natural predators here, and they zap the plants and trees of their energy

 

[firelily99]

The main thing with Japanese beetles is to understand their life cycle. The beginning of the cycle are the grubs that are in the ground, especially in lawns. The stop the beetles is to stop the cycle or at least make it more manageable. Get yourself some grub killer and you eliminate a big part of the problem - no grubs, no Japanese beetles.

 

[Meowmie]

Thank you firelily, I ran right down to the garden center to get some grub killer They have 2 things that will work. One is full of chemicals and I am not willing to put in my garden.

The other is organic and safe, but it takes 3 years in the cycle for it to make a difference. I would have jumped at that one except in 3 years I plan to be living in Belize.

Looks like I am stuck hand picking them again this summer.

 

[Chuck]

Spray your valuable plants with Spinosad every 10 days until you break the cycle. Spinosad is totally organic and works on all kinds of pests.

 

[Meowmie]

Thanks, Chuck, I'll check for that. Something has to kill those obnoxious pests.

I see it has a moderate effect on honeybees. Not sure I want to kill off Japanese Beetles at the expense of honey bees. They are having a hard enough time surviving with all the GMO crops out there

 

[Chuck]

Thanks, Chuck, I'll check for that. Something has to kill those obnoxious pests.

I see it has a moderate effect on honeybees. Not sure I want to kill off Japanese Beetles at the expense of honey bees. They are having a hard enough time surviving with all the GMO crops out there

That all depends on what you are spraying. On self pollinating plants like tomatoes it will not hurt the bees. On plants like squash and cucumbers it will.

 

[Meowmie]

I have a large variety of crops growing in a pretty small area. Tomato leaves don't seem to be as tasty to the Japanese beetles as the other crops do, so not much point in spraying them and not the things they are eating up.

I'll continue to hand pick them off the plants when I can. Would love to get my hands on the idiots that brought them over here.

 

[Chuck]

I have a large variety of crops growing in a pretty small area. Tomato leaves don't seem to be as tasty to the Japanese beetles as the other crops do, so not much point in spraying them and not the things they are eating up.

I'll continue to hand pick them off the plants when I can. Would love to get my hands on the idiots that brought them over here.

I know this sounds crazy but try this. Go buy a bottle of the red Palmolive dish washng soap. The green bottle works but not as well as the red. It will have no effect on the bees and will not hurt tender plants, just don't spray directly on the bees or they will be DRT. This stuff seems to have a deterrent effect also. Squirt about 2 oz into a quart spray bottle and fill with water. My wife accidently found out the pesticide qualities of this stuff. I have been testing this on a variety of insects ( leaf footed stink bugs, flies, fleas, thrips, roaches, aphids, scorpions, wasps and others I can't remember) I have never seen anything like it. Stink bugs are fairly hard to kill but it will kill them dead in less than a minute. It will kill houseflies in mid-flight. It is death on bees if they come in direct contact with it but otherwise harmless to them. Oh, and it is an excellent dishwashing soap too.