It's War!! Japanese Beetles!

Last summer was the first summer living here.. I brought many flower pots filled with flowers, and my yard became the invasion of japanese beetle. They killed most of my lawn, and i did use a grub killer last summer after i noticed the damage.
This yr, its not as bad, but bad enough.. Ive laid down grub killer and have sprayed with SEVIN.. i really hate this things..
There are too many to just pick off to put in a bucket of soapy water.

What else can i do to rid my yard of these pests?
Neighbors do nothing around here, but i do want to reduce my population or send them elsewhere.

This is pretty complete info. Fortunately, Texas, at the moment, does not have them. It is only a matter of time.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/pub_phjbeetle04.pdf

Terri,
My 8 year old daughter and I just did an experiment with the Japanese Beetles. Instead of knocking them off into a bowl of soapy water, simply put dish detergent in a spray bottle with water and it seemed to have worked. All the beetles we sprayed died and fell off the rose bush. Of course, we stomped them for good measure!

They aren't hard to kill once you get your hands on them, but when they're covering a twenty foot tree, well, ain't much to do. You can hear munching from the tree, and their frass is always falling. Yuk.

Oh, I'm so, so, so, sick of Japanese Beetles this year!!!! I knock them off into soapy water, but cannot reach the top of the trees or climbing roses. I'm going to try the spray option. Thank you, indiana_lil.

Linda, also from PA

I have heard that planting Rue alongside your plants will deter Japanese Beetles especially amongst roses.

Next Spring start putting milky spore powder on your lawn to get rid of them.

4'oclocks are also supposed to be a bait plant for the JB's, like the Rue.

This message was edited Jul 11, 2006 4:09 PM

I did some reading on milky spore.. it takes a couple of yrs for it to build up and really work..
to be honest, i just want the things GONE. I will say, last yrs grub killing really helped.. The beetle population is less, but there are still quite alot of them around.
I knew i was going to get them again. When i would dig in the spring, i saw plenty of grubs in the soil, and killed what i could..
Im hoping using the grub killer this yr will help immensely, and i may start the milky spore next spring, when i hope to have a much better handle on these pesky bugs.

I wonder if making a tincture or hydrosol out of rue and spraying this on the plants would help keep them away until milky spore helps.

This is probably off the wall, but I remember reading that you can knock them off into soapy water then BLEND them in the blender, strain them (nylon hose would do) and spray the plants the resulting elixir of dead cousins. I think I tried it once but didn't get as far as blending. UGH, but I am ready now!

Also, what about spinkling cayenne pepper on the leaves, or putting hotsauce in water and spraying that.

Today, I poured the dead beetles and water over the leaves and it did seem to help a bit.

Does Sevin help? liquid or dust?

GLOR,
Agreed re: off the wall, lol.

Best;
blue

Gloriag,

Sevin kills them very effectively. A spray mix is best. You can use the squirt plastic sprays bottles. Some people have an issue with using Sevin, but sometimes and some places there is no other viable option when tens of thousands descend on you in one day. I too get no help and have trapped about 400,000 in the last 4 years. Course, some wise guy always says that's a no-no, but they have not walked in my shoes. When you have acres to defend, Milky Spore is ....well pricey and very much work to cover all that area.