Thank Japan for sending them to New Jersey as a present early in this century.
They sure have messed up our gardens.
A pretty metallic green, these 3/8" hard cased beetles, crawl out of the ground in May, fly up to 2 miles, to eat many of your plants in about 45 days.
And then die...if you don't kill them first...and feed them to the fish in your outdoor pond.
In case it is important, some folk call them jitterbugs although we don't know why.
Here is that list of the 10 most important Japanese Beetle things to know:
1. How to get rid of Japanese beetles naturally. Just plant some plants that repel them: catnip, rue, larkspur, cloves, garlic, tansy, and geranium.
These natural ways to rid your outdoor plants of Japanese beetles and prevent Japanese beetle damage and prevent additional damage have been used successfully for years by farmers.
2. How to prevent Japanese beetles...why not get some chickens and turn them loose.
3. To prevent Japanese beetles, you can put netting over your prized roses so they can't get to them.
4. To prevent Japanese beetles, you can treat your soil with insecticide.
5. To prevent Japanese beetles, why not leave dead Japanese beetles around, but not too many...because... rotting Japanese beetle bodies really smell bad...really bad. That is probably why the live Japanese beetles don't stick around very long.
6. NO COST TIP: To get rid of Japanese beetles, use your fingers to pick them off, one by one. This really works well. Drop the Japanese beetles in a can of soapy water or soap mixture, kerosene, or oil...or feed them to the catfish in your pond. Others say shake the plant before 7 AM (when the Japanese beetles are still half asleep and you should be as well) into your can of killing stuff to drown them.
7. To get rid of Japanese beetles, you can buy a lot of traps (more is better) and don't put them in your garden. Commercial traps, usually bags, use a virgin (sexual) beetle odor or a sweet fruit odor to attract Japanese beetles into a bag where they can't get out. Very effective...but...these traps attract more beetles to that area than if you...never put out the trap. So don't put the traps in the garden, put them in or close to your neighbors yard (of course we mean around the edge of yours).
8. NO COST TIP: To kill Japanese beetles, build a trap. Take a plastic soda bottle, cut the top, fill it with a water, sugar, rotten fruit, and yeast mixture and hang it from a tree. Works just like the retail models.
9. To spray to kill Japanese beetles, use soap and water spray, or insecticide soap spray Japanese beetles, or insecticide you can buy locally or on the internet.
10. Call a professional. The professionals have stronger strength insecticides that last longer...they have methods using biological control like fungi, parasites, nematodes...and other methods that you cannot purchase without a license. Look in your local phone directory or visit a pest control website on the internet for information on how to get rid of, kill, or prevent Japanese beetles.
