Control Japanese Beetles

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Trust me when I say I wish this wasn’t a blog post I was compelled to write, but ever since we moved into this house and experienced our first summer with Japanese Beetles, they have been my nemeses ever since! From what I’ve heard, not everyone is affected by these disgusting little black and green beetles, but here in Iowa and the Midwest, we sure are…

Now, I’m not an expert on bugs by any means, but from what I understand, Japanese Beetles start out underground as grubs. So...if you want to have any chance at fighting them, you first need to be treating your lawn for grubs. While you’re at it, encourage your neighbors to treat as well. The beetles will travel miles for tasty food, so they’ll surely make the trek from your neighbor’s yard to yours, if you have better plants and flowers.

Even if you don’t have a lot of landscaping, you’re going to want to treat for the grubs because while they’re living and growing underground, they will eat the root system to your grass…basically killing it.We learned that the really hard way…

Ok, so we’ve covered the grub situation. Other than that, there’s really no way to totally kill or eliminate the beetles (that I can find anyway), so we do our best to control them. The first thing I’d suggest is keep a rough estimate in mind of when they start to arrive in your yard. For us, they start coming on pretty hot and heavy around the first or second week inJuly. You might see a few a little earlier than that, though. Those are called “scouts,”and they are on a mission to find food and send out pheromones to call in more beetles. So, if you can kill the scouts, that helps to lessen the number of beetles that will be attracted to your yard.

Along those lines, two things I do to get rid of the beetles is to 1. Keep containers of water by all of my beds so I can easily pick the bugs off and toss them in to die!!!  and 2. Leave the dead bugs in there. They will start to stink, but that smell will deter other Japanese Beetles from coming around. It’s not foolproof, like many of the tricks I’ll share, but every little bit counts. One thing you don’t want o do is squish the bugs. That will release their pheromones and still attract more bugs.

Some people say to add dish soap to the water, but I don’t think that part is necessary. The beetles drown and can’t get out of the water, so I don’t see a reason to use it. However, something else that is helpful when the beetles are super active (especially so on sunny days, morning to mid-afternoon), is to spray them with a soapy water mixture, NEEM OIL, or an essential oil blend (they hate anything from the mint family). None of these things will kill them, but they will make it hard for the beetles to fly away and easier for you to pick off and add to your dish of water.

One thing to consider is that on cloudy days, they don’t fly as much, so they will hunker down and go to town on your plants even more than usual. They can do so much destruction in a small amount of time, especially in large groups. I have been diligent about going out several times a day since the beetles have arrived to pick them off the plants. I know not everyone hast his kind of time, so MESH NETTING can be very effective in keeping the beetles off your plants as well. This would obviously be a commitment and you’d need stakes + the netting, but it will help save the integrity of your plants and flowers! 

There is a pretty long, yet specific list of plants that Japanese Beetles are attracted to, yet I’ve found they love my ZINNIA, basil, roses, ferns, hydrangea, anything sweet smelling, those with white flowers. So, you can either not plant those things (how sad), plant some tribute plants that you know will be eaten while saving your others, and/or fight the good fight, trying to destroy as many beetles as you can. The Japanese Beetles won’t kill your plants, but they “lace” the leaves making them turn brown and look ugly for the rest of the growing season.

There are some plants like geraniums that have a paralyzing effect on the beetles. They lure them in and a chemical in the plant paralyzes them making them easy to pick off or for birds to grab off as a snack. I always plant geraniums and have had lots of success using them! Next year, we are going to incorporate them more into the garden area, where I have a large bed of ZINNIA, to help control them.

My last tip is to make your yard hospitable to birds. Birds eat bugs!! Again, they won’t eliminate the problem, but they can make it a lot better! We love the BIRDFY SOLAR VIDEO BIRD FEEDER to attract birds and provide us unlimited entertainment!

I wish I had better news about completely eliminating the Japanese Beetles, but it is what it is, as they say. Getting the grubs in our lawn has made a tremendous difference in the beetles we are seeing, I believe. Also, staying diligent in checking the beds often. The other thing I would say is keep the things you need to dispose of the beetles right by your flowerbeds. They’re not pretty, but I keep neem spray and containers of water by most of my zinnia patches because I want to be able to pick the bugs off asap. They are surprisingly smart and will fly away or tuck and roll to the ground beforeyou can get to them.

Just to refresh…

How to Control Japanese Beetles:

-Treat your lawn for grubs (these turn into beetles).

-Learn when they generally arrive in your lawn, so you know when to be ready to combat them and will have the tools you need on hand.

-Keep containers of water to toss the bugs into by all your trouble spots.

-Leave the dead bugs in the water-the smell will help deter other beetles from coming

-Find a spray you like to apply to the beetles before picking them off. Soapy water, NEEM OIL, and essential oil mixes all work.

-Use MESH NETTING to cover your affected plants.

-Learn what plants attract/don’t attract the beetles and plant accordingly.

-Plant geraniums. They have a paralyzing effect on them, making them easier to pick off.

-ATTRACT BIRDS to your yard to help eat the beetles.

I hope these tips and tricks are helpful to you in fighting the good fight against the dreaded Japanese Beetles. Every year that we’ve been in this house, I feel like we’ve gotten a little better at handling them. One thing I didn’t mention to deal with them are the pheromone bags/traps. We used them one year and I heard so many conflicting stories about how good they are vs. how they just attract more to your yard. I decided then that I probably wouldn’t use them again, but I know lots of folks swear by them!

Do you have any tried-and-true methods for combatingJapanese beetles? I’d love to hear!

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