Garden for your Fresh Vegetables

What do you do for Japanese beetles?

Set out Japanese beetle traps although, we keep them far from the garden.. Set them at the corners of the lot to draw the beetles away from the garden.. If you find beetles on your plants, in the morning when they are slow moving a bucket of soapy water held under the plant and shake them into the bucket.. Pick the other few off in the evening when doing any garden work..This is just what we do try to combat them.

Anyone else have a remedy  ?? 

Thanks KPaul but if you think that was funny check out "My Feedbag Blues" on the laughter thread.

Japanese Beatles come from grub worms. Treat your lawn for them in the early spring. 

Yes, you can use Grubex. A solution yes, but, Grubex will kill anything that moves... This means earthworms and, any other beneficial bugs. We have tried to stay chemical free with no applications to our lawn for 3 years, (the amount of time we have owned this property).

My Father use to pay a lawn service in his neighborhood, Noblesville (The Wellingtons) everyone wants a green lawn there. He is retired now and said that lawn service is not in their budget, he has used Grubex the last few years and still had millions of Japanese Beetles. The other problem is of course that unless your neighbors all apply Grubex too, the Japanese Beatles will just fly over from their yards into your.

Thanks for your addition Braveheart, do you think you can talk to the Captain Jack next time he has the Wife clean his stalls and bring a load of Crap our way.

One can of Coke,One cup of Ammonia,1/4 cup of dish soap. Spray lawn once a month. Keeps grass green and grubs away.

Yes, Caffeinate, Wake up, & Keep the bugs clean..

Just J/K'n

This is a great suggestion Braveheart, a much Greener Organic approach. Less chemical on your lawn.. I would think the Sugars in the coke help to feed the lawn, the Ammonia a source of nitrogen to help green the grass, the dish soap works as a catalyst & helps to adhere the spray to the grass & bugs, their bodies disagree with the PH values in the detergent.

I have also read where you can add mouthwash to help kill the unwanted bugs.

Thank you again for your addition, great post..

Maybe our Advanced Master Gardener PatriotDan will drop in and help with comments on more Organic, chemical free lawn sprays. Always glad to have a experts opinion to learn from.

That sounds like a fine idea!!

Yup, encourage your neighbor 6 houses down to put beetle traps up. Those things draw them from far away. Also if you have a small wooded lot in the area you could hang the traps there too.

I agree with this. Gubex kills everything and is the equivillant of bio-nuking your lawn. If grubs are so thick you can't move without killing a 100 or so then it might well be the right product for you. Otherwise go with something less harmful. Milky Spore will do the trick and is much more selective. In the end though, beyond keeping your own grass in better shape, the things that the grubs turn into will not show any impact by your efforts. Japanese beetles have a range measured in miles. Honestly, a whole neighborhoods efforts would be evident early in the season but as beetles from outside the area discovered the neighborhood it would end up being just as bad.

I have not heard about this. I will have to see what I can find!