Speaking of Those ROTTEN Japanese Beetles

I figure I have another couple weeks to deal with the main part of the Japanese beetle onslaught. They have really done in the top of one of my mountain ash trees, a favorite snack for the varmints. Right now, the seed balls are a brilliant orange and very pretty on the bottom of the mountain ash, but not so much at the top because of the eaten leaves.

They are also going after a wildflower, my burning bushes, and purple plum bushes. They also like my paper and river birches.

The best time to catch and kill the beetles is early in the morning and about two hours before nightfall. They are then settled in to eat or procreate for the night, and very sluggish. During the day time, they are very fast to get away.

I kill them either by smashing them with my fingers- very messy, or knocking them off into a pail with soap and warm water. This kills them very effectively. Just don't let too many accumulate as it gets very smelly after a couple days.

I must kill 300-500 or more every day. They either have successive hatchings or a lot of them fly over from the neighbors' homes. I mean, I'll completely kill off a group one day, and, the next day, they'll be back.

Last night, I tried a new way to kill them. Since water and soap does a good job, I loaded up my sprayer with a mix and sprayed them. I'll have to see if it worked later today. I probably will have to catch some and run a test in a controlled environment, though.

I Really HATE Those Japanese Beetles. --RoadDog