How to Survive the attack of the Japanese Beetle!

Have you ever seen metallic, Japanese beetles attacking your flowers, trees, pool and maybe even you? This is a common problem for many people being how these beetles are attracted to over 300 types of trees and many different types of flowers such as roses. These beetles can destroy your crops and shrubbery. They originated in New Jersey in 1916 and adjusted to the climate and infested the areas surrounding. These beetles are often found in pools as well. If you still don’t know the beetles I’m referring to, maybe this will spark a memory, Japanese beetles are notorious for flying into your hair and inhabiting it until you unpleasantly come across them! Now I’m sure you remember. It’s clear that these beetles are pests and its time to get them off of your trees and plants and stop skimming them out of your pool and stop pulling them out of your hair, its time to get rid of them!

Do your trees and plants often get eaten to death by these pests? There are many simple ways to put an end to their harmful lifestyle!

One approach you can take is insecticides. There are many insecticides that can be used, such as:

–         acephate

–         carbaryl

–         malathion

–         methoxychlor

–         rotenone

–         bendiocarb

–         isofenphos

–         chlorpyrifos

–         diazinon

If these all sounded like gibberish to you, no worries! You can have a professional take care of it for you or you can simply take a different route.

Another approach that can help rid you of these beetles is a more organic one. You can:

–         Purchase nematodes, they will feed on the grubs and eliminate them. Let the food chain take its course! (by the way, grubs are the larvae form of the beetles.  They live below the surface of your lawn, and emerge as yes…a beetle!)

–         You can also purchase milky spores which are also insects, and when the milky spores are ingested by the grub, they will eliminate the grub as well.

–         Lastly, you can spray them with a garlic mixture spray. They hate garlic so this will keep them away. The spray is made by using up two cloves of garlic and a hot pepper in a pint of water. Strain, add a drop each of liquid Ivory soap and vegetable oil & spray on plants early in the morning. This will keep the beetles away naturally, versus using chemicals.

–         You can also plant flowers and trees that the beetles aren’t attracted to such as: Most evergreen ornamental such as fir, arborvitae, spruce, pine, hemlock and rhododendron are not attacked. The beetle also does not like lilac, magnolia, holly, euonymus, dogwood, boxwood and red maple. Resistant flowers include ageratum, snapdragon, columbine, begonia and yucca. Resistant vegetables are onions, rutabaga, cauliflower, red pepper, lettuce, tomato and parsley. Plating these next to your plants that attract the beetles will help to keep them away!

Well now that you have some ideas, you just have to choose what the right idea is for you! Good luck with getting rid of these beetles!!