Easy Removal of Japanese Beetles

Easy Removal of Japanese Beetles

The best way to control Japanese Beetles is simple, effective, inexpensive and does not require the use of chemicals.  

It is early August and we thought perhaps we were going to have a year with very few Japanese Beetles devouring our roses and plant leaves.  No such luck.  They got a little bit of a late start here, but have arrived in large numbers once again.  Like all of you, I have struggled to find effective ways of controlling the Japanese Beetles but even the more effective methods are either time consuming, expensive or require chemicals.  And I have heard from even long time gardeners that they will NOT touch them to pluck them off!  I have just the thing for you!

Actually I saw my neighbor doing this and I love the method!  Like any other method, this is certainly not completely effective.  But you don’t have to touch the beetles to pluck them off.  You will not have to kill other beneficial bugs and pollinators.  You will not have to buy expensive organic controls or traps.  And the beetles are completely destroyed, unable to propagate or invite more friends to your garden.

Very simple.  Arm yourself with a zip lock back and head for the gardens.  Slip the bag over an infested bloom.

Make sure the top of the bag is held closed but it does not have to be zipped.  Most of the beetles just drop right of the bloom to the bottom of the bag.  Give the bloom a little tap or a shake and usually the stubborn ones will drop.  Sometimes a few will be deeply buried  into the bloom, just coax them out by poking at the bloom with the bag held closed.

Zip the bag closed and step on it!

Now just open the bag back up and go to the next bloom.  No need for another bag as long as you crush them after each collection.  Although I find they tend to just sit in the bottom of the bag anyway.  And I try to collect as many as I can, get away from the garden thinking about the release of pheromones, then go back for more.  I don’t know how long the pheromones (which is a beacon to friends to “come”) linger and whether they escape from the bag, which is why I pile up as many live ones as I can and get away from the garden before I crush them.

Perfect method for the squeamish.  And I have destroyed more Japanese Beetles with this method than any other I have tried.  Good Luck!