Controlling Japanese Beetles
Tuesday July 7, 2009
Someone mentioned the other day that they hadn't seen any Japanese Beetles yet this year. Could it be they weren't going to be a problem this summer? No such luck. They're back and just about getting into their cycle of feeding, mating and laying eggs.
There may be less of them, though. Maybe all those jars of soapy water are starting to pay off. We will never get rid of them entirely, but you can take steps to keep the adult population of Japanese beetles under control. Here's what's recommended for controlling Japanese beetles in your garden.
Photo: © Marie Iannotti
Comments
Used to have millions of japanese beetles in my yard every summer; traps, soapy water, sprays, nothing worked. Some years ago, we lost a lot of our bird population due to west nile virus and the beetle population exploded. I put up a bird feeder and eventually the birds came back. Robins, starlings, cardinals all eat these beetles and for 3 years now I have not had a problem, just a bunch of fat little birds in my yard now.
That’s a great tip. It’s amazing how much birds can eat. The beetles were a little late arriving in my yard this year, probably because we had so much rain. I hope the birds haven’t ruined their appetites.
Those critters showed up early on here in the 9 zone and I was trying to figure out what they were while taking photos of them mating and such. They are all gone now, and I am assuming the birds have taken care of them. I am wondering if the little black beetle(size maybe a 1/2 carat) are the offspring?
Rita, the female Japanese beetle burrows into the ground to lay her eggs. These hatch into yucky grubs, which will feed on the roots of your grass through most of August. (That’s why it’s a good time to treat your lawn for grubs, if they’re a major problem.)
The grubs pupate and burying themselves further underground for the winter and emerge as lovely, iridescent adults in June or July, to start the cycle all over again.
So the black beetle is something else and it may not be harmful to your plants at all. There are an awful lot of beetles out there.
These beetles are going CRAZY this year! Any way to get rid of them?
Do you mean other than the ones I wrote about in the article?