japanese beetles

[Sheri Smith]

Help! Japanese beetles are feasting on my okra, cowpeas, strawberries and basil. I am using bag-o-bugs, and am picking them off by hand and putting them in a bucket with water, they die. But still they come. What can I do to organically deal with this nuisance. Also, I have some little black and yellow bugs on my amaranth, feasting?

[sherilyn]

Well, I guess no one can help me with my Japanese Beetle problem. If i come up with something I will post it this year!
Sheri

[dalah]

Help! Japanese beetles are feasting on my okra, cowpeas, strawberries and basil. I am using bag-o-bugs, and am picking them off by hand and putting them in a bucket with water, they die. But still they come. What can I do to organically deal with this nuisance. Also, I have some little black and yellow bugs on my amaranth, feasting?
you can repel Japanese beetles by growing soybeans, and odorless marigold,by growing among your affected plants, though I don't know where to get the latter. Also I read that oak leaves can help keep them at bay too.If you have access to enough of them then I would use them as a mulch.
And, to make an organic spray for your plants, finely chop around 4 HOT peppers or put them in a food proccessor, along with like six cloves of garlic. put this in a pint of water with 4 tablespoons dish liquid and strain. Dilute to 1 part of your pepper stuff, to 10 parts water and spray on plants. I've never tried this, but I heard it works well. I

[lovetogarden]

Japanese beetles all but destroyed my soybeans this year. Is there a particualr variety of soybean they do not like?

I think picking them off is your best bet. One year I bought the pherome traps
that supposedly lure the beetles into a bag where they cannot get out. Not only did I still have my beetles, but the trap must have invitied the rest of the japanese beetles in the state to come munch in my garden. Big mistake on my part. Thats why I prefer to quietly pick them off and drown them in soapy water.

[tabitha]

i have no specific experience, but it seems DE would work. yk, diatomaceous earth? i would try it in an atomizer type powder applicator.

wood ashes are also a good thing to powder plants with.

[lovetogarden]

I question if DE would control Japanese beetle adults becuase they are flying insects. I do believe they contol the pest at the grub stage.

[strmywthr3]

I have heard that 4 o'clocks are poisionous to japanese beetles. They are attracted to the plant, but die after eating it. I plan on planting some near my garden to see if it helps.

[GreenZone]

Milky spore diease used to be considered organic. Is it still? It's supposed to be very effective against the little blighters.
--Randel

[strmywthr3]

I believe milky spore disease is still considered organic. I also plan on using it this year too. since it's not an immediate control, I'm going to try the 4 o'clocks with it.

[dalah]

I don't know if there is any one particular variety of soybean, i've never tried it, thats a remedy I read. I'm still going to try it. what variety of soybeans did you grow?

[rjzatyko@yahoo.com]

hi,you are right the traps do draw the japnese beetles from the whole state,get rid of your traps,i have heard that garlic helps to keep them down,that is all i know about the subject. richard from ky.

[Timeless Rogue]

Yes, garlic works as does onions ... as a companion plant. Believe it or not, white geraniums and rue are also offensive to Japanese beetles. You can plant any of them as a border in areas that have been infested. The spray may work also, though I haven't tried it myself. Bring in some lady beetles if you don't have them already ... they will help keep any number of pests under control.

IF you use traps, set them AWAY from your garden ... using them in the garden will continue to attrack the little buggers!

[bmarkham]

I had a bit of a japanese beetle problem with my beans year before last and wireworms kept eating my radishes ... so last spring I watered both milky spore disease and parasitic nematodes into my entire yard; then put japanese beetle traps on the opposite side of the yard from my garden. Last year - I hardly saw a japanese beetle and my wireworm problem was gone too. My mole problem decreased significantly as well - so it all seems to have worked.

Yes - my flyswatter weighs 8 pounds. (*grin*)

[SunflowerMeg]

Milky spore sounds like your best bet. I've read a hundred articles and that's always the first recommendation. I also had Japanese beetle problems on my raspberries, and never could get them under control, since I had very close neighbors who weren't going to treat their lawns (luckily, I don't have close neighbors anymore). I HAD (past tense) a small raspberry patch and kept oak leaves as a mulch and they sure didn't stop the beetles, so I'm thinking the leaves don't work. I always started the season out with picking them off, but eventually gave up. It never really stopped the raspberry production; just made the patch look pathetic. I don't even know if I'm going to plant raspberries here at the new place; I don't want to get the attention of the beetles. However, there are climbing roses everywhere and the beetles really love those too. :cool:

[sweetpea]

Maybe the soybeans work as a trap plant? Maybe they'll eat the soybeans and leave everything else alone.

Every year I say I'm going to use milky spore, and every year I don't. It takes about a year to see results, I understand, and if your neighbors don't use it, then it is wasted effort.

Thankfully, the last two years they haven't been as bad here, but still bad enough to ruin almost every rose blossom I have, as well as about everything else in the garden. This year I have used Bayer rose drence, so we'll see. The drench hasn't affected the aphids on the roses, though, so I may be using poison for nothing.

This is my first post! Hi, everyone!