Japonese beetles

[LIBRA]

AHHHHH!!! They are taking over, quickly too! Anyone have any tips besides picking every last one of those plant eating buggers of each and every plant? Ugh.

[Unkle_John]

I read a letter in MEN from this guy who had a problem with them.
He used chickens until they (the beetles) had a population explosion. What he did was buy pheromone traps (they come in a bag variety, like the fly traps). What he did after the bag was full was freeze the beetles for 24 hours and then fed them to the catfish in his pond (they love em!). I've worked with pheromone traps before (when I worked for the Dept of Ag). They are safe to use, trust me.

[StellaBlue]

The only problem with the traps is that they attract even more beetles than you would normally have. You could spray your plants with soapy water. There are certain plants that they really love too. They destroy my shasta daisy about every year. I kind of spaced spraying it this year, but I better get out there, I found the first beetle of the summer this afternoon when I went to take my laundry off the line. Little buggers.

[Shydog]

AHHHHH!!! They are taking over, quickly too! Anyone have any tips besides picking every last one of those plant eating buggers of each and every plant? Ugh.
Make it a game, it's more fun to catch them and feed them to the ducks. Like a duck on a June bug. Simply throw beetles into the water, they get stuck, the ducks delight in the feast. Maybee next year. By the way, duck eggs make excellent noodles.