Go out in the early morning when the dew is still fresh. Take a plastic cup with a lid, with some soapy water inside. An old margarine or sour cream, etc. cup will work great.

They are weak and wet and can't fly much if at all then. Knock 'em in the cup. Repeat as necessary. 10 minutes each morning will put a serious dent in their population and keep the ones you catch from laying eggs that will turn into grubs that eat your roots and come out again next year.

Long term, research solutions like milky spore to kill the grubs before they hatch. More info at the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Managing the Japanese Beetle

My favorite method for killing Japanese beetles is what I call "the hand of God." Which means this big hand (mine) reaching down from on high to smite the evildoers.

But I've been amused by how gardening has changed my "squish standards." Time was I'd slap a mosquito and that's about it. These about the only bug I won't moosh with my fingers is a tomato hornworm. Some of those little suckers have a pint of juice inside.

Eeeewwww.

Ed

When I was young, a neighbor used to pay me a penny each to knock them off her elderberry bushes into a little tin cup of kerosine. It worked for both of us ;-)

Beetle Traps

They work very well, and you won't have to put anything on your plants. You probably ought to pick off the ones that are already on in case they don't notice the traps. I use Ortho traps. If you place them where the breeze will blow the scent towards your plants, pretty soon you will have a whole bag of the little buggers.

Fortunately, the JB's don't do much harm to the okra. They mainly seem interested in the flowers...which makes them easy to trap by hand.

The problem with those (Ortho) traps is that when word gets out every JB across 4 counties descend on them at once. IF I was going to use them, I'd place them far away from the plants I'm trying to protect. If you have lots of beetles they would overwhelm just one trap. And stink!!!!! ewwwww...

This year I'm going to try a homemade trap I read about recently. The recipe is below.
Of course, you still have to deal with the stink.

Here is a link that might be useful: Homemade traps

Most of the gardeners I talk to who have used the traps say they end up with more beetles than they've ever seen and believe it attracts too many. If you use a trap, put it several hundred feet from your garden.

I was having a big problem with these also about 2 weeks ago. I was having to hand pick them off all thru the day which became very tedious fast.

I went and bought one of the Japanese Beetle traps that hang on a pole and Viola. I *might* have to pick 1 or 2 off a plant each day but nothing like before. The bag gets full and I constantly see the beetles hovering over it. Works wonderful so far:)

I wasn't sure about using them at first because I didn't want to attract more beetles but it was pretty bad already so I figured I had nothing to lose. I had to do something and am so glad it has worked out so well:)

Gardencafe, how often do you have to empty/change the bag? Please let me know how it works for you over the summer. People that I've talked to say that a single trap isn't enough to keep up with the hoards of JB trying to get in.

I researched this recently because I've had serious JB problems in the past...particularly on fruit trees. I considered milky spore and nematodes but then I hear people say that even those didn't work. (and those are very expen$ive options) I thought about buying a half doz traps and placing them in the open field across the road from me.

Last year, thankfully, they weren't as bad as they usually are and I dread the thought of attracting more than I can handle.

Hi Peggy:)

I usually change the bag every 4 days. The box said to change it at 5 days so the beetles aren't repelled by the odor of dead beetles. I like to change it when the bottom part of the bag is about half full though.

I am afraid of going to that 5th day and the 'lure disk' luring them to my yard but then they are repelled by the scent of the dead bettles and head straight for my garden:(

This is my 1st year growing veggies but I know the traps worked wonders when I used to grow insane amounts of flowers:)

I will post as the summer goes on if the trap continues to do the job of keeping them away from the garden.
My garden is rather small so I just have one trap set 30 feet downwind of the garden. I think the field across the road would be a great option if you chose that route. Cut them off before they get to your house:)

I broke down this year and got a trap too, it does fill up but it doesn't appear to make any difference on my grape vines and hazelnut trees. I also stopped using the pan of soapy water trick as these buggers get used to seeing me coming and over 50% of them fly off just to return a few minutes later (although they won't fly away if it's almost dark after sunset). This year I'm using a liquid concentrate of rotenone/pyrethum mix, one teaspoon in a Qt sprayer gets them all. They don'y fly off since I don't get too close and they don't seem to mind getting wet until it's too late. I'm racking them up daily with that mix, but like locusts they are in hordes here.

The Japanese Beetles that attack my nectarines are too fast to catch by hand, but I like to go out with a tennis racquet and try to hit home runs by sending them sailing over the side fence when I see one flying in for a meal. Makes the most pleasing splat sound.

I have some things that draw the beetles....plum leaves, peaches, wild grape vines [a barrier to field spraying], hibiscus, roses, red raspberries, and such.

So I draw beetles and have some experience under my belt. You hear the knee jerk answer, "Don't use traps". Well, it absolutely depends on your circumstances, see? I Hand pick, trap, and also use liquid Sevin on the wild grape vines and the soybeans down the road where they gather on the first 10 rows beside the roadside grass.
3 or 4 years ago I trapped 90 bags and surely reduced the excess population a bit. Now I want to get them at the very outset before they lay eggs.
Yes, I have used Milky Spore and it all is relaitive to your circumstances how well that works for you and how wide an area you are able to treat.

Thanks Gardencafe, I may try the traps and see if that helps. Like Wayne, I have fruiting trees, grapes, berries etc and the JB's love em!

It cracks me up to hear of changing trap bags every 4 days instead of 5. I fill multiple traps to overflowing in a day! But the traps do work fairly well at attracting the beetles to the giant wisterias, which grow so much the beetles are almost performing service by eating them.

I have none in my garden or (surprise!) on my peach trees.

Since I started my morning hand trap expeditions, I am seeing a lot less damage. Much easier than when we were kids and tried to catch them with gasoline traps in the middle of the day.

I have heard - but have not tried - that if you take a bunch of dead beetles, put them in a blender and spray your plants with the beetle goo, the smell of the dead beetles will repel live ones from your protected plants.