Japanese Beetles.. They're driving me crazy right now, too. I have been going out several times per day, hand picking them off, and dropping them into a cup of soapy water. I also sprayed all my beans and okra with neem oil. That has helped. They're not completely gone, but their numbers have been reduced.

Like others have said I just walk around flicking them into a bucket of soapy sudsy water. But some people have to deal with a much worse infestation of them then I get. Now that you know what they are you can just Google 'Japanese beetle control' for all sorts of information on them.

Dave

PS: great photo!

fortunerose_6a, do you use Neem on all vegetable plant leaves? I have never used Neem and am unsure if it would be harmful to my pea leaves (as shown above).

I worry it might take me quite some time to pick all the beetles off by hand, but at least I would know it worked, opposed to the Neem.

Can anyone tell me if I need to worry about these beetles laying eggs (meaning, a future generation of these beetles later in the season), or am I likely to see a drastic drop in this problem one I get rid of the beetles I have spotted thus far?

thank you all

"Can anyone tell me if I need to worry about these beetles laying eggs (meaning, a future generation of these beetles later in the season), or am I likely to see a drastic drop in this problem one I get rid of the beetles I have spotted thus far?"

They lay eggs in lawns which hatch into grubs and turn into adults the following year. The grubs can be destructive to lawns and the adults, well, you can see how destructive they are. Chances are the beetles will get worse in the upcoming week or two before they subside.

Rodney

I do use neem oil on a lot of my plants for various reasons. It can cause a bit of burn what with the combo of the oil and the touch of soap in the mix if the following day is sunny. So, I make sure I spray in the evening, and preferably an evening where the following day is going to be more cloudy. However, there have been times where I've just needed to get the mix onto the plants and if the next day is sunny, it has created some burn patching on some of the leaves. However, nothing that has permanently damaged or created a harvest problem.

They are here in western Missouri in larger numbers than I have seen before but I don't think anywhere near what those further east experience. I saw a couple doing the wild thing on my Asparagus last evening and had to interrupt them mid coitus :). I hope my resident moles take care of the grubs over the winter rather than eating all of the earth worms out of my garden beds.

Also pulled the first big fat Horn Worm off of my Tomatoes last night. I suspected I had one last weekend because I saw it's scat on some leaves but I could not spot it until last night. I usually don't find them until late July here.

If you have more than you can pick off, get a trap with dual pherenes and set it about 75 foot upwind of your garden. Service the trap daily and dump dead beetles on pavement...down wind of you.

In my garden, Japanese beetles seem to prefer only basil and snap bean leaves. They were also pretty dumb and easy to catch with gloved fingers, so I collected them by hand and fed them to the hens. (You could pinch them and put them in a birdfeeder, if no hens? The ladies love these so much, I'm sure they're candy to any bird.)

It took a week of twice-daily beetle patrols, but they seem to be gone now. And they're still all over the wild grapevines in the hedgerow between my field and the neighbors', so I don't think it's a season thing--I think I had an actual victory.

They were pretty squidgy, though, so if you do choose to handpick I cannot recommend gloves highly enough.

When using Neem, do you avoid spraying any vegetables or do you just have to carefully wash the vegetables which got Neem on them?

Ha I learned a new word today...'squidgy'!

My hens really like the fat horn worms and when I throw one in their run it turns into a game of horn worm football with the rest of the flock chasing around the hen that happens to have the 'ball' at the moment.

I picked a few Jap beetles off of my Asparagus last night as well as some Gus beetles. I am going on vacation for a few days soon and hope that the numbers don't increase while I am away.

The neem oil actually isn't toxic. (as long as you're using actual pure neem oil and not the concoctions from the stores) Some use it for beauty products as well as ingesting it. I just wash down the veggies from the garden as usual. It won't hurt ya at all :-)