How do I get rid of Japenese Beetles?

[TN Traveler]

In May I finally broke down and bought a Kimberly Fern. I've sprayed, watered and babyed it for the last 2 mths. Then this weekend I noticed there were Japenese beetles all over it!! I know there is a spray I can get from the Co-op but wondering if any of you knew of something I could spray on the fern now before I get to the Co-Op. I'd rather use a natural spray instead of strong chemicals anyway. Any suggetions?

THANKS!

Karen aka TN Traveler

 

[Sandy22]

I don't know but I"m sure someone on the Flower and Garden could help.

 

[disynut]

I've never tried this but I've heard that Dawn dishwashing liquid(put in a spray bottle and sprayed on) works. It's probably mixed with water. I bet if you Googled Japanese beetles you'd probably come up with some ideas as well. Good luck! I hope they don't get my Kimberly's!!! I thought Japanese Beetles only got flowering plants!

 

[Bildmouse]

I've been using Ortho Rose & Flower spray and it has worked wonders. I decided I wasn't going to suffer through the lack of roses this year because of the JB.

 

[lewdyan1]

I don't know but I"m sure someone on the Flower and Garden could help.

Maybe you should post there...People were talking about something that was keeping critters away.

 

[aurora19]

Long term, you probably want to treat your lawn for grubs ('cuz that's where those beetles started out)

 

[TN Traveler]

disynut--thanks for the input about Dawn dishwashing liquid. I might try that and see what happens. I've also heard the Ortho Rose spray is good, Bildmouse, so may get that first chance I can. I'm one of these weird people that makes just 1 trip a week into town and then do all my running around in one shot. Today is my running around day but Wal-Mart is not on the list....maybe I should make it! We finally got some much needed rain from Dennis. I guess that has brought out the beetles and June Bugs b/c they're everywhere too!
Aurora19--thanks for the suggestion on treating my yard but I live on a 50 acre farm and surrounded by other 50+ acre farms...neighbor across the road owns 220 acres. Even if I treated my 1 acre yard, they'd come from other farms/yards so I don't know that would work much.
I'll check out the Flower and Garden section too. Happened to be in the Scrapping section and forgot about the other threads.
Thanks again to everyone. It's much appreciated!

Karen

 

[jennz]

Have you tried the bags? We put those out, the big ones from Wal-Mart and they were filled! Since you have a big yard you can put them away and draw them away from them. Once ours were filled and tossed I noticed a lot of those guys around. They creep me out!!

 

[TN Traveler]

My MIL used the bags a couple years ago and said they worked great for her. DH stopped at Co-Op on the way home this afternoon so we'll get rid of these little yucky buggers pretty soon!

Thanks again!
Karen

 

[UrsulasShadow]

The bags use pheromones to ATTRACT japanese beetles, so take great care to keep them FAR away from your plants, or else you'll be compounding the problem!
If you want to go low environmental impact, stay away from Ortho and go with a pyrethrin product, or a rotenone-pyrethrin combination powder. Still toxic, but short half-life in the environment.
Treat lawn for grubs, using environmentally-friendly products like Milky Spore or benficial nematodes (both can be gotten from GardensAlive!, some are available at your local nursery).
Hand pick the little suckers (yechhh, I know), or knock them into a bucket of soapy water and feed to your chickens (WHAT??? you don't have chickens????) or just throw them into your compost pile. Make compost of the nasty buggers!