Does anyone have a home remedy for killing Japanese Bettles??

Question

I discovered the infestation probably a little too late(well atleast for one poor tree on our property) I know it's too late to kill the grubs but now there are sooo many especially in the big tree that is almost leafless because of them. I called our lawn care dudes who are completely useless to come and spray our trees but they have yet to show up and its two days past the day they said they would come....but that's a different issue LOL

Answer 1

Grub Control is only effective if everybody within a 5 mile radius of you does it.  As is organic methods such as milky spore.  If you spend hours picking them off the plant you will likely not get them all and there will be no barrier on the plants so they will all just come back.  

If you spray the plants with Ortho Bug B Gone Max the beetles on the plant wil die and they won't come back as long as you re spray it every few weeks.  

Answer 2

If the trees are "almost leafless", then it's not really going to do much to spray now.   The damage is already done. A tree can be completely defoliated without serious lasting affects, though.  Your tree should leaf out just fine next spring.  Besides - the beetles are nearly done with their life cycle.  In another week or two, you'll have to hunt to find any alive.

As far as the grubs - yes, you can treat your lawn for grubs - but that will have almost no bearing on whether japanese beetles eat your trees and shrubs next year.  When the beetles emerge in late June, they march across the city, following the phermones of the females.  They do NOT stay put for long.  If you find them in your yard, eating your roses and cherry trees, you just drew a bad card, and were in their path that year.

Next year - if you have plants that are particularly delicious to them, start in late June with weekly sprayings of an insecticidal soap with Neem Oil.  It won't kill the beetles, but plant treated with Neem Oil have been found to be distasteful to the beetles, and they do not stay for the buffet.

OR - if you want the "home remedy" only...I go outside with a large saucepan of water, with a little dish soap in it, and knock the beetles off my rose bushes into it.  They drown.  I do this whenever I see them.

I only have two rose bushes, though - if you have lots of plants, or tall cherry or plum trees (or any tree than they like), it's impractical, to say the least.  The Neem Oil is the most reliable, least-toxic method of dealing with them.