Beating Japanese Beetles around Cleveland Ohio can be a challenge. They come out like clockwork around the 4th of July every year, but this year, they came out several days ago and caught me off guard.
I've tried:
- Plucking them by hand in the early morning and late evening hours and drowning them in water -- to limited success due to their sheer volume
- Spraying soapy water on them -- to limited success
- Shaking a tree and see if they would fall off -- not a chance
- Hitting the branches to see if the vibration/shock would make them fall off -- not a chance
- Taking a foxtail cleaner and swooshing them off -- not much luck here either
After reading online for some other techniques, I tried using a product this past week called NEEM. NEEM is an insecticidal soap which is suppose to kill them on contact as well as make the leaf of the plant they are eating less tasty. It's uses are many and I like the fact that it is used as a bio-pesticide in organic farming. You simply mix up a tablespoon of NEEM Oil Concentrate to a gallon of water, mix well and put it in a spray bottle and have at it.
So far, I've had good luck, normally I would be inundated with them, but so far, their #s are way down since I started my counter-offensive.
Some of the literature says to not put it on the plant in direct sunlight as it is an oil and can burn the leaves. I've done it a bit to test and have not found that to be a problem.
I would be curious if you have similar luck with it as I have.
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