Japanese Beetles – Oh, how I hate thee…

Adult Japanese Beetle hooked onto leaf.so as not to get dislodged during a rain shower.

Late June rolled up and so did the little sods known as Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica). It’s a type of scarab beetle, but not one of those dung rolling ones made cool by Egyptology and, well, dung rolling. These creatures may be shiny and pretty but friends have had their raspberries decimated by them and they also like plum trees and roses. I’ve even found small packs of them devouring my peaches. As a result I aggressively pursue their demise. To be fair, I have mixed feelings about the carnage. The beetles in my garden seem primarily interested in the Virginia Creeper. I don’t mind them trying to kill a vine that would laugh in the face of a nuclear holocaust. “So,” I asked myself, “is beetle genocide really justified?” Mostly I asked myself this after I plunged one into a bucket of sudsy water and it determinedly clung to my fingertip as it tried to survive. I felt a bit like the cold-eyed killer in a TV murder mystery who pushes the innocent victim back under the water as they struggle to breathe. Then I spotted one on a raspberry leaf and all bets were off. The next morning, as I stepped out the front door, I spotted two of them having sex on a half-eaten Mandevilla flower. A line (OK, another one) had been crossed.

And yet, and yet… killing them still bothers me. I contemplated this feeling as I knocked a small feeding frenzy of them into a pint glass of soapy water this morning (yes, I was and am aware of the irony, hypocrisy, or whatever you wish to call it) and it comes because I recognize the fear at the heart of my single-minded obsession to wipe them off my garden’s map. I fear what they can do to my plants, but fear breeds hate and irrational behavior towards the objects of our fear. We see it in society so much and that in itself is frightening. I remind myself that killing Japanese beetles is very different from atrocities carried out between cultural groups, or populist administrations and their supporters vilifying groups and encouraging bigotry because it is politically expedient and feeds the fears of their core supporters and maybe their own; but at the root, I recognize that the impulse has the same taste to it.

In the end, though, we are talking about a damaging beetle and the thing to keep in mind with Japanese beetles, is that you don’t want any infestation in your garden to fly over into your neighbour’s yard. Look out for each other – and each other’s raspberries (and roses, and plums, and yes, even Virginia Creepers).

What to do?

I am fairly relentless in my pursuit of the enemy. I give known target plants a quick check in the morning, if I can, during the summer months, though this year I’ve actually had even more success finding them around dusk. Although I do see them during the day they are much more likely to fly away as you try to catch them. Plus, most days I’m at work so I don’t have the option. I also keep an eye out for signs of damage on other plants around the garden (skeletonized leaves are a definite red flag).

A large number of beetles on a Virginia Creeper plant clearly showing the damage they do to leaves.

To remove the beetles I use the oft-advised method of hand picking the beetles off the plant and dropping them into a bowl or pint glass of sudsy water. Some people recommend knocking them off the plant and then picking them up off the ground. That doesn’t work so well if they’re dropping into mulch or undergrowth. If they’re dropping onto a hard surface you can just step on them. A friend does that and, after a short discussion, we decided that it might be more humane than drowning. At least, she stated that if she were a beetle she would prefer a quick death by crushing. If Japanese Beetles think about such things I suspect they actually prefer a long life gorging on Virginia creepers.

I find a deep plastic container like a large yogurt tub or pint glass works well for catching the beetles because it’s easier to hold under the leaf I’m clearing. Japanese Beetles have claws they use to hang on to a leaf but will often retract these and drop quite readily. In fact, they will use the drop-and-roll as a means of escaping your intentions. A bowl with a larger surface area means less chance of escape when they do this. Sometimes, when they just hang on, I’ll prune off the entire leaf they’re attached to. They’ve effectively killed it off anyway and it allows me to get multiple beetles in one go.

There are a number of other methods for dealing with these voracious little pests, and lots of other websites with information about them, so I’ll leave you in the hands of some of the experts. One of my neighbours, for instance, swears by diatomaceous earth. She also has ducks that like beetle snacks.