Forget the cicadas. Forget the grasshoppers. Ignore the flies for a moment. The most destructive insect in our organic gardens and in the fields is the Japanese Beetle. And they have arrived.
They hatch out of the ground in late June and for six weeks voraciously skeletonize the leaves on our trees and in the gardens.
Some years we barely notice them, other years I remember having to use windscreen wipers to clear them off the windscreen so we could see to drive.
The last few years we only saw a few: This year I am seeing more than usual already. They are big lazy insects. I can go around with a bucket of water and pick them off my herbs and simply drop them in the bucket of water then pour that in with the chickens who are in the house. The chickens go nuts bobbing for bugs. Chickens and ducks will also eat Japanese beetles as they roam the gardens. Turkeys will eat them too but our turkeys might be a little small yet.
The worst is when the Japanese Beetles start to eat the tassels in the corn. Corn is self pollinating so losing part of the tassel means we get partially pollinated corn cobs.
Diatomaceous earth can kill Japanese beetles and will not harm the birds and pigs that then eat the dead insects. I will apply this to my zuchinni and pumpkins. It is expensive. So we will see.
But – like in life – every insect has a life cycle, a season and we just have to do what we can to mitigate the damage and wait it out. 6 – 8 weeks. The robins and cardinals will have well fed chicks this year!
Go HERE to read The TKG Sustainable Sunday Newsletter. Even though we did not have internet most of the weekend (not now either – I have switched to data to get this out to you and data is slow and costly); I still got a newsletter written and published full of lovely pictures, a story and a round up of the week. Pop OVER!
Good morning!
The turkey babies, who are looking like miniature emus with their long legs and outsized wings, have been moved to the tin tank house in the edible flowering pig garden. They are not terribly impressed but at least they cannot fly out. They had started flying straight out of the chick run being a very bad example for the others. Not to mention putting themselves in considerable danger.
Ok!
Have a great day!
Celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
34 responses to “Japanese Beetles Return”
Those are some super size bugs but at least the birds will be well fed. I think I can speak for most of us here and say that we would totally understand- given the dismal internet situation currently- if you chose to post a bit less often… there is no reason to be spending more $$. We will survive with fewer updates. This is coming from a person who refuses to pay for data and will not go over limits 😉
But you are my company. The weekends are lonely when I do not post. Plus a person just never knows when the internet will return – like it had just this minute!
Oh I know how important this communication is among so many of us. I feel it as strongly as you C. I just don’t want you to feel pressure to post if things are not going as they should with that awful internet “service” that seems not to be a service at all!
Between Japanese beetles and Japanese knotweed (that we have over here) …it’s tricky. Hang in there…:)
We had quite a cold night last night which might have discouraged a few of them.
fingers crossed….
Oh shoot!! I don’t have those, yet, but have squash bugs!! My cucumbers are getting hit right now and always plant squash and pumpkins mid June. It’s an every morning chore searching for them. Good luck and enjoy your day!!
Those squash bugs are evil. We get them too! Like you I plant a whole late crop to try to outwit them. My early crop in a big pot by the barn is doing alright so far!
Darn, those beetles! We have them here too, but not like you’ve got up there, thank goodness! Not yet anyway!
I hope they are not going to keep hatching – let’s hope this is just a few and not a warning of a few more to come. And I have no guineas anymore. They must have eaten tons of them!
Yes! Guineas are the absolute best! I love ours! Here they also eat ticks and chiggers, which is so very, very wonderful as we have plenty of both!!!
I was just remembering our guineas jumping up in the air to bite them off tall plants or as they zoomed about over their heads. Guineas are death on bugs. My French friend said they are delicious eating, but we never ate any of our creatures. They were just for their eggs, goats milk or the experience of them. We were a very small amateur enterprise.
I haven’t seen the beetles yet. But, they will come. I hope not in great numbers. We saw no evidence of either of the cicada broods that hatched this year. A few miles away they were numerous.
We have had no cicadas either. Not a one.
Have you tried using Nematodes? I’ve had a big slug problem, they ate the courgette flowers and then started on the leaves. I bought some slug eating Nematodes and their numbers have been greatly reduced.
I am so glad they are working for your slugs. We don’t get slugs! I will do some research. See if nematodes can help with flying insects.
They definitely work on Japanese Beetles! There are lots of different types of Nematode.
Oh the image of the chickens bobbing for bugs made me smile!
Oh no!
I very much dislike beetles but I’m glad the chickens do. It sounds like you have an effective plan!
I’m not sure what your internet costs..but have you considered Starlink? It’s a stand alone system that directly links to satellite – takes mere minutes to set up. I got it last year when I found out that if you’re ‘rural’ the price is extremely reasonable for the equipment, and the monthly fee is about the same as anything else offered. It’s never given me a seconds worth of trouble, and is super fast. Also the unit (it’s quite small) has a warming element in it so I’m super snowy climates like where I am, the snow doesn’t pile up on it. You simply go to their website and punch in your address and you’ll know instantly the cost for where you live.
Before I got the Starlink, our internet was so bad it simply wasn’t worth having at all.
Just a thought.
I have looked and I can’t remember why I did not look further. Maybe just internet search fatigue. And they are all so aggressive with their selling. I would love someone to be in charge I guess. Just once. But they are all expensive. And I would have to set it up which just makes me tired. Interesting that the unit is warm. Thank you so much for reminding me. I will look again.
Yes I know is how you feel – that’s why I went without for so many years. To set these up basically you plug them in and follow the instructions on your phone. You could have the app already downloaded. I don’t think it took me ten minutes – and I’m not tech savvy.
I just looked them up and it’s almost $700 to buy the equipment not really doable at this point: shame though. I would love really good internet.
Garden pests and internet woes… are sent to try us. I spent an interesting 5 minutes researching Japanese Beetle. I was intrigued they looked like Christmas Beetles which are generally not much of a garden problem… in fact numbers are worryingly declining. I’ll probably research Starlink too. It is becoming popular and although our internet is fairly reliable it is becoming more expensive.
I remember June bugs in Kentucky early every summer. They are also iridescent green & gold & twice as big as Japanese beetles.
They must be huge then. Japanese beetles are big enough.
I think they may be the same thing as our stink bugs, which originated in Japan and China. They have the same black & white border.
Just noticed the first one here yesterday myself Celi (and really wishing I had some poultry to feed them to as well… :/)
Celi, do these bugs smell strongly when disturbed? If so, they’re the same as our stink bugs, which are considered a noxious pest here and subject to eradication programs due to the danger to agriculture.
Not much of a smell at all plus, they’re really big and like as big as your little fingernail.
Not stinkbugs, then, which are both smelly and the size of my thumbnail in some cases.
Each summer I would notice them ‘come across’ the field behind our farm. Our local hardware (everything) store sold these great traps for those beetles. They had a plastic bag in the shape of an hour glass. When the beetles slipped down they couldn’t get back out. Over the plastic bag hung a plastic ‘x’ shaped target. (It was made from two rectangles that slid together to make the ‘x’.) The yellow attracted the beetles. There was also a scented bait. Some years I ran out of bait and just let the yellow attract them in. We would catch SCADS of them this way. I hung them over our vegetable patch. If you Google it you will find them. Good luck!
They does sound useful! I have heard of them but was not sure I wanted to attract them. But just imagine the chickens excitement when I bought them a whole bag of bugs!