gardengirlstl
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 8:56 pm
Location: St Louis MO

Japanese Beetles

Can anyone tell me what to do about Japanese beetles that have damaged my tomato plant.

Thank you,
Terry

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hendi_alex
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Posts: 3604
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:58 am
Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina

At the first sign of Japanese beetles I pick them from the plant and squish them. They have a fairly brief period of high activity, so two or three weeks of hand picking and they will be gone. If you don't like to squish them, then just drop them in a small amount of rubbing alcohol. This year I've had to pick the beetles off of my egg plant, my raspberry plants, and also from some edible soy beans. There was some damage to the leaves, but no major problem as hand picking the pests got them down to a managable level pretty quickly.

2cents
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Posts: 616
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 9:04 am
Location: Ohio

I'll second what Alex says.
A little soupy water in the bottom of a cup, hold the cup under the leaf the beetles are on and put your hand over the cup, shake gently. The beetles will fall off into the water and then drift away.

I pay my girls a penny a piece to pick them while I am at work.
They get a couple bucks and I get happy plants.
Oh yes it turns out to be a father daughter activity.



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