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rainbowgardener
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I hate this!

I've been posting about all the insect life on the wild grape blossoms and using that as a trap crop to catch Japanese beetles.

Well I've now netted and drowned about 25 of them and I am starting to really hate it! They are tough little critters and don't drown easily, I have to keep pushing them down into the soapy water, so it feels like I am actively murdering them.

They are such beautiful little creatures when alive and gleaming in the sun...

I don't know if what I'm doing is making a difference or not, I'm still not seeing them anywhere else but on the grape vine and I don't care if they eat that. I can't say there are any less there than when I started. I've never seen a bunch at once, just every time I watch for awhile I spot one or two.

Ahimsa would say all living beings are sacred and we should avoid violence to any of them. This is starting to feel like a very violent pastime. After I drowned 6 of them this afternoon, it was making me feel sick, so I went and did something else.

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applestar
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Rainbowgardener, FWIW, if you use a stronger soap solution, they'll drown on their own.... or at least I think so. DH favors Ivory bar soap. For some reason, he opens a new bar when he's only 1/2 way done with the old, and accumulates the used soap around the sink. So I take them and put them in a lemon netting bag hanging on the outside faucet. I rub this soap in a container of water until it's cloudy.

Since Japanese Beetles either fall down or fly up, I position the cup directly under them, they fall in, and in a short while -- really almost immediately -- become motionless. If it really bothers you, you might use rubbing alcohol in a deep container with tight lid instead (like a quart size deli/soup or yogurt container).

You might also try my plastic grocery bag method. Bend the foliage into the bag, hold it closed around the branch/stem and give a good shake. Japanese Beetle Dance is optional :P. You could also tie the bag closed and leave it out in the sun. If that bothers you, another option is to get some dry ice and put a piece in the bag with them....

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rainbowgardener
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FWIW, if you use a stronger soap solution, they'll drown on their own....

I don't know about that. When they weren't drowning very easily, I dripped drops of Dr. Bronner's right on them. They still didn't die very fast...

Appreciate the suggestions, but the real problem is whether I should be killing them at all. Having to work so hard at it just makes me more aware of it.

I never remember having this many of them... but if I weren't watching that grape vine so closely, I still wouldn't think I had JB's. Ignorance was bliss?

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applestar
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Well, I can't answer the ethical dilemma....

I do have the thought that this relates to the problem described regarding Native Insects needing Native Plants, and so on up the food chain/web.. Japanese beetles aren't fussy about what they eat but I suspect there aren't as many Native natural controls in the form of predators as there needs to be. So I'm afraid you're it.

I might spread Milky Spore on the soil around that grape vine.....

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rainbowgardener
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You are exactly right about the lack of predators for them.

Re the milky spore around the grape vine. Do you think they stay that close when the female goes to lay her eggs vs. flying somewhere to find a nice patch of lawn?



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