Here's one way to deal with Japanese beetles--get a small bucket, fill
partially with water, and add a good squirt or two of liquid soap. The type
of soap is not important, it serves to break the surface tension of the
water. Then go in the garden early in the morning and again late in the
afternoon, when the beetles are a bit sluggish, knock them off the leaves,
and let them fall into the bucket. They will drown and you can dispose of
them as you see fit.

If you are diligent about this over the course of several days, you can make
a huge dent in the population. It doesn't take long, and no spraying is
involved. In my garden the beetles congregate on a few favored types of
plants, so I do a quick pass twice a day.

The other thing you can do is pray for starlings 8-)....I know they are
often thought of as undesirable birds, but I've never seen other birds eat
Japanese beetles. The last few summers they have cleaned up the beetles on
my cannas, and I was grateful.

Cheers,
Sue

--

Zone 6, South-central PA
Japanese beetles.... not too many years ago, I had never seen one
around here. I was kind of hoping it was too cold for them to live
here. Then one year, I found one. The next year, there were a few,
then several, then a bunch, then last year, there were enough to
actually do some real damage to the grape vines. Assuming the trend
continues, I'll probably spray them with something this summer.