In order to control Japanese Beetles you have to understand how they operate. Most of the year Japanese Beetles live in your lawn, under the grass and in the soil. When they are in the soil they are still in the grub stage.

In the grub stage they quietly eat the roots of or your grass ruining your lawn. Apparently Japanese beetle grubs are tasty because moles, voles, gophers, birds and skunks love to eat them and they'll dig up your lawn to get to them, making a complete mess of your lawn.

Then come June or so they emerge in the form of the Japanese beetle and go on a feeding frenzy and eat the leaves off the plants in your landscape. This goes on for a period of about four weeks, then they lay eggs in your lawn around the end of July, multiplying the number of Japanese Beetles you'll have next year by a multiple of about 50!

This is where you have to stop them and control them. The eggs hatch in about 10 days and presto! Your lawn is full of young, really hungry, Japanese beetle grubs that start feeding on the roots of your lawn. It is at this early stage that the grubs are the easiest to control because they stay near the surface of the soil while they are feeding. Then come winter they burrow down deep for a long winters nap.

An application of a lawn insecticide is very effective at this stage, mid to late August. If you prefer a non chemical control you can apply Milky Spore or Nematodes. Just do a Google search for either of those to learn more about how the biological controls work.

Do Japanese beetle Traps Work?

Yes, sorta, kinda.

Japanese Beetles traps use two different kinds of lures. They use a pheromone lure to attract the male beetles and a floral lure to attract the female beetles. (That’s too funny!) But it's true. We guys are so easy!

The problem with Japanese Beetle traps is the lures are really powerful and will pull the Japanese Beetles from a long distance. The joke is that you should give all of your neighbor’s traps. Sadly, there's a lot of truth to that. So if you use the traps, place them at least 50 feet away from your landscape and draw the Japanese

Beetles away from the things you'd like to protect.

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