My gardens have been overrun with Japanese beetles. While I generally like bugs, I’m not a fan of having my plants destroyed.
Our raspberry bushes were especially affected, with some leaves being absolutely covered with those awful beetles, and the leaves surrounding them looked like sad little leaf skeletons. I don’t like spraying pesticides in my yard since we’re outside a lot and also have lots of beneficial insects like bees and butterflies that I wouldn’t want to harm.
I remembered a soap spray I made a couple years ago and whipped some up, and it really did the trick. My daughter sprayed the leaves liberally with the mixture one evening and then we waited to see what would happen. Well, the next morning, I went out to check on the plants and was amazed- the beetles were gone (well to be honest I did see two on one of the plants, but the previous day the plants were literally covered with beetles)!
I would definitely recommend mixing some of this up, it’s inexpensive, non-toxic, and it really works! It’s also helpful for other garden pests.
Supplies Needed:
1 Spray Bottle
1-2 tbs. Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap
1-2 tbs. Cooking Oil (I used canola oil)
Put the liquid soap and oil in the bottom of an empty spray bottle and then fill slowly the rest of the way with water. Hold the bottle up to the faucet when filling since too much agitation will cause soap bubbles.
Spray your affected plants liberally. Try to spray either in the morning or evening rather than in the strong midday sun. If your mixture does not spray correctly, reduce the amount of soap in your mixture. Measuring isn’t really necessary, just squirt a bit of soap and oil in the bottom of your empty bottle before filling with water.