Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post - Have Japanese Beetles Mutated? They Are Eating My Tomatoes!

JRinPA · August 19, 2018

We have a few oriental beetles (asiatics? gold/brown with black markings) but far more japanese beetles. I have never seen them on tomatoes. I thought they were nationwide for half a century now.

Roses
Rhubarb

Squash
Beans
Eggplant
Okra

I'm sure some others but that's what comes to mind.

Sevin dust on squash leaves kills them dead by the score but did not kill the squash bugs at all. A cup of water, or better yet one of these ever shrinking plastic coffee cans with a notch cut into, and a little soap is the way I prefer to kill them. I don't really mind japanese beetles since they are easy enough to kill. The squash trio and bean beetles are much more worrisome, here. And now the lantern flies, of course.

Maybe plant some sacrificial pole beans to keep them off the tomatoes and easy to drown in soap? Purple beans seem to attract them the most.

August 19, 2018	#15
JRinPA Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: SE PA Posts: 963	We have a few oriental beetles (asiatics? gold/brown with black markings) but far more japanese beetles. I have never seen them on tomatoes. I thought they were nationwide for half a century now. Roses Rhubarb Squash Beans Eggplant Okra I'm sure some others but that's what comes to mind. Sevin dust on squash leaves kills them dead by the score but did not kill the squash bugs at all. A cup of water, or better yet one of these ever shrinking plastic coffee cans with a notch cut into, and a little soap is the way I prefer to kill them. I don't really mind japanese beetles since they are easy enough to kill. The squash trio and bean beetles are much more worrisome, here. And now the lantern flies, of course. Maybe plant some sacrificial pole beans to keep them off the tomatoes and easy to drown in soap? Purple beans seem to attract them the most. Last edited by JRinPA; August 19, 2018 at 11:31 PM.