Will Dawn Dish Soap Kill Japanese Beetles?

Japanese beetles have been known to rip through forests, gardens, lawns, and everything in between. They feed off of plant life and lay their larvae in the soil. Anyone who’s dealt with these pests knows how much of a challenge they can be to deal with.

Dawn dish soap will kill Japanese beetles. Combine four tablespoons of dish soap with water to the top in a spray bottle. Shake the solution and spray it on the larvae and beetles. Chickens, neem oil, and organic pesticides are all great preventatives.

Throughout this article, you’ll also learn the following info about using Dawn dish soap to get rid of Japanese beetles:

• Two easy methods to take on Japanese beetles with dish soap
• Multiple alternative treatments that won’t harm your plants
• Whether or not Japanese beetles are good for the soil

Pro Tip: Japanese beetles can ruin a top-notch garden in a matter of weeks. If you see one in your yard, it’s best to get rid of them immediately. Consider looking through the best neem oil for plants on Amazon. A small change in your garden can make a world of a difference.

How Can You Get Rid of Japanese Beetles?

Japanese beetles can be effectively controlled and reduced from your garden or lawn using a simple homemade solution consisting of Dawn dish soap. The following is a process to make this remedy:

Method 1

1. (Mix four tablespoons of Dawn dish soap with water inside a spray bottle.
2. Shake the mixture well.
3. Spray directly onto Japanese beetles and larvae.

Method 2

1. Mix 1 teaspoon of Dawn dish soap with 1 cup of vegetable oil and shake well.
2. Add 1 quart of water to the mixture and shake well.
3. Add 1 cup of rubbing alcohol.
4. Shake the mixture vigorously to allow the vegetable oil to emulsify.
5. Pour the mixture into a spray bottle.
6. Spray on your crops and on your lawn at 10-day intervals to control the beetles.

The above methods effectively eliminate Japanese beetles because Dawn Dish Soap removes the protective wax that covers bugs, causing excess water loss from insect bodies. As a result, the cell membranes of the beetles are disrupted, terminating them.

Alternative Solutions to Remove Japanese Beetles

Japanese Beetles can be removed in the following ways:

Taking Care of Your Plants When You Have Japanese Beetles

Consider harvesting your crops and fruits at the right time before they become overripe. Japanese beetles are drawn to decaying and overripe fruits. Get rid of decayed and rotten fruits, vegetables, trees, and dying plants before attracting the beetles. 

Try Using Row Covers to Protect the Plants

Row covers keep Japanese beetles out while allowing water, sunlight, and air to reach the plants, as Almanac stated. The cover edges must be in line with the ground and tightly sealed.

However, this method is only useful if there are no beetles or larvae in your soil; otherwise, you only manage to trap them with your plants. Also, the method should only be applied if you do not require your plants to be pollinated, as using row covers keep pollinators out.

Select Plants That Don’t Attract Japanese Beetles

Japanese beetles are especially attracted to individual plants such as roses, apples, raspberries, apricots, hibiscus, soybeans, cherries, peaches, birch, American linden, Norway maple, Japanese maple, grapevines, plums, pin oaks, and crape myrtle.

To reduce the risk of localizing their population and devastating your garden, choose your crops wisely, and limit their favorite plants.

Alternatively, if their favorite crop is part of your choice of plants, consider dispersing them far apart from each other and from the rest of the garden to limit the beetle concentration.

You can also plant crops that are not liked by the beetles in between crops favored by the beetles. Such crops include rue, garlic, and tansy.

Chickens Eat Japanese Beetles

Keeping barnyard birds such as chicken and guinea fowl on your farm helps to limit the number of bugs. They feed on Japanese beetles and their larvae and feed on other pests such as ticks. Spraying your lawn with a mixture of 2 tablespoons of Dawn Dish Soap and 1 gallon of water will help to bring the larvae to the surface. The birds can then easily feast on them.

Learn what fertilizer you can use when you have chickens.

Remove Beetles and Grubs by Hand

Handpicking Japanese beetles from your plants and disposing of them is still the most effective pest control method for these pests, although it’s exhausting. Japanese beetles are active in the morning, and this is the best time to pick the bugs.

Wear protective gloves; pick the beetles carefully so as not to crash them, and dip them in a bucket with a solution of 2 tablespoons of Dawn dish soap and 1 gallon of water. This drowns the beetles.

Cover Your Plants with a Large Drop Cloth at Night

At night, use a large drop cloth to cover your plants. In the morning, remove the drop cloth and dispose of the attached beetles in a bucket with a solution of Dawn dish soap and water (2 tablespoons of Dawn dish soap and 1 gallon of water).

Trap the Beetles with a Can Filled with Fruit Cocktail

Cedarcide suggests putting a fruit cocktail in a can and fermenting it in the sun for a few days. Once fermented, take the can with the cocktail far away from the plants you are trying to protect, place on top of a few bricks inside a pail filled with water. The beetles will be attracted to the fruit cocktail but will be unable to access it because of the surrounding water. The beetles are simply drowned in the pail.

Use Neem Oil to Remove Japanese Beetles

Neem oil is effective in controlling Japanese beetles, especially on roses. Adult beetles ingest the neem oil, which has a chemical that is passed down to their eggs. When the eggs develop into larvae, they die long before they mature into adults, effectively reducing the beetle population.

Consider Safe Insecticides

You can spray your plants or dust them with approved insecticides from your local store, conveniently reducing the population of Japanese beetles and therefore saving your plants.

What are Japanese Beetles Good For? 

Japanese beetles help to aerate the soil while in the larva stage, as well as form good delicacy for barnyard chickens and other birds, proving to be of ecological importance. However, they prove more destructive than beneficial to the environment as they destroy several species of plants.

While in the larva stage, they eat roots of plants as well as destroy lawn grass. As adults, they destroy leaves and shoots, depriving plants of sufficient food synthesis.

According to Oxford Academic, Japanese beetles were only confined to the northern Japanese islands before 1900. In the early 1900s, existing regulations prohibited plants’ importation rooted in soil, but there was ineffective and inadequate enforcement of these regulations.

It’s believed that the Japanese beetle was imported accidentally into the United States in the soil of imported irises. It was then discovered in a nursery in New Jersey, from where it spread across the country due to favorable turfgrass cover.

Wrapping It Up

Japanese beetles are an annoying pest, but you can take care of them with household dish soap. A few tablespoons of soap and a couple of cups of water can get prevent the insects from ruining your garden.

Here’s a quick rundown of the post:

• Neem oil, Dawn dish soap, and chickens can kill Japanese beetles.
• Consider using drop cloth or row covers to deal with them.
• You can make a fruit cocktail trap to drown beetles and other insects.

Did you know that most lawns aren’t eco friendly? Find out why here.