Japanese beetles are not easy to control. Garden centers sell traps that contain a substance attractive to these pests, but often the traps will attract more beetles to your yard. If you decide to try one, place it at least 30 feet away from your attractive plants, and make sure the prevailing wind blows the trap scent away from your plants.

These beetles are large and slowmoving, so they aren’t difficult to remove by hand. I just push them off the leaf into a coffee can of soapy water. Do this every day, or as often as you can, and damage will be reduced. The presence of beetles attracts more beetles, so you can make a big difference, though it’s time-consuming.

I tried covering my plants one year with nylon netting, sold in fabric stores. I used clothes pins to attach it snugly, but they crawled up inside the netting from the bottom.