Dropping them in a bucket with soap and water kills the blighters, so I imagine if you directly sprayed each one with enough soap/water to essentially drown them on the plant it would work. A lot easier to shake them into a bucket IMO, as I can't imagine that soap/water would work as any kind of long term inhibitor.

I was out with my pruners and I came upon a JB and snipped his head off. I'm sure it's not that efficient a method, but it was fun.

No just spraying them with soap/water won't kill them. They do die in a bucket of soapy water because the soap coats their wings and they can't fly out, so they drown.

Carol, what soap he used can you find out ? It takes a while to drown them in a bucket of soap water I donÂt know how it works on the plant because everything runs down the ground quickly though. IÂm tired of picking and shaking them and going to put on panty hose nets as suggested on the rose forum.
Tracy

You can kill triffids with plain water.

This is my second triffid post this week, could be a record.

I suspect soapy water would kill JBs if you could soak their undersides and not just the wing cases. Soap removes a waxy coating and leads to dehydration. It takes hours for soap to kill even aphids, though.

Spraying with soap and water will not kill them except perhaps accidentally as described by Michael. I have compiled the following list of ways to kill JBs, some are more effective than others and I have posted a satisfaction rating next to each method with an explanation. I have not tried all of them, but I have thought about each one long and hard.

1. Drowning in soapy water. 4 (takes too long and they try to get out a la Austin Powers)

2. Cutting heads off with pruning shears 10 (slow though and they tend to get away while you line up their head)

3. Stomping with foot 9 (instant gratification, but hard to do on anything but concrete)

4. Insecticides 3 (works, but too impersonal)

5. Freezing in ice cube tray 10 (but irritates spouse and kind of sick really)

6. Neem 4 (works, but not well)

7. Setting on fire 10 (probably dangerous and I don't know if they can still fly when doused and set on fire)

8. Waiting for animals to devour 5 (animals are unpredictable and rarely efficient, but it is fun to see a starling eat one)

9. Impaling with pin 10 (satisfying crunching sound, but hard to make sit still for the pin)

10. Milky spore 1 (not effective unless everyone for miles uses it)

11. Traps 0 (brings more in, neighbors happy to let them visit you)

12. Starvation 7 (fun to think of them not eating and slowly withering away, but seems unrealistic to deprive them of food sources.)

Happy gardening.

Jean

JB ice cubes would make a nice color harmony with bourbon-and-a-splash.

I enjoy watching them paddle, but it is a nuisance fishing out the rose-petal waterwings. The strays, I pinch their heads. Very high satisfaction rating.

I had not thought about the possibility of using frozen JBs in a cube as a garnishment for cocktails. The color array makes it a nice compliment to many drinks.

Jean

LOL Jean!

I just leave them in plain water and imagine them screaming for help for hours and sometimes days. Awful, I know.

Michael and Jean, you two are such fun. I don't know the answer but I really deteste JBs and have been cutting off any kind of blooms to aggravate them.

Carla

coffee beans make good imitations for trout fishing.Used to love the beetles that attacked the wild roses along the rivers in Pa..

trout would lie there gorging themselves.

I can't decide who is funnier, Jean or Michael, but I was laughing so loud that DH came to see what all the noise was about!

Was it Harry that used to place the collection bag of beetles under a tire and run over them? I have cut them in two with my felco's but I don't see well enough to cut their nasty little heads off.

I knew this would be too good to be true. BTW, I don't have that many blooms right now so the devils are defoliating the trees....Ya think a blowtorch is overkill??

Carol

Carol, setting them on fire is appropriate I think. Crossing fingers but the numbers seem fewer this year.

Carla

I like the idea of using them in ice cubes. They are beautiful bugs. We are going to have a party for our local ARS club next month in our back yard to show off our weeds enhanced with Messenger. The ice cubes should be a hit!

Thanks!

Foghorn
NAGL

While wandering my garden with a cocktail in hand, I thought about drowning my JBs in J&B. It is after all only a blended scotch. If I were Peter O'Toole, I would definitely do it that way.

Jean

Sounds like a waste of J&B to me and the devils would probably die anesthetized or happy and I know that you wouldn't want that :-)

Carol

Hi Carol, the soapy water is worth a try. Hosing off the leaves of the roses covered with powdery mildew worked much better than anything else I tried. Thank goodness I don't have JBs yet and hope I never do. I think they'd thirst to death if they ever ventured to my area.

I used to euthanize fish from my fish tank in vodka and put it in the freezer (if they were too sick to make it). I agree it's too good for JBs.

Hamp, the hosing has worked on my PM better than anything else has, as well. Don't fool yourself, we have had no rain and the devils are all over everything. Guess they don't need water. I hope they never find your garden!!!

Buford, I agree :-)

Carol

Jean's idea of JBs in J&B reminds me of an anecdote about James Joyce. Someone visiting the great Irish writer in his home noticed a picture of a city on a river, with something odd about it. So he asked, "What's that?" Joyce replied,
--"That's Cork."
--"No, I meant to ask about the odd frame."
--"That's cork."

I don't think the jb's have very good hearing. I sneaked up on a mass of them the other day with my dh's shop vac and got the whole bunch.

I'm not that fond of vacuuming the house, but the roses...

Duchesse, it's sex. Just don't take your phone with you and allow it to ring when planning an attack --- otherwise, they will fly away before starting the shop va. That darn phone ringing late night. My memory is fading but I still remember that...

Yes, Patricia, the phone ringing is a turnoff.

Or, at least, I think I remember that. ;)

Maybe you've discovered the Holy Grail, an earth-friendly JB repellent.

Beetles, sex and alcohol. It is amazing what one can learn from the Antiques forum. :-) And people say gardening is dull.

Jean

DH likes the flaming beetle idea..but try a blowtorch...preferably before the coctail.

Mari

I've wondered if JBs and June Bugs could have high fashion value.
There have been dresses on the red carpet made of credit cards......you who have beetles know exactly where I'm going with this....those who don't....
I think a chain mail like mini dress made of JBs would improve the look of a lot of red carpet strutting...Just think how well the JB colors would stand out against the red of the carpet.

sorry, I can't bear the thought of them squirming all over me, like they do in my hand when I catch them. I realize they'd be dead, but it's creeping me out anyway.

Plus if you went outside wearing one you may get attacked by hungry birds.

mari