We get by with a little help from our friends.

As of late, we have been overrun with Japanese beetles. We had a few last year that ate on the crepe myrtles in the front yard, but this year they're terrible. We have only two crepe myrtles remaining, as we'd dug up the other three this winter. The japanese beetles started by eating every, and I mean every, single petal off the flowers. Once the petals were gone, they moved on to the leaves. And then the Basil, and then the blackberries, and then the sunflowers, and now...the Hops! We decided it was time for us to take them down.

I installed a trap near the edge of the woods. It is questionable whether or not this is a good idea, but I figured it couldn't be much worse. Then we went to Oklahoma for 4 days. When we returned, the ~5" diameter cup at the bottom of the trap was filled with about 3 solid inches of dead and dying Japanese beetles. I have since been having to dump it once a day. Jessie and I have also been taking a bucket filled with soapy water out to the crepe myrtles once a day and knocking the stupid beetles into the bucket. They're pretty sorry fliers.

We have even enlisted the help of some of the local fauna. We're finding what we believe to be lizard scat with Japanese beetles in it and just today I found this guy helping out. Another one bites the dust! Hey Hey!