Garden Pest: Tomato Hornworms

Side Note: This is an old blog entry from another website of mine that I deleted. I decided to re-post it here because it fit the theme better than my other existing blogs. The original date of this post is sometime during the summer of 2011.  I'll also include the previous comment field that was attached to it, at the end of this post.

As I mentioned on my “Garden Season of 2011” post, I was doubting if I’d even put out a garden this year – especially since I was moving, in between two houses, getting a late start, etc.

Well, I ended up planting a corn field over at the other place I left that was for sale, and a small tomato patch at the new house.  Last year, the biggest garden pest I had was Japanese Beetles.  Those pesky little beetles were eating the corn silks and part of the ears last year, but I planted my corn later this year and, for whatever reason, I didn’t have a problem with ’em this particular growing season.  Actually, I figured they would be the type of garden pest that would get worse each year until I totally moved my crop to a different area.  Anyway...

This year, and for the first time in my gardening career, I have had problems with my tomato plants.  I’ve heard of cutworms or whatever, but I’ve never had dealings with Tomato Hornworms before!  Those bastards can really do some damage, as they are some serious freakin’ gluts!  Look below, for a couple pictures of those fat, green caterpillars with horns:

Yeah, they are fat, green, and have a red horn sticking out – near their bunghole region.  Of course, a lot of people may be looking for the “how to remove” advice, but I’m going to keep it short.  Personally, other than the enjoyment of working in a garden, I mainly grow the food I plant to have organic produce from fertile soil that, in return, has a full, rich flavor that you can’t find at your common grocery stores.  So, I manually remove these garden pests when possible and go ahead and accept the fact that some of my yield goes to the insects and animals, etc.  But what is left, will be totally organic.

Now, if you are a big fan of insecticides and poisonous sprays, I recommend that you get one that is especially formulated for caterpillars – if Tomato Hornworms are your problem.

These green, hungry devils eat like crazy; they eat the tomatoes and the plant itself.  It often looks like somebody went by and trimmed your plant with scissors.  However, they are not cutworms, but similar; cutworms usually cut your plant off close to the base.  To rid yourself of them, it is good to not let the weeds build up around your plants, which act as a breeding ground, till the ground as often as needed, and to place tin foil, cardboard, etc., around the base of your tomato plants.  Of course, there is insecticide for cutworms, as well; I just try to steer clear from poisons and chemical sprays.  Hell, if I wanted my garden to be full of chemicals, I’d just not ever plant anything and would buy all my produce at the local market.

Well, I mainly wanted to do a quick post over the Tomato Hornworm in case people are out there searching online using phrases like “these damn green worms are in my garden and eating my tomato plants,” etc.  If I would have kept a check on my tomato patch more often, I could have removed them quicker and less damage would have occurred.

At any rate, good luck with your crops!  Cheers!

Update (8-7-2012):  Due to a special request/question in the comment field, below is a picture of what the Tomato Hornworms ultimately turn into, which is a Five-spotted Hawk Moth:

---The original comment field, below:

Comment#1:

Nancy says:

July 1, 2012, at 5:54 pm

Thanks for solving the mystery for us of what kind of caterpillar ate the top half of our two tomato plants. My husband found it hanging on to one of the stalks one night, it was huge and looks just like your photo! I had looked for days and never saw him cuz his bright green color blended exactly with the leaves. I just must have overlooked him. He had a feast in the meantime…

Comment#2:

Amanda says:

August 6, 2012, at 7:12 pm

We found a HUGE one of these on our tomato plant today. It didn’t really eat much. Just one branch. Our son just loves all of nature and animal life and totally freaked when his daddy wanted to kill it. He insisted on carrying it to the opposite side of the road and letting it go in the cotton patch. He’s 6 and saw on the television that caterpillars turn into butterflies. Does this thing turn into a butterfly? If so, it may very well have a foot long wingspan given the size of the worm.

Comment#3:

Administrator says:

August 7, 2012, at 11:07 am

Tomato and tobacco hornworms are large caterpillars, up to four inches in length. The prominent “horn” on the rear of both gives them their name. They can quickly defoliate tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and peppers. The adult of the tobacco hornworm is the sphinx moth. The five-spotted hawk moth is the adult of the tomato hornworm. Both moths are stout-bodied, grayish-colored insects with a wing spread of 4 to 5 inches. They’re not exactly pretty butterflies but are large and striking.

Thanks to your comment, I will add an image of what the tomato hornworm ultimately turns into, at the bottom of the original article. Cheers!

Comment#4:

Amanda says:

August 7, 2012, at 2:48 pm

Thanks for your reply and the pic of the moth. My son said it was “awesome.”

---End of the original comment field

Update: (11-12-2024): Since it has been over 13 years since I originally wrote this post, I thought I'd add a few tidbits about this creature, since I'm republishing it here. I will briefly talk about a crazy invasion I once had with tomato hornworms, an alternative solution for organic gardening (natural insecticide) to combat this green caterpillar, and a predator of this pest that you should always let thrive.

Tidbit #1 - A few years ago, I got lazy at the end of my garden season. I usually cut down the plants, clean up the garden area, mow, till again, etc., before waiting until the next year. Well, the tomato hornworms were bad that particular year, but I was so busy with work, I let them live instead of pulling them off, one at a time. By the end of the season, I decided I'd let them eat down all the plants to save me time cutting them all down. That was a mistake! Never do that! I'm not joking when I say this, but there was a time when there were so many of them out there, if I paused to listen, I could literally hear them eating! I spent way too much time the next year fighting them off of my tomato plants. My tomato hornworms kill-count was in the triple digits the following year, trust me...

Tidbit #2 - I've only used this a couple of times over the years, but there is supposedly an insecticide alternative for organic gardeners that are trying to fight certain types of garden pests like worms & caterpillars. It is a biological (bacterial) insecticide called "Monterey B.t." The active ingredient as listed on the package: Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies kurstaki strain SA-12 solids, spores and Lepidopteran active toxins (At least 6 million viable spores per mg).

Tidbit #3 - If you ever see tomato hornworms on your plants that seem motionless and are covered with little white things that look like rice, leave it alone and do not destroy anything. Those come from the Braconid wasps. They will lay their eggs on these particular garden pests and the larva will eat the tomato hornworms from the inside out. If left alone and the process completes, these Braconid wasps will get to reproduce. This will allow for even more of them to be out there to do the same thing again. They are probably the best natural predator for these things, overall.

Tidbit #4 - This is more of an observation than anything informative, but I have always noticed that the tomato hornworms that eat off of my pepper plants are always a darker green than the ones that eat the tomato plants. I can only assume the different nutrients affect the hue. 

Well, that about wraps it up for now...

---End of Post "Garden Pest: Tomato Hornworms"

Corn Plants Falling Down in the Garden?

Side Note: This is an old blog entry that I relocated here after I deleted another website of mine. The original date of this post is sometime around June of 2010. I will also include a few of the comments it received. Anyway...

This stuff happens, especially to the newbies. If you’re new to the garden scene and/or just simply would like to remedy this corn plant-related mishap, there’s a few things you can do to prevent this……

A beautiful field of corn plants basking in the sun...

The most common mistake made when planting corn, is by not putting the seed deep enough into the ground. Most packets of corn seed will instruct you to sow the seeds 1 inch deep, as this is not always enough; somewhere around 2 to 3 inches deep would yield stronger plants with a more stable foundation of root support.

Besides planting deeper, there is a couple more things you can do to help hinder the falling down of your corn plants. After your plants reach a height of 2 feet or more, and you have weeded out the weak sprouts, mound a pile of dirt around the base of each corn stalk. I’d suggest a nice, well-rounded pile of dirt, roughly 2 to 3 inches high. The main reason this helps, is because as your corn plants get older, they will start to develop anchor roots above the surface. By having a nice mound of dirt around the base, it will give them more to anchor into, etc. 

If all else fails and/or you’re enduring a bad season of high wind and hard storms, you could always drive stakes into the ground and tie them off - by securing the lower section of each plant. This is an easy solution, but would only be worth the effort in small, personal gardens. If you have a lot of corn, you’re better off planting them a little deeper to begin with, so you can avoid having to put in all the extra effort to prevent them from falling over. Of course, due to random weather conditions and bouts of strong gust, it is normal for some of your plants to get blown down regardless of preventive measures.

Fertilizing your corn: 

The wonderful corn plant is often referred to as a “nitrogen lover.” They utterly thrive in soil & fertilizer that has a high nitrogen content. Typically, for most vegetables, I select a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or use Miracle Grow supplements as 18-18-21. But for corn, it’s better to use pure ammonium nitrate fertilizer or Miracle Grow supplements as 24-8-16, for example. Although, you can never go wrong with using rich, organic fertilizer and compost for any plants within your garden.

Also, corn is very dependent on a regular supply of water. If you have a small to mid-size garden that you’re able to easily water, I recommend that you do so – to combat any sessions of drought that the hot growing season of summer often casts down upon thee. If corn doesn’t get enough water, it will not produce quality ears.

Good luck with your crop and take advantage of the garden season while it’s here in full swing……

If you do have good garden results, yield a lot of produce, and you lack the freezer room, you may need to invest in some good chest freezers, as well. Speaking of freezing, here is a post related to that, if you like squash: "How to Freeze Summer Squash for Frying Purposes."

The original comment field, below:

Comment#1: Farmer Joe says:

June 15, 2010, at 9:59 am

I hate it when that happens. I remember the first year I grew corn, having this problem. Mine would fall down on one side, since they were planted near a big, wooded hillside and would always lean towards the west for sunlight. I got lucky since I lived by a creek, and I toted medium sized rocks in 5-gallon buckets back and forth into the small corn field. I would surround the plant’s leaning sides with rocks for support. It was enough to get through the season, but the next year I planted them away from the hill that blocked a good portion of their light, and I also planted them deeper in the ground, like you have already mentioned. I suppose I could have used mounds of dirt around the base, but that year I was frustrated with them constantly falling down after each rainstorm and wanted something heavier like big rocks.

That was also some good advice on the fertilizer. Yep, that corn stuff loves the dang nitrogen more than anything I’ve ever grown. I also use a different fertilizer for my tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.

Comment#2:

Thanks for dropping by…

Yep, I’ve used rocks as well. But many of these spur-of-the-moment “quick fixes” can often be avoided, by simply planning ahead. Ahh, there is nothing like learning through experience, no matter what it is.

By the way, good luck on keeping your corn plants perpendicular this year; ’tis been stormy down here of late……

Comment#3:

Jessica says:

July 8, 2011, at 1:52 am

Hi. I was wondering if anyone can answer a curiosity question, I cannot answer.

What is the stuff that is small and on the top of the corn plant?

It looks like rice but it's not of course. But what is it and what do I do with it?

My daughter wants to know, and she keeps asking me and I do not like telling her I do not know. Moms are supposed to know all and see all but this I am stumped on bad. Help, HELP!

Comment#4:

Administrator says:

July 10, 2011, at 10:04 am

Hi, Jessica…

I was late getting to your question. This blog post is mainly about people having trouble with their corn plants falling down, leaning, etc., but the answer to your query is simple:

You are referring to the corn tassels. They are what pollinates the corn plants, hence forth the corn production. However, when people are trying to create hybrid varieties, they perform something called detasseling; it’s where they cut the tassels off of one particular variety in the field, to leave the grain open/available to get pollinated by another existing variety of corn plants that are growing in the field – to produce a hybrid corn variety.

Anyway, hopefully everybody is having a good corn crop this year and it is still standing strong. Those heavy rainstorms seem to be corn’s worst enemy during its first few weeks of growth. I had better luck this year, at least when it comes to the “falling down” problem, by planting later in the season and, of course, following some of the tips on this page.

Enjoy the rest of the garden season! Cheers!

---End of previous Comment Field

---End of Post "Corn Plants Falling Down in the Garden?"

Growing & Cooking Okra - The Health Benefits

Side Note: This is an old blog entry from a previously deleted website of mine. The original date of this post is sometime during the year of 2012. I decided to add it here [with some minor edits] because I thought it fit the theme better than some of my other existing blogs. Anyway...

 Whenever I mention Okra, there is usually somebody that will say something like this: “Say whaaa?  You eat Okra?  Eeew!”  Ha-ha!  But seriously, this stuff is really good, and I think more people would like it, if they’d just try it or perhaps cook it a few different ways, etc.

 I will say, at least in the U.S., Okra seems to be more of a “southern thing,” sort of like Fried Green Tomatoes.  One must remember, here in the south, we’ll batter & fry almost anything possible, hence forth the obesity problem at hand; LOL!

 At any rate, I just happened to think about this particular veggie today, when contemplating what I’m going to do for this year's garden season.  It seems that every gardening season is different for me, since I have moved several times of late.  This year I have limited space, and I’m thinking about getting the most out of my yard by doing something I have never done before, which would be planting in multiple sections and in strategic areas.  I mean, I planted in sections once before, when I had a big open field; I had 2 separate growing areas, but one of them was mostly a corn field. 

Now that I have a normal-sized yard without much room for a big garden, I’m going to have to get creative, to say the least.  Anyway, this post isn’t going to be highly informative or anything, just me rambling about cooking and growing okra along with a few of the health benefits it has, and so on…

Okra is extremely easy to grow and doesn’t have any special requirements that stand out.  If you can grow tomatoes and peppers, you should have no problem growing okra.  

Although many people recommend starting this plant from seed sown directly into your garden, some folks find it easier to just buy the plants small and transplant them into your garden.  Yes, it costs slightly more but it's your garden and if you want to take a shortcut, that's your business!  Some seeds are always better to sow directly into the soil, especially the large ones like corn, squash, zucchini, etc. [Edit: As time went by, I now always plant okra from seed instead of buying sprouts at a nursery. However, I still start some seeds in containers early and transplant later, then plant the rest directly into the soil as the weather warms up.]

I have read before that it is a good idea to rotate your okra crop (change locations) every year because they are very susceptible to diseases from the soil and those beloved garden pests. [Edit: Another reason would be that certain plants pull different nutrients out of the soil and so on. The use of cover crops during the off season is a great option to counter this, especially to replace the lost nitrogen. I once wrote about an excellent option for this, here: "Benefits & Reasons for Cover Crops - Crimson Clover"]

If you have fairly decent soil or use organic compost and whatnot, you will most likely not have to even worry about fertilizer.  Or you can take the easy way out (if you don’t use compost, etc.) and apply a small amount of miracle grow (or other types of fertilizer) a few times, when your plant starts growing larger – to insure a good yield.

It is a good idea to pick your okra at a small size, or it will be too tough to eat and the seeds in the pods will be quite large.

I usually pick it anywhere from 3.5 to 5 inches, albeit I have picked some a little larger and they still be tender – depending on how fast they grew.  Speaking of that, if you have a lot of okra plants and they start to yield, if you do not go out there every day and pick ’em, you’ll have green pods coming out of your bunghole!  Yes folks, they really produce quick, once they start to take off!

I’m not going to spend any more time talking about growing this easy-to-grow vegetable.  Now how about cooking these tasty delights?

Being from the south, I can tell ya right now, I prefer to batter them in corn meal and fry those suckers in oil.   I slice up a good mess, roughly 3/8ths to 1/2-inch slices, bread them with my batter & seasoning, and drop them in a preheated skillet full of canola oil. [Edit: I now use peanut oil as my go-to frying lipid.]

I have also boiled them in a mixture of water, soy sauce, and pepper seasoning, and they turn out great.  When I boil ’em, I keep the pods whole.  [Edit: Say what? When I don't batter & fry 'em, I now sauté the okra slices in a mixture of oil, water, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, seasoned salt, red pepper flakes, onion seasoning, and a hint of sugar.] I have also pickled okra, although I wasn’t that impressed because it ended up tasting like pickles instead of okra, but whatever floats your boat!

There are many ways to use okra when cooking, not just the ways I mentioned above.  Many people put them in soups, stews, and stir-fry, as well.

Some people cook them with Lima beans, tomatoes and corn, which is something I believe they call “Okra Succotash.”

Now, what about those health benefits?

Like any organic vegetable that isn’t laced with pesticide and chemicals, it has obvious health benefits. …The usual vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, antioxidants, blah, blah, and so on and so forth.

However, there is a distinct quality in okra that is really good for your digestive tract.  The slime or “goo” in okra is a very beneficial fiber and helps lubricate the large intestine.  Okra’s mucilage (that slimy or gooey stuff) binds cholesterol and bile acid which helps flush the toxins and excess cholesterol out of the body via your intestinal tract.

Okra has been known to help people with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) along with other ailments.

Here’s a web page I just found online, that speaks about some of these health benefits in further detail:  https://www.pyroenergen.com/articles07/okra-health-benefits.htm

Well, enough about this okra subject.  Now I’m ready to fry some, but I don’t have any at the moment.  I look forward to growing some this year, though, along with several other things; good luck with your crops and enjoy the garden season this year.  Cheers!

---End of Post "Growing & Cooking Okra - The Health Benefits"

Fried Green Roma Tomatoes

Side Note: This is an old blog entry from another domain of mine that I deleted a while back. The original date of this post was 7-6-2012. Even though this is a blog about wildlife & nature, I decided to add it here anyway since it sort of goes with the garden-related stuff, etc. Anyway...

I’m sure that many of you have heard about the southern tradition involving fried green tomatoes, but have ya ever tried ’em? Well, even if you have, I’m sure most of you have always used the standard full-sized tomatoes like Big Boy, Better Boy, etc. Hey, I’ve always did the same thing, because that is all I have ever heard people talk about, when concerning this blissful, fried dish of tomato madness.

Well, the other day I got a little creative after realizing that a few of my tomato plants turned out to be Roma tomatoes. From there, I did a quick test-cook to see if there is a better alternative for fried green tomatoes. Oh, if you are wondering, Roma tomatoes are small, pear-shaped tomatoes that are often used in sauces and/or during cooking (also known as Italian tomatoes) because they are meatier and contain less seeds and juice. I don’t prefer them over the common, larger tomatoes when it comes to eating them in a ripe state or in salads, etc., because they just don’t have the juice and robust flavor like the others. But we are not talking about red tomatoes here…

Anyway, here is a quick snapshot of some green, Roma tomatoes, below:

Another reason why I decided to try this, is because I thought that the meatier Roma tomatoes would fare better when fried, as opposed to the traditional, large, juicy tomatoes. At any rate, I couldn’t help but notice that these smaller tomatoes would also be easier to maneuver and flip around in the skillet, sort of like when you fry squash, zucchini, and/or okra, for example (it’s obvious I’m from the south, eh?). But anyway, there is only one way to find out, right? So I started to slice these little devils…

After you have sliced ’em up in about 1/4th inch slices, it is now time to add the batter. Unlike most people, I choose against the whole “egg wash” hooey, as I have had the best flavor and texture when battering wet food directly into the batter, as opposed to using the pre-batter egg/milk dip thingy. Although I think my simple batter is the best in the world, you can use whatever type you desire. I prefer yellow corn meal mixed with a decent amount of seasoned salt, black pepper and a few tablespoons of sugar.

I suppose I could show an image of the battered & seasoned green Roma tomatoes, but I think you have a pretty good idea of what that may look like.

Well, it is time to cook, so have a large skillet ready with the oil of your choice (I currently prefer peanut oil), preheated of course, and fry those suckers until golden brown on each side. After they are done, drain on a plate with paper towels and season to taste with salt, pepper, hot sauce (even ketchup, if ya like) and/or whatever floats your boat.

To cut to the chase, the verdict is in: Roma Tomatoes, even though it may not be as popular, make for the best fried green tomatoes I have ever devoured. If cooked right, they almost seem like “tomato chips,” however that may sound. Hey, check out the finished product below: 

Side Note:  When I originally wrote this recipe, it was during the middle of garden season, and I had plenty of green tomatoes at the time. However, the other day, since it's wintertime, I applied this same cooking method to some store-bought Red Roma Tomatoes, and it still turned out good. They weren’t as firm, but still fairly tasty.  Since store-bought tomatoes are usually bland, I compensated by adding extra seasoning to the batter. Cheers!

Image Credits: My own photos.

---End of Post "Fried Green Roma Tomatoes"

Botfly Larva - Wicked Maggot

Side Note: This is an old blog post from a deleted website that I had in the past. The original date of this post was sometime during the year of 2010.

The Botfly, commonly spelled “Bot Fly,” also known as the torsalo and American warble fly, is about twice the size of a common housefly.

Its maggot larva are known to live as parasites in human flesh, along with other animals and whatnot. The Botfly’s larva burrows itself into the flesh and begins to consume body tissue while being able to breath air from its own backside (as odd as that may sound).

This wicked fly, is a sly little bastard, and often uses mosquitoes to transport their eggs, and when the mosquitoes bite a person, for example, the eggs are released onto the victim due to your body heat.

I recently stumbled upon this subject matter because we had several kittens born a few weeks ago and the mother of the kittens turned up missing, so we had to pay special attention to them. The runt of the bunch, which we named “Crummy,” had this sore on its neck and it seemed to be infected. 

My girlfriend put antibiotics on it and brought the cat inside. A couple days later, it seemed to get worse, and it had a swollen ring around the infected area. Well, one night, my girlfriend came running into the bedroom and woke me up. She said, “oh my god…you won’t believe this, something is living inside of Crummy!” She was totally freaked out and it took her hours to calm down. 

I looked at what appeared to be this bored out hole in its neck, and ever so many seconds this wormy looking creature would poke its head, ass, or whatever it was, out of the hole and quickly retreat back into Crummy’s neck. To make it short, my girlfriend kept pouring alcohol into the hole, since hydrogen peroxide didn’t seem to work, and it aggravated the Botfly Larva in such a way, it would start to poke out of the opening far enough so she could get some tweezers around it to pull it out.

This is how we come to realize what a Botfly and its larva looked like, and I learned even more about this parasite after searching online for more information.  I’ll provide some informative resource links, in a moment. [Edit: Since this post is at least 14 years old, many of the original resource links are no longer available, so I'll skip that part of the post.] But first, I’ll drop down a couple images…

Botfly Larva (maggot):

The Repugnant Botfly:

Update (11-10-2024): After looking back at this subject, years later, what I find odd about that whole ordeal was that the one called the "Human Botfly" were not that common in the United States back then nor are they now. They were mostly found in Central and South America and occasionally found on the southern tips of the U.S. However, after looking back into this subject, I read where we have a different species of this wicked maggot called the "North American Botfly" that lives in the United States, so maybe that was the type we found in that poor cat's neck back in 2010. However, in summary, no matter which type of species it was, to use unscientific terms, I would still classify that thing as "gross," to say the least. ---End of Update

Image Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermatobia_hominis

---End of Post "Botfly Larva - Wicked Maggot"

Japanese Beetles - Garden Pest

Side Note: This is an old blog post from a domain I deleted in the past. I decided to re-post if here. The original date of this post was: 8-2-2010. Yeah, that was over 14 years ago, but these little pests are still out in this world, so I assume this subject is still relevant. Plus, I've added a helpful update at the end of this post. Anyway...

I’ve planted many small gardens over the years and have never had that many problems with pests. But this year, I grew my first large garden in an open field with loads of various plants including a separate area for a corn field. Well, everything was going just fine until late June when these clumsy, awkward, ugly, pesky Japanese Beetles started showing up.

Yeah, I was really impressed with their appetite, as they devoured the leaves off my Okra plants along with several other plant varieties. But what disgruntled me the most, is when they entered into the corn field. They love to eat the silks off the ears of corn and if they get to it early enough, it will devastate your yield. Luckily for me, I had planted so much corn that I still had a decent crop. The beetles didn’t affect the end result of the rest of my harvest, but what will they do next year?

I’m not one to use poisons and sprays, since the whole point of growing your own food, at least to me, is to have fresh, organic produce. Anyway, I’ll provide a picture of this garden pest, along with an excerpt from Wikipedia about “control” when it comes to Japanese Beetles. If you enjoy gardening and you see these buzzing freaks enter into your green kingdom of vegetation, you may be interested in the following:

“Research performed by many US extension service branches has shown that pheromone traps attract more beetles than they catch. Traps are most effective when spread out over an entire community, and downwind and at the borders (ie, as far away as possible, particularly upwind), of managed property containing plants being protected. Natural repellents include catnip, chives, garlic, and tansy, as well as the remains of dead beetles, but these methods have limited effectiveness. Additionally, when present in small numbers, the beetles may be manually controlled using a soap-water spray mixture, shaking a plant in the morning hours and disposing of the fallen beetles, or simply picking them off attractions (that’s what I did this year), since the presence of beetles attracts more beetles to that plant.”

Read more about these annoying creatures, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_beetle

At any rate, I’ll be on the lookout for these beetles next year and prepare to combat this garden pest without poisons; If needed, I may possibly bring a freakin' blow torch to the scene!

Update (11-9-2024): As the years went by, I ended up moving a few more times. Each place had their own pests, of course, but I've had less and less trouble with this type of beetle, even though they are still buzzing around profusely. This is an incidental discovery, by the way, but I planted a couple Nanking Cherry bushes/trees beside my garden a few years ago. Now, when these Japanese Beetles show up every year, they like 95% favor the cherry bushes as opposed to my garden. Since the birds eat all the tiny cherries they produce anyway, I don't mind a bit that these particular pests prefer to eat the leaves off of the cherry trees as opposed to my garden. It's a win-win-win. ---End of Update

---End of Post "Japanese Beetles - Garden Pest"