Japanese beetle season has arrived. They are eating my roses, our young trees, and my new blueberry bushes. I have been squishing them but I cannot be everywhere at once, and besides that…eeewww, gross.

So, today I set up two Japanese beetle traps. I looked at the box and wondered, do these things really work? Or is it just something that sells because people want it to work?

I opened the box and assembled the two plastic pieces. Check. Then I attached the collection bag. Check. Next step, remove the backing from the pheromone bait and attach. As I held the bait and figured out how to seat it on the plastic fins, a couple flying things hit me in the head and bounced off. Then another flew at me and got stuck in my hair. Yup, Japanese beetles!

I used the wire provided and finally got two traps installed in the yard. The trap nearest my blueberry bushes had about 100 beetles in it by this evening. So, I can report that the traps do work. Just wear appropriate headwear during assembly!