Plants That Japanese Beetle Are Less Attracted To

Japanese Beetles are a ferocious feeder than can decimate a garden in no time. If you own one of the plants Japanese beetles attack, you know how frustrating this insect can be. It is devastating to watch a beloved plant devoured in a matter of days by these hungry and creepy bugs. While eliminating Japanese beetles can be challenging, one of the things you can do is growing plants that deter Japanese beetles, or plants that don’t attract Japanese beetles. Either of these options will allow you to have a garden that will not become an annual smorgasbord for Japanese beetles.

Japanese beetles are an easy pest to identify in the garden, as they make themselves known immediately. When present, you can spot them as they have bright metallic green heads with metallic copper coloured bodies. If none are visible, the skeletonizing of the leaves they feed on are a dead giveaway. These beetles seem to not enjoy the veins, as they feed around them leaving the distinct damage in their wake.

Plants That Deter Japanese Beetles

While it may seem surprising, there are actually plants Japanese beetles avoid. The typical kind of plant that will help to drive away Japanese beetles will be strong smelling, and may taste badly to the insect.

Some plants that deter Japanese beetles include:

By growing plants Japanese beetles avoid around the plants that they enjoy, you can help keep Japanese beetles away from your beloved plants.

Plants Resistant to Japanese Beetles

Another option is to grow Japanese beetle resistant plants. These are plants that simply don’t interest Japanese beetles that much. Be warned though, even plants that don’t attract Japanese beetles can occasionally suffer from minor damage. But, the nice thing about these plants is that the beetles will quickly lose interest in them, as they are not as tasty to them as some other plants are.

Japanese beetle resistant plants include:

Japanese beetles can be frustrating, but they do not have to ruin a garden. Careful planting of plants that deter Japanese beetles or plants that don’t attract Japanese beetles can help you to have a more beetle free yard.

Plants Japanese Beetles Feast On

As Japanese Beetle are such opportune feeders, this list is not in any way comprehensive. We have simply put together a small collection of our top selling plants from the Garden Centre which Japanese Beetle find highly attractive.

If you are looking for plants to avoid if you have a beetle phobia, then these are plants you should try to stay away from growing:

Controlling Japanese Beetles

We have prepared a list of How To Control Japanese Beetle in our Garden Guides section. It looks at some conventional methods of control, as well our suggestions on what is most effective and not so much, such as why the Japanese Beetle Trap may not be the best method.