Use Old Milk Jugs To Create A Budget-Friendly Defense Against Two Common Garden Pests

When you garden outdoors, it's just a given that you're going to end up having to deal with common garden pests. No matter what you're growing and where you are, there will always be insects that will come and feed on the plants that you so lovingly tend. While a few insects here and there aren't going to be that much of a problem, if you end up with an infestation, it can seriously decimate your lovely plants, especially if those insects happen to be Japanese beetles or June bugs. If you don't like using pesticides because you want to encourage the good bugs into your garden, there are plenty of eco and budget-friendly defense mechanisms you can use to protect your plants from these annoying garden intruders. Here are a couple of ways you can use old milk jugs to make effective beetle traps.

Both June bugs and Japanese beetles are highly destructive in the garden as they feed on the foliage and fruits of a wide variety of plants. While you'll easily be able to spot Japanese beetles in your yard as they munch away on your shrubs, vines, and trees, June bugs are nocturnal, so they're a bit more difficult to spot unless you're out in the garden at night with a flashlight. Nevertheless, there are numerous signs June bugs are destroying your plants. So, in order to create the perfect DIY bug traps to rid your garden of as many of these pests as possible, you may want to approach each one a little differently. But for both methods, you'll need an old milk jug or fruit juice bottle.

Creating a trap to catch the Japanese beetles in your yard is fairly easy. All you need is an old milk jug, some water, and a little dish soap. Cut the top off the jug and put the water and dish soap in the bottom. Then all you have to do is go out in the garden and find the plants that the beetles are feasting on. Hold the jug under some leaves or stems covered with beetles and give the foliage a bit of a shake. The beetles should just fall right off into the jug. The dish soap will coat them, and they won't be able to fly back out again, so they drown.

For June bugs, you'll need to hang a trap in the tree or shrub that the pests are feeding on. Again, using an old milk jug, this time you want to cut it in half. Place some warm water, a packet of yeast, ¼ cup of sugar, a squirt of dish soap, and a couple of small pieces of overripe fruit into the base. Invert the top part of the jug and place it in the bottom to create a funnel. Hang this up near where you're seeing the damage from the bugs. During the night, the pests will be lured into the funnel by the smell of the fruit and yeast. Once they crawl down through the opening and end up in the base, they won't be able to get back out and will drown in the liquid. Finally, you might also want to consider growing some geraniums to keep Japanese beetles out of your garden, as there's a compound in the petals that paralyzes them and makes them an easy meal for predators.