Our family garden has been great this year since the great spring bunny scare however as the summer goes on we've found that our old enemy has returned: Japanese/Asian Beatles.  They've been really tearing up our green bean plants.  So far they have not jumped into any other plants but they love those beans for some reason.  Little ladybug size gold basterds. I sprayed tonight and it got me thinking about the larger question of pesticides and how best to employ them.  I'd rather of course not spray anything but as it turns out if I did that I wouldn't have a bean crop.  What do you spray? How do you decon the fruits and vegetables for consumption? How often do you do it?  I just don't want to give my family health effects down the road from not following best practices.  The dogs too are all over and I don't want to do any harm to them.

The pests have got to go that much is clear but the best way to employ pesticide is now my question.

Thoughts or opinions?

Those suckers seem to be getting worse every year.  I'd make sure of your ID, though... at least around here, Japanese beetles are much bigger than a ladybug.  Closer to, but not quite as big as a Junebug.

Anyway, can't help you on the chems, we still avoid them when possible.  About the only thing we've found that helps is to trap them.  They have commercial pheromone traps, but around here the bags fill up pretty quick... in a couple of hours, in some cases.  Last year I made my own with 5 gal buckets.  Drilled a hole in the lid and wired/glued a funnel to it, then put some lure (available wherever you buy trap bag refills) hanging inside the bucket.  I had to empty that several times last year (!).

They are attracted to the color yellow.  We had some success just putting yellow, open 5 gal buckets out there with some water in the bottom.  Traps work much better, though.

Last year I had those hanging traps but still got jap beetle damage.  The like the cabbage leaves too.  The beetles are back this year as strong as ever.  The ones I have are nearly the size of a small pinky nail, they're rainbow metallic sheen colored green/orange.  My above ground pool seems to trap a fair amount of them.  I have to skim about 15 a day out of the pool before a dip.

The only product I used this year was bonide fruit tree spray on my young apple and pear trees.  On the trees I used as directed.  I had instructions from a commercial grower on how much to cut it to use on the garden and only used it once in that manner.  So much rain here for a while it just washed off and is lost.   On the fruit trees you're supposed to reapply after rain because it dries as a film on the protected plant.

I was thinking of picking up a second product, a copper based product for garden use.  Not sure if I will the garden is looking kind of anemic this year other than my tomatos are coming along.  

cukes are slow as hell, no blossoms
pepper plants were slow, had one pepper each, that were smaller than plumbs and turned red.  Not sure if any more will come and I doubt it.  
Green beans are just flowering now.  
Lettuce mix has been rabbit food and deer food
Hot peppers fizzzled out
cabbage is plugging along, no heads formed yet but they were all late last year.

If you want a chemical to kill the Japanese Beetle use Sevin.  Some people use the dust, but I prefer the liquid.  Mix it up in a hand pump sprayer, and go to town.  It kills them within minutes.  All you do is wash your produce off when you pick, which I hope you already do, and you are good to go.  Follow the directions as far as how often to apply.  It usually lasts for up to 7 days as long as there is no rain.

Do you buy produce from the grocery store?  They use far worse chemicals to spray them than what you would use at home.  So spraying a little bit of Sevin on your plants is the least of your worries.  

If you are still leery of using that you can try using Safer Brand Insecticidal Soap.  It will kill them almost instantly.  The downside is that you have to use a hand squeeze bottle to spray it, and there is no residual affect.  If you don't hit the beetle it doesn't do anything, but get the plant wet.  

I use a combo of both, and have no beetle problem.  I don't believe that traps are a good idea.  It attracts too many of them to the yard, and the bags fill up too fast.

Traps baited with pheromones, draw male and female beetles to the area, not just the trap.

The females that mate before getting to the trap, simply go lay eggs. Seeing as how the occurrence is much more likely, with the increased number of males in the area, all the traps do is make your garden area a giant Jap beetle Orgy, and grub incubator. Not good.

Sevin works, and is a very safe Carbamate.

Pyrethoids such as "Eight", are mammal safe if ingested as well, and both wash off easily.

There is a new BT based OMRI approved product called "BeetleGONE", that is being praised by our extension entomologists, after some initial field trials.
Of course they aren't paying the spray bill...but apparently it works as well as the Carbamates, and milder Pyrethoids, and for a small application, would be within the economic threshold, for hobby gardeners.

http://greenearthagandturf.com/biological-insect-beetle-control-phyllom-beetle-gone-bt.shtml

On those fruit trees, add a good sticker to the mix. The insecticide and fungicide, in the "Fruit tree spray" mix, are both highly susceptible to even 1/2" of rain within 7 days of application.
Addition of a good sticker will increase resistance to wash off, as well as reduce loss of effectiveness due to UV breakdown, extending it's length of activity....reducing the amount used over a season.
Bonide makes and sells a decent one. Miller Nufilm 17 is the gold standard...but expensive.

Local Menards sells organic plant based insecticide specifically for those beetles. It is for veggie garden. Don't use it, as we don'thave those as a pproblem here.