Doing some reading on studies of pesticides for Rose Chafers and it looks like the winner was developed from a nerve agent during WWII..Azinphos-methyl.. Looks like i can't get my hands on that one :)

Frank:

I would not assume that milky spore cannot solve or at least substantially reduce your JB and Chafer problems. Buy a can of the pure spore and put it on as soon as possible. You can spread the grids at least twice as far as the recommended distance, but it takes at least a year for the spore to spread in the soil and become really effective. The more beetle larvae it finds in the soil the happier it makes the milky spore, and the faster it propagates.

I have done my one acre twice, about 20 years apart. In each case, I went into the 3 neighboring yards about 30 feet. I can't say for sure this made a real difference, but beetle problems disappeared after a year, the Chafers along with the JB's. They may be able to fly in from longer distances, but they don't do it here.

2 years ago I covered over 2 acres on my son's place in July, after he had a severe infestation. Did the whole area with a single 44 ounce can of pure spore and the applicator tube, but spaced the very small applications over 8 feet apart. Last season he had no Japanese Beetles at all. None. Something good is happening here. The milky spore is not cheap (about $80 for the 44 ounce can), but it lasts a long, long time.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I'm going to do that. Its worth it to try. I should have done it years ago...

Don suggestion sounds like a good one, but don't discount carbaryl. It seems beetles obtain a fancy for a few plants and it is difficult to break them once they start feeding. They seem to mark the plants. Carbaryl, however, will eventually break them. Keep it on at the max rate. After it rains, reapply. The beetles will eventually get the hint or die. Carbaryl is extremely lethal to beetles.

I'm with Don also and am very grateful for his suggestion that you needn't apply as much as label specifies. I'm pretty sure that my application was careless about 18 years ago but the beetles also did a dissappearing act and have still not returned in major numbers on my property.

His suggestion gives me the courage to dilute rates on other sites I manage where cost would otherwise be prohibitive.

I was going to order 40oz of it... Looks like about $80 or so. The $10 oz are almost $30. Maybe i can give some to my neighbors if i have extra.

I'm not about to use GrubEx or anything like that, although i would use Sevin (on the grubs), but the timing has to be perfect and all that would do is buy you a year, if that.

Thanks again...

I often have to use Sevin to kill them in orchards I manage. Half the time a mite flare-up follows. Anybody have expereince with another synthetic that kill JBs but is not as hard on mite predators as Sevin?

The problem where I live in Orange County, California is Green Fruit Beetles. They are great fliers, you can see them flying in at altitudes of 3 to 40 feet above the ground looking for ripe fruit to eat or have orgies on. So treating one's own property probably wouldn't help that much, even though my property is infested with the grubs which live in and under the compost I spread around all my fruit trees, I must have killed 50 of them while digging in the compost around just one of the trees. One solution would be to plant early ripening fruit that matures before the adult beetles emerge in the summer.

For this year you are SOL. But in the future you might try nematodes. My application of Heterorhabditis bacteriophora last year in September appears to have made a significant impact on the June beetles and Japanese Beetles. They were a bit of a scourge last year and this year they are just a nuisance.

I have clay soil here and according to Texas A&M Milky Spore is not as effective a control here for Japanese beetles and June beetles. Whichever you apply make sure you do it in the time of year for maximum efficacy.

Somewhere i read Milky Spore works better in the north and nematodes works better in the south.

My brother was saying last year was the first time he had Japanese Beetles, it was for me too (he is about 10 miles east of me...i'm right along the Mississippi).

I saw very FEW beetles today, almost none. I guess that 49F high temp and moderate rain all day kept them in hiding or something.

Both of us (brother and I) have horrible mole problems. I think there is connection.

I've got a lot of beneficials on my trees. See a lot of ladybugs, spiders, etc.

Rose Chafer Beetles contain Cantharidin: from wiki:
" The complete mechanism of the biosynthesis is currently unknown. If cantharidin is ingested, it severely irritates the urinary tract as it is excreted, causing swelling of the genitalia. This can cause a harmful condition known as priapism in men, where an erection lasts more than about four hours."
These bugs means serious business.