What do they look like? Are they on the plants or in the mulch or at the base of the plant? Reason I'm asking is that I planted a Graham Thomas rose that is not doing well and spotted two icky brown beetles in the mulch. They could have ridden in with the plant, been in the ground already in that spot, doubtful they live in the bags of mulch but could I suppose.

I will NOT be squishing them with my bare hands, will collect them and stomp on them, drowning is uh seems a little more lingering death, and I do not like killing anything. About the only thing I will kill any more are mosquitoes, cockroaches, and flies. Now these if I find them for sure.

They won't waste time on the mulch - they'll be dessimating the flowers and foliage and can do so in near record time. Unless global warming really gets a foothold, Japanese Beetles are one scourge we don't have here in MN. Had them in the Mid-Atlantic though and used to take a coffee can of water around and just knock them into the can and put the lid back on - you may come to that after collecting and stomping a few. Lots of images of JB's on Google.

Already?!?! WTF!?!?! They usually don't show up here until around mid July, gives me some time to enjoy the roses before they wreck them. I'll have to check around later today and see if there are any beasties lurking around that need to meet their death.

They haven't emerged yet, but it will be soon my fellow gardeners in my growing zone. i've been debating to use jap traps or not, i know spraying them with dawn dish soap and water kills them, tried it, done it, works good, but don't know if i want to attract them to the far back of the yard. a friend of mine were just discussing this, and i said if everyone in the u.s. that has this problem set up one trap in their yard for the next few years, the population would diminish, though not be completely gone, but that'll never happen...lol!

Ugh, I couldn't do the trap, I just couldn't. It's gross enough dumping the jar of soapy water I drown them in when there's only 25-50 or so of them, I couldn't stomach emptying a contraption chock-full of them, I think I would hurl right there in the backyard. Plus, I've heard if you don't empty it regularly, it starts to stink. BLECH!!

ya, they do stink bad if they sit long enough, and its gross, but it catches them good, just make sure its not in your garden but far away to attract them away from the posies.

I realize this is not an organically correct solution, but has anyone had success with a systemic insecticide drench to kill JBs that feed on susceptible plants? I have been using a pyrethrin-type spray which is effective, but the effects only last for several days and it is toxic to bees.

duluth, thanks. I'll find a picture of one. Ick. You are right, I may change my tune if they show up. My roses, all new this year from different places, have already struggled with other unknowns, so I don't need this.

It's too early. They have to go back.

eric, everybody and his dog started using Bayer's systemic soil drench last year over on the Rose Forum, but so far as I can tell, no one reported great results against JBs.

I'm too depressed even to think about it.

Ick. I'm sure they are around here, but I don't recall having ever seen one, but then I never looked for any. I've been out in the countryside and seen the symptoms where they eat all the fleshy part of a leaf and leave the veins, looks lacy, have a photo I took somewhere but it could be some other nasty critter.

Now I've read that in Japan they do not cause the damage they do here because natural predators keep them in check. I wonder what those predators would be? Not that we would further want to upset the ecological applecart assuming they would adapt to our environmental conditions by bringing any here.

I'm still upset about the orange ladybugs they brought in which now proliferate much more than the red ones which I like. Some years it isn't bad at all, but other years in the fall, they get on the south part of your house, whole armies of them, and darned if they don't find a way in. Then you find them around dead all winter.

Aliska - I agree about those darn orange "ladybugs". They haven't been too bad the past couple years, but one fall they were so bad and yes they were trying their darndest to get in the house in the fall, I was vacuuming up dead orange bugs clear into winter in the rooms where the windows were kept open.

I went outside a while ago and checked the rugosa blooms - no JBs yet. I still have time to stick my nose in the blooms and enjoy the scent before the beasties have their orgies on them...

Come to think of it, I haven't seen any ladybugs for awhile. The orange ones can just go away, although I guess they eat aphids and I hate aphids. Which is why, I believe, they brought them here.

Last fall, the neighbor had boxelder bugs swarming on the front of his (new to him) older, fixed-up house. Funny thing was, a neighborhood invasive vine was in that spot (they tore most of it off renovating the house) and the former owner sprayed when the house wasn't selling. I don't know if there is a connection or not. Anyway, the new neighbor sprayed again for those things. Thank heaven they didn't make it to my place. Our farmhouse would get them in the fall, inside, something terrible.

I appreciate the heads up on the JB's because I've already gotten blindsided about rose slugs and something else is eating holes in and otherwise damaging, of course, mostly my weakest roses. I know already I won't want to spray because I dislike handling pesticides but I may have to rather than lose them all. I buy a few, and they sit in the cupboard in the back hall, way up on the topmost shelf) unopened. I really need to get going with Roundup and a paintbrush. Some things are more under control than they have been for years, but if I don't fight the last holdouts, they will be back with a vengeance. One is Virginia creeper, another one nobody knew what it was when I posted a photo, and it is just so invasive, unbelieveable. Now I've got another one I hadn't noticed before take over by the garage, makes a network of underground roots, pull one out, get a bunch of root, and it pops back up again somewhere else. They are out to get me.

I have laid down 4 mil black plastic weighted down by boards. That will take care of the worst of that, but I'll still have to deal with the remnant.

I will certainly watch for those nasty chompy creepy beetles. And find a forum where I can post some photos of my three above-mentioned invasive weeds and see if somebody here knows what they are and how to fight back.

Add me to the depressed list. I found the first one last Friday and a couple every day since; they are definitely early this yr. It won't be long before they are swarming everywhere, ugggghhhhhh. Last yr. they were so bad that vigilant hand picking barely made a dent. I'm going to go cry now.

I heard my daughter yell "MOM There's a bug in the pool SAVE IT SAVE IT!" so I had to save a Japanese Beetle yesterday. lol It's only the second one I've seen this year so far but there will be so many that squishing the one from the pool wouldn't have made a difference. I'm thinking about putting a trap/bag at the back of our property (1/4 mile from house). I picked them off in the beginning but now it's useless.

I think (can we start a movement) that the conservation departments should put up industrial sized bags out away from houses as long as they only catch Japanese Beetles. Do you think that would help?

The Bayer combination insecticide, fungicide, fertilizer (soil drench) does not kill Japanese beetles (or any chewing insect as far as I can tell from all the crying on the rose forum). However, it is very effective in killing your earth worms, bees, predator insects, butterflies, and probably beneficial soil microbes. After killing off all the beneficial insects what is left are insecticide resistant pests that devastate your garden. VERY DEPRESSING INDEED!

From my experience, the Bayer R&F Care works initially. Then, the JPs figure it out (maybe the leaves taste bad, I don't know), but they then tend to cluster on and eat the blossoms, which don't seem to transmit the insecticide. The cluster factor does however make it easier to knock them into the sacred bucket of soapy water.

Spazzycat - they tend to cluster anyway, so I can't see how using that product would make much of a difference in terms of that.

I don't want to turn this into a brouhaha, but I'd like to say that if we're going to wage war, let's at least do it in an environmentally friendly way and not kill off our beneficials in the process.

I have a mangeable size lot, I'll just continue to drown them in soapy water. It's not too bad of a chore, late evening is best, after gorging themselves and partaking in countless orgies for the day, they're sluggish and drop right in the jar/bucket, they don't even try to fly away. Then I just toss them in the ditch (after letting them sit an hour or two in the water to make sure they're DEAD dead), I figure the birds will snack on them and if not they'll just become part of the ecosystem.

Has using "Milky Spore" to eradicate JPs in their larval stage gone out of fashion? True, it is best done on a community-wide basis since one yard among many doesn't accomplish much. Something for those of you who have HOA's to bring up at a meeting - since the destruction caused by these pests isn't confined to roses. They also attack Japanese and Norway maples, Rose of Sharon, Black Walnut, flowering crabs, London planetrees, and a host more.

There are a few species of wasps and flies that attack the beetles, but the introduction of these natural controls is so far quite limited.

[i]Has using "Milky Spore" to eradicate JPs in their larval stage gone out of fashion? [/i]

Well, I used it in the second year I had my garden in z5NY and didn't find it very effective. My garden was a cleared half acre or so in the middle of the oak and maple woods. My neighbors' houses and yards were pretty similar - all the yards were surrounded by a barrier of fairly dense woods. Multiflora roses were done blooming by the time the JBs emerge and I was the only rose grower. Three and four years after application of milky spore, I still had JBs on the rugosas.

My yard is only about 3000 sq. ft (sigh), and I've applied Milky Spore three times in the past year and a half, as well as applying beneficial nematodes twice but have seen no decline in my grub/JB problem. It's frustrating, but I am not giving up on these two methods. I have a dog so will not use chemicals, plus I would never want to kill my earthworms.

Since I moved in I have been slowly getting rid of the front lawn and replacing it with plants. I've also been creating beds in the backyard, and everytime I dig (well, fall & spring) I find grub after grub. Right now it's almost unbearable being outside in the backyard during the afternoon- JBs swarming around all over....YEEEECH!!!!
Oddly enough, or at least going on past experience, with as many grubs as I have in the yard (and boy do they damage my grass!) I do not find a ton of JBs on my plants. I do have some, of course, and I use the drowning in soapy water method (I use the containers from grated cheese, with the pop open lid....works well). However, I see them at my parent's house where they are covering entire plants, and they don't seem to have any grub/lawn issues. I don't get it.

I am wondering if when I finally get my whole front yard replaced with plants instead of grass will the JBs still lay eggs there (and then will the grubs eat the roots and kill my plants instead of the grass) or will they find the closest grass instead to lay the eggs? When I dig in my flower beds now I do find grubs, but not very many.