I hope to never see those devils..have enough eating everything already. At least the first flush was good..

I am not really sure what they are. Could you describe them to me. They are not what we call June bugs are they?
GD

Kaye, I really hope you never see them on your roses, too. They are awful, and I don't get hyper about anything easily. They will pile up on a rose...I have seen as many as 8 to 10 or more on one blossom...by the time you find them the bloom is riddled. They will fall off if you touch the stem, so either find out which spray to use or carry a bucket of soapy water...hold it under the bloom and knock them off in it. It would be an impossible task for anyone with roses in the numbers you grow and with the height of the climbers. They ate hollyhocks, Virginia creeper (Parthinocisis), grapevines. They may favor rose blossoms, but when they come in swarms like that, they just eat everything.

gldno, I was confused too, until I saw them. They look very much like what we grew up calling June bugs, but JPs are about 1/3 to 1/2 as large...same shape. The color is darker, but has some iridescence that shows greenish blue. They will eat a lot of the same things, but I think the old "June Bug's" numbers are down...maybe because of these darned things. You'll know them when you see 'em. They particularly like the blooms on my Rugosas. They will wipe out the whole bloom crop on crape myrtles, also. I am just learning what all they do like.

Saw the first one today munching on the edge of a daylily blossom. They seem to get worse every year......

Lee

Millie, the only thing I can relate to as bad is a grasshopper year. We had one about 4-5 years ago and they ate everything..I stayed in the house the whole summer as I couldn't take all the damage. If the JBs move down here, I may have to rethink the whole gardening thing.

They'd be easier to tolerate if they ate leaves instead of blooms. grrrr
I've heard to plant 4 o'clocks to poison them and this link lists some other plants that will supposedly lure and poison them. It's close to the bottom where it says "Plant Traps" You may want to start stocking up on those Kaye. I'm sure you will have Japanese Beetles someday.

Ooops sorry - takes a while to rev up those brain cells in the morning. Here's the link. Has anyone tried planting 4 o'clocks? I bought seeds last year and never planted them.

Ok - This time I've got it. tah dah

Here is a link that might be useful: The illusive link

Kaye, I remember those grasshoppers...or was it the year we had so many cicadas? Anyway, we had newly planted fruit trees and they ate the bark off all the tender new limbs...had to be pruned back after they were gone.

Christie, I knew I needed some Larkspur and 4-O'Clocks. Trouble is, there are so many that I wonder if it would make a dent. We have an old Stone Ice House (10x12) that is totally covered with Virginia Creeper...we let it grow to help keep the interior temp. down. They ate all the leaves off that, and there are so many leaves that you can't see the stone at all in summer. I didn't go into the woods to see what they ate there, but what I saw in the yard was enough to convince me that there was such a thing as an insect plague.

I grew 4 o'clocks last year. Saw some JBs eating them but still had plenty of JBs eating roses, rose of sharons, hollyhocks, morning glorys. Last september, I mail-ordered and put out beneficial nematodes which are supposed to kill the grub of the JBs. We'll see if that even made a dent this season.
~dreading the horrible JBs~

If I have had them, I didn't recognize them and hope I don't. But, like RRD, I am sure they will come my way.

Thanks for the id.

GD

The problem with a picture like this (for me, anyway) was that it didn't tell me how large. They are 3/8 of an inch long, but it's the way they love to bunch up that makes the damage so bad. You may walk by and see nothing on your rose and come back the same day to find it nearly gone because they were under the petals or inside the center. Roses are one thing, but human and animal plant food crops could cause many more woes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Japanese Beetles