Annie z7 VA

2 hours ago

This year is my first year of planting roses, and today is my first day of seeing Japanese Beetles We left them in a ziplock bag outside so they can burn tomorrow under the sun!!!

So sorry, Annie. What an ordeal!

I knock them into a jar of soapy water. I did that and did not see them much the following 3 or 4 years. This year they have returned to the front yard not the back.

We have our own rose beetles, different species. They're always undesirable, but this year they've been awful. Where are the beetle predators that are supposed to arrive if you don't interfere with Nature's course?

I hate to tell you this but it does get worst. Some gardeners has also found that some years are better but I can tell you that they did discourage me from growing roses. I haven't bought any new roses for at least 2 years now because of them. Some people suggested to cut the flowers when some show up so I may try that this year. Good luck.

Thanks all!

@jjpeace (zone 5b Canada) I've only had about 10 roses this year and they are all first year roses so I think it will be manageable, but to be honest I don't know how i will be able to manage next year when the roses grow larger. And I have 3 coming in the mail for fall planting, 2 of which is a climber! To be honest I already feel pretty discouraged from buying more after reading all the horror stories... I freaked out today and cut all my roses to bring them inside even though I am not a big fan of cutting roses - I enjoy them when they are on the plants more... :( I am going to the store tomorrow to get neem oil, bioadvanced, whatever that may help. I will also use grubex early spring next year. I'm desperate lol!!!

There is no complete solution. I am trying several things. My JBs arrived on Father's Day, June 21, so I am only about 9-days into them for 2020. I started by handpicking.

Last year I was visiting extended family about 70-miles from home. A guy there had a yard full of roses, and when mine were decimated, his still had flowers in mid-July, so I got out of the car and introduced myself. He said he was spot spraying a combination Dawn dish soap and Sevin from a one gallon sprayer 3x daily. He is retired. I am not.

I was encouraged. So now, I do a quick patrol in the morning before work. This morning at 8:00 a.m. I found just one on the 33 roses in my main rose beds. I had removed all of them the night before.

I came home at lunch and they were thick and flying around, so I hand-picked most over the Noon hour, and when I found so many I started spot spraying. Usually JBs are the most active right around Noon, so I got most of them, and then at 6:30 p.m. I worked on hand picking some more, and there were not that many - maybe 25-30 tonight, and then just before dusk I patrolled one more time, and I probably picked 5. They have not completely chewed off all my rose petals or rose buds like they have done in the past. I have also applied a Bayer Bioadvanced Insecticide intended to kill JBs. At Noon, I did find two dead beetles. I think the live ones are slowed down by he insecticide. But when they come in thick the Bayer Bioadvanced systemic cannot kill them fast enough to prevent total annihilation in the absence of other measures that include hand picking or spot spraying.

I applied beneficial nematodes this spring to help kill the JB grubs. My backdoor neighbor applied an insecticide to his lawn to slay the grubs. The numbers might be down a bit as a result of our combined efforts. I think back to those days when JBs were not here. I would say from 2005-19 I progressively became more disinterested in growing roses because of the JBs. Since 2019, I can report that massive early efforts and frequent continuous intervention can reduce the problem.

rosecanadian: I have not had honey bees here in about 4-years. I do get wasps, sweat bees, and bumble bees. Of those bee like creatures I appreciate the bumble bees. But even so the bumble bees gather around my pole bean flowers more than my roses. I have a guilty conscious about bumble bee visitors in my rose beds.

Yeah, I hear you. I love the bumbles too.

Not using Sevin, so far. Still killing JBs in big #s.

In the interest of bees and other beneficials, we use an organic and integrated pest management approach (not knocking other garden choices). Unfortunately, JBs have few natural predators in the U.S. Some predatory insects can kill them, but they're susceptible to the same poisons as JBs.

Day to day, like Mark, I try to do an early morning and evening hunt throughout our garden. Like totoro, I use a tall glass of soapy water and a butter knife to knock the beetle in and drown it, along with any other pests I find. I do a midday walk-through whenever I can. I usually see lots of predator bugs, which is exciting!

For ongoing management, I'm trying the following:

1. Spray with Neem every week or so (at least when it's not raining every other day). However, my understanding is that Neem is more of a deterrent than anything for JBs. Bonus is that it can help prevent some diseases and deter other pests.

2. Squish and kill any grubs we find when we prep beds in the spring.

3. Plant four o'clocks close by and throughout the garden. They're poisonous and will kill the beetle, which are supposed to be attracted to them. Heads up: four o'clocks are heavy feeders and we have one that mooched off the rose I topdressed next to it. The rose doesn't seem to mind.

4. Focus on improving the soil to grow healthy plants that recover well from disease and injury.

We live in the southeast and the beetles usually become a problem during the summer. So far, I only see 1 to 2 beetles a day. However, our garden is pretty new and I'm anticipating that the population could build over the next year or two. If it does, my plan is to apply Milky Spore in the summer/early fall when the grubs are chowing down prepping for the winter. This should cause a disease that affects only them and will kill them by spring.

Here's a little more on natural enemies: https://extension.umd.edu/ipm/japanese-beetles-and-natural-enemies

Sarah - I've never heard of four o'clocks being used against JBs. Excellent!!!

I probably hand-picked 250 or more beetles, today off roses, and off my peach trees. I spot sprayed Dawn dish soap/Malathion into a linden tree. The spot spraying probably only gets about 50 or more on the sidewalk/street. I see the dead ones next day on the street and sidewalk. There are more in the lawn, but no idea on the lawn #s. My point is that this is frustrating, but the handpicking off rose bushes is actually about 50% effective and more environmentally friendly. I will still spray the linden tree, and my cherry tree out-of-season because I hate these buggers, but I am trying to reduce the spraying in my rose beds.

First let me preface this buy telling you that my eyesight is poor so when I saw a beetle in my rose bloom I was surprised because we dont see them here. I reached in to grab him and promptly got stung, big old bumblebee disguised as a beetle. I told you that my eyesight is poor

The JB have been really bad this summer. I usually don't have time to do anything in the morning and I'm not to wild about working in the heat of the day. SSSOOOOO, by the time I get to my garden in the early evening, they have destroyed any blooms. AND, if they can't find any blooms to munch on, they destroy the foliage. I've given up on control and will just wait for another few weeks and clean the bush's up a little. They should be gone soon.

So this is completely not scientific. Have used these products this year, and I’m noticing the roses that have been treated in the last 2 weeks or so do not have the JB all over them. I’m a slacker, so those that are untreated have tons of beetles, chomping buds & leaves as well as blooms. Something to consider.

Oops heres the link Rose food