Ah…. they go for my rugosa rose and my blackberry plants, but I haven’t seen them here yet.

No sightings here yet...

Just a few are showing up over the past two weeks.

I have something like JP’s but larger.and they’re called June bugs, but they’re different than what we used to call June bugs when I was a little girl. They behave the same, munching roses and tomatoes and lots of plants and flying about banging into things. They are disgusting and yes, they’re here for the season. I put a bounty on their heads: my children get a buck for every four dead beetles they bring me.

I've seen two so far--and it's the first time I've ever seen them here in my new garden at my new home, now in its 5th season. I don't grow anything that attracts them.

I set up the beetle traps yesterday, caught about two dozen. That's two dozen I don't have to crunch between my fingers. There's a theory that the traps draw more to your yard than they trap. On an acre and a half I can site the traps away from the garden. But if the neighbors beetles want to join mine in the trap they are more than welcome!

I normally get just a few. I get Oriental beetles more. And they seem to gravitate to the roses. Is there anything else they eat that I should be looking out for? My roses are underperforming this year. I didn't deadhead and I'm not getting a 2nd flush so, maybe they're not going to be attractive to the beetles this year?

I was going to stop growing Showy Tick-trefoil because the Japanese Beetles were destroying it annually, but this year they have comepletely ignored the Desmodium canadense and went for my Creeping Dogbane instead. It's difficult rembering Creeping Dogbane's Latin name. Oh it came back, Apocynum androsaemifolium. Oleander Aphids are still my biggest problem. I have been rincing them off with the hose, but if aphid predators are attracted by the smell of honeyew, I might be shooting myself in the foot. On the upside, the aphids let me see where all the Honeyvine suckers are hiding.

I have seen them for about two weeks and have resigned myself to the carnage. They have waned a bit over the past 4-5 years and I'm told that they go in 10 year cycles, getting better after a while. I think we're on the "better" side of things but I can't imagine Moses and only 5 of them a year. I'm glad if there's only 5 of them per rose. Not every rose, mind you, mostly the tall robust roses, particularly the white singles.

They absolutely ADORE Oscar Peterson which must put out some scent or the attraction of the stamens that they love. I'm happy to have them demolish Oscar's flowers - not that I don't love them, I do - because he is so robust he can take it. Ditto IceCap, Morden Snowbeauty, and Guirlande de'Amour. Quadra isn't white but it's so tall it catches a lot on the breeze - he's a monster too so he'll shrug them off once school starts. Sigh. Six more weeks of squishing - I'm more a fan of immediate death than soapy drowning. I want to SEE THEM DIE...:) Just the bugs, of course!

Cynthia

My season has begun…. I just found the first three on my rugosa rose. :)

They definitely have their preferences. They'll go after any of my rugosas, but the Wildberry Breeze rugosa is like catnip (beetlenip?) for them. Last year they really did a number on my newly-planted linden tree, which, of course, is right outside the window...sigh... They can't seem to leave sweet cherries alone, either. I don't have any sweet cherries trees amongst the fruit trees anymore so maybe they'll veer away from the orchard this year, we'll see. I'm sure I'll find them in the scrub cherry trees, though (I usually do). I find them in the vegetable garden and raspberries, too, though not in as great a number as on their favorites. BEASTS!!

I mentioned that the Japanese Beetles were eating my Creeping Dogbane, Apocynum dontmakemespellitoutia. I just discovered there are metalic green and bronze Dogbane Beetles. I assumed they were Japanese Beetles. Had I known, I would not have pulled up my ubiquitous but sporadic Hemp Dogbane stalks and kept them as a deterrent to my much more favored Creeping Dogbane, Apocynum androsaemifolium(?). Why have 7 syllibles when you can have 9?

This is the Dogbane Beetle. It has much longer antennae than the Japanese Beetle and it has more metalic green on its back. A flying jewel.

Japanese Beetle

They have now found the Showy Tick-trefoil just as it's ready to bloom.

I'm hoping the predation of my dogbane will stimulate it into spreading mode. These beetles must be native so I'll let them be. If any bug experts want to add anything....

Jay that's a beautiful beetle. Too bad they wreak such havoc.

My beetle nemesis is the oriental beetle. So destructive. I have found I have been getting a few more Japanese beetles each year, but they are nowhere near as bad as those darn orientals. They're just awful.

:)

Dee

I have not seen any yet BUT I did see JB damage....

"Dogbane Beetle ... a flying jewel" - they really are, and they're quite common in the field across the road from me (where dogbane is one of the most abundant plants). But I don't think I've ever observed them to cause significant damage.

In Jay's "10 Types of Green Beetles" graphic, the "Green June Beetle" (lower left) actually looks more like a Japanese beetle, with the characteristic white tufts of hair on its side (see below from Guardians of Nature FB post):

Japanese beetles were all over the rose mallow plants being sold at a store up the road from me (7/6/26):

@Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z6 you are fortunate. I can have more than 5 on a single rose at any given time. It’s convenient when the are clustered though… it maked it easier to knock them into my mason jar of soapy water - aka my jar of DOOM.

Seen one today but he met a soapy death...

I must have gotten somewhere between 75-100 this evening in the Jar of Death.

Interesting comparison above between the Japanese beetles and the Green June Beetle. There’s no doubt which ones are in my garden: the Green June Beetles! However, though they mostly go for the fruit, they’re in my rose gardens as well and certainly can munch an incredible amount of blooms in a short time. That said, they definitely are thicker in my tomato patch. If only they stuck to eating “fallen fruit”! Mine can’t read the chart posted above; they go for any ripe tomatoes, fallen or not. I despise these beetles and have killed hundreds of them in the last two weeks.

My Creeping Dogbane has what I would call significant damage. It'a leaves are much smaller than Hemp Dogbane leaves. I'll take a photo tomorrow. I'm sure with all the rain, the Hemp Dogbane, Apocynum cannibinum will be pushing up more stalks. Apocynum sibericum looks identical to A. cannibinum and the only difference is that sibericum has sessile leaves. I don't want the Hemp Dogbane's root system to store energy, so I never allow more than a couple stalks to grow. There's already a large network of Honeyvine and Common Milkweed roots running underground. I put wildlife before aesthetics. One year all my Rattlesnake Masters were killed by a critically endangered native stem borer. Anything I can do to help the wildlife.

judijunebug - if you're in AZ, you're probably dealing with the western green June beetle (aka "green fruit beetle", or "figeater beetle"), which is closely related to our eastern species, but may have slightly different food preferences. Both species will eat soft, ripe or fallen fruits (including tomatoes), but apparently also pollen, nectar, and sometimes flower petals.

This is the worst year in recent memory for sheer numbers. I've progressed from a mason jar to a bucket, and still there's hundreds left nightly that I can't reach up in the trees.

I know the common advice is not to use the traps because you'll attract them from all four corners of the neighborhood, but honestly? How is that any different than the beetle org**s taking place all over everything? Pheromones are pheromones, they're coming from everywhere anyway. So now I'm seriously considering breaking down and buying the trap -- at least they'd be in one bag to empty. Ugh!

Thankful I havent seen any here…yet.

porkchop do you know what is attracting them so bad? In the past it has been my Hybiscus.

"...do you know what is attracting them so bad?"

It's not one thing in particular, though they do have their favorites. Rugosa roses, pasture roses, apricots, peaches, cherries, Lindens, grapes, raspberries, green beans, zinnias...oh my.... Those are the things that comes to mind -- I'm sure there's plenty more out there they're devouring.

I'm most upset about my Linden tree. If I would have known it was a JB favorite, I wouldn't have purchased it. It's out front and I can see it out the window. It looks terrible. I thought maybe it was so bad last year from transplant stress attracting them but it's just as bad this year. I can't reach the JBs because they're up too high -- best I can do is shake the tree in hopes they fly away to find some friends on a bush or something. But they just come back...sigh... I'm contemplating moving the Linden to a spot way out back and replacing with something else.

I am thankful they are leaving my younger 2nd year peaches alone (so far....) -- they're congregating on the older peaches but at least those can better withstand the damage.

Ugh sounds like youve got a real Smorgasbord going on! I cant imagine being out there in this heat trying to capture them….major PITA😡

Gardenho - Nice to see you posting again, BTW!

Thanks PC its feels good to be back. Health issues kept me away but feeling much better now 😊

And where are the birds in all this? For all the talk about no insects = no birds, I have plenty of plump, crunchy beetles ripe for the taking but the birds are just not interested. Useless.

I solved my problem with the beetles leaving my Showy Tick-trefoil in tatters. I dug it up and tossed it. I's kind of weird that they only go for the Desmodium canadense and they don't bother any other Fabaceae species.