Be aware,your mix will kill anything it contacts. With no natural predators, destructive insects will return with a vengance as soon as any residue is washed away. Once a regimin using this is begun, it'll have to be repeated all the time to keep destructive insects at bay.

I realize that we grow roses for flowers and how it can be frustrating when all the hard work is devoured in few hours, however, isn't this a super poisonous concoction?

And we wonder where have the bees gone!

Maybe I am over reacting.

FJ

I think someone is trying to push our buttons!!!

A normal rose garden will not be devoured in a few hours unless it's eaten by a plague of locusts or a herd of deer. Even at their worst, I've never lost a rose bush to any insect and the damage by Japanese beetles isn't so bad that walking quickly past them won't hide the damage.
Too many people have a "perfect leaf, perfect bloom phobia".
We need to accept that Nature, and insects are a part of nature, doesn't produce only blemish free blooms.

Japanese beetles don't bug me that much.

Did someone not know that insecticides kill Japanese Beetles?

LOL.

Mine really are very ugly with the JBs. The blooms never get to be blooms at all some years.

Still, one of the reasons I have a garden is to watch all of the wildlife. I wouldn't dare kill my bees! They are so cute when they sleep in the flowers.

Meredith, isn't that the truth. This morning I found a bumble bee stuffed into a nasturtium bloom sound asleep. It had the cuteness factor of a bunnie.

Karl, I take it you don't have japanese beetles, or at least they haven't fully inundated your area (yet). Rest assured, if you have any, in several years' time you will have them by the millions and they are unlike any other rose pest due to their sheer numbers and the damage they do. They can be as bad as a plague of locusts or herd of deer.

I don't see the need to mix chemicals and agree that could be dangerous. I use Bayer Rose & Flower Insecticide as a contact killer directly on the JBs several times a day during their season (which is most of the summer) and it kills them dead. Unfortunately it does not work as a repellent or systemic, at least not on JBs. So I don't spray the whole bush as a preventative but only the JBs themselves. They die within a minute or two.

I do hope someone is just trying to push our buttons. I understand the frustration and, tho I try to go organic, I can sympathize with a judicious use of insecticide. But with that sort of chemical warfare, you might just as well spray your kids and neighbors. What you put into the environment is what you get out.

Japanese beetles have been in my area for over 30 years. With all the soybean fields in the area this is beetle heaven.
No, I just learned to live with them. The only warfare I have with them is to treat my lawn with a grub killer in mid August to kill newly hatched grubs. That's the only way to kill the most with the least.
Driving down our country roads in beetle season is akin to driving in a hail storm. Way back when, I realized one man fighting the beetles was futile. I could get all frustrated or live with them for the few weeks they're really bad.
I think the little critters can read minds. They seem to congregate the most in people's yards who get all worked up. I will, on occassion, pick an exceptionally beetle covered bloom and toss it on the driveway to smash them under my feet. Other than that I fly past them on my scooter.
I've followed their progress across the U.S. since I was a kid visiting my relatives in Ohio, where their neighbor had beetle traps placed in their rose beds by Ohio State University.I've watched them slowly get acclimated to colder areas as they slowly moved north.
Trying to kill them or futilly spray toxic insecticides hasn't slowed them. Only the mountains out West have stopped them from covered the whole country, so far.
I repeat my comment, "I've never seen a rose bush killed by Japanese beetles." I've seen a few pretty well devastated by them, but they've all recovered.
I'll continue to enjoy what roses I can during beetle season while reading how frustrated most of you get with them. Accepting the fact, there's nothing I really can do about them, has made my life easier and calmer!

I hope it was just to push our buttons, because that kind of mixing is also a misuse of pesticides, against all label directions, and probably a federal crime (at some level, it seems very few things aren't these days, so I'm willing to bet on it).

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Musings blog

At the 2 locations that I lived for long periods (in northern Ohio) Milky Spore and benefical nematodes have kept the damage to my rose garden bearable.

Grow95, I don't really think you are trying to "push our buttons." You were kind enough to warn us to suit up, not to spray the rugosas with this concoction and you also expressed concern regarding the fruit trees.

However, I want you to know that I've learned the hard way about the downside of using "extreme" insecticide treatments in the garden.

Short-term it looks like it's working, but sooner or later, it backfires.

In my case, spider mites (which are not insects) reproduced exponentially after I destroyed all of their natural insect predators. Also, the soil was adversely affected by the subsequent reduction in beneficial microorganisms.

You are getting some good information here from people familiar with the Japanese beetle problem you experience. My best to you!

I really might spot-spray mine this year. It certainly wouldn't be hard to hit a beetle (or 30) the way they do on my blooms that no longer resemble flowers. Ick.

Bees won't still die from going near those plants, will they?

I have to try Milky Spore. It's just so darned expensive for all of the places I'd need to put it (acres). I've gone to planting shrubs completely in wire baskets due to voles and moles, so maybe more of them will start eating the grubs. Earn their keep :D

Bees won't still die from going near those plants, will they?

Possibly.

Honey bees in particular are notoriously vulnerable to insecticides. I believe I've read that they have notably fewer genes associated with detoxification than most insects examined to date.

I used to use insecticide, and took care to use it sparingly and only by spraying directly on the JB's. I still lost ALL insects; bees, mantises, ladybugs, etc. I stopped using insecticide 2 years ago and I'm getting a decent balance back in the garden.

I also have never lost a perennial to JB's. Annuals yes, but they're cheap and have to replanted every year anyway, so no biggie there.

The way I see insecticides nowadays is akin to slash & burn. You'd have excellent success killing ALL the JB's if you just set fire to the plants they were munching on. You'd have nothing left, but if killing beetles is your goal, you'd succeed stupendously.

Aw, man! Nope, I'm no bee killer. I do have a lot of honeybees flying around the roses, as a matter of fact. Thanks!

Troll, the poster joined the same day that the thread was started.

The interesting part is that Sevin or Othenex alone easily kill any beetle they touch. Why mix all this junk together. As Karl points out, we can kill 'em but the sheer number makes this impractical.

Nature has her way of dealing with the little darlins. I have had hardly any the last two years. The previous 3 years, I was overwhelmed.

For old time sake:

{{gwi:228687}}

I will not claim to be a totally organic gardener, but I guess I am pretty close.

I hate seeing the Japanese beetles destroy my roses (Ever notice, they go for the ones you really love)? I took to cutting all buds and allowing them to open in the house. Thios would obviously not work for those of you with large beautiful rose gardens. I too get pleasure from knocking the blasted beetles into the soapy water to die.

I am hopeful that the birds I attract to my yard will eventually decide the beetles are food, and I guess I will have to live with them until then.

I have a butterfly garden, and I won't risk killing all of the other flying insects to get the beetles.

But your advice to suit up etc is spot on.
kay

Just remember that the effect on a human immune system can be compromised by exposure to chemicals, especially pesticides, etc. Just my 2 cents.

Carla

Mistyped. A human immune system can be compromised. Not the effect.

C

Harryshoe-Can I use your photo? My husband gives lectures to garden clubs & this will be perfect for his slide on what to do about JB's.

You can use my too, if you want:
Blooms
{{gwi:228689}}
Leaves
{{gwi:228692}}
Canes
{{gwi:228695}}
Olga

Oh, fine, now I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Anybody got Harry or Olga's numbers that I can call to complain at 2:30am???

Signed,
Living a sheltered life in SoCal

LOL, lagomorphmom. It's pretty unbelievable, isn't it?

I have to say, though, I'm used to JBs but had my first hungry-deer experience this winter. You know where this is going ;) Pretty little evergreens I water every warm day for years? Poof! They still have some greenery at the soil line. We'll see *sigh* :D

Meredith, I have a deer problem and the product Liquid Fence works great. I buy it in concentrated form because its a little cheaper that way but it has saved alot of my roses and other plants. I get aggravated with the beetles but even more with deer since they are here 24/7 12 months a year. Take care, Judy

Aw, thank you, Judy :) I'm really hoping it was a one-time thing because of all of the snow we had at the time. But I'm certainly thinking about what to do if not!

Dollsandroses,
You may use my photo although I think Olga's is better. She actually manages to make the beetles look pretty.

Thanks, Harry. Thanks, Olga.