Hi! My husband and I have a linden tree on our property and in 2006, the beetles just decimated it. It was our main source of shade, so having it defoliated was awful. Anyway, I got some of the Bayer insecticide and applied it but I can't remember if I put it on in fall or spring). The beetles still got to the tree this summer, but not nearly as badly. It looked like the ends of the branches got nailed-all the newer growth. What was weird was we'd lived here for six years before this ever became a problem. And we have a small property, too, about.25 acre, plus there are about 50 rose bushes on the property. So now I am not sure if the Bayer helped or if the beetles just weren't as bad this year but I guess I'll try it again for the next growing season-but I am thinking that maybe I should wait until spring. The tree is fairly mature now-it's as high as our two story house, and about 15 feet across. So I wish you the best, Alexander3, and if anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate it. (and my husband has treated the lawn with milky spore and nematodes, etc., and he keeps the rose bushes treated with something systemic-plus alot of manual control, i.e., knock 'em off the bushes into a coffee can, etc. Oh, and my dogs love to eat them!--so I knock the beetles out of the tree in the early morning, and the dogs run around under the tree munching away-it's rather disgusting)

I've been using this stuff for a long time. I haven't grown a 2nd nose or 30 toes yet. I have bee's, frogs, butterfly's and humming birds in my garden all the time. The last time I looked in the mirror I really didn't look like a rat or mouse. I wear long sleeve shirt, long pants and eye protection. Clean everything up with a lot of water and take a shower after spraying. You have to look at it like this. ANY man made chemical is going to have some adverse effect on something living sometime. Do you use deodorant?

Thanks for the replies. I sprayed on a cool evening, we've had recent significant rainfall, and I followed the instructions for mixing. No other plants sprayed at the same time were affected. I have some other clems and roses mixed, though this one probably got more spray on the clematis than most of the others. I haven't ruled out some other cause, such as clematis wilt or rabbit damage yet. I'll take a closer look when it stops raining. Mike

There is a thi8ng called Intergrated Pest Management. It basically says to inspect your garden daily for pests and see if there is another way of dealing with them, like picking off blackspotted leaves as they start. It also says is the problem big enough to need to use chemicals. I walk thru my rose garden everyday. This way I know what's going on. If I see bs starting on a plant I can pick off those leaves. if it is one plant that's worse than the others, yes, remove it. I dug up Peace for that reason. If you know you will have bs, start off the season with a good spray program and you won't have it at all. Unless it's raining all the time and you can't do it like what happened to me a few years ago! These are just some suggestions to help you.