They get worse every year, have been swarming but I noticed they pick certain spots on certain plants and blooms. I see by all the holes that I've missed a bunch, didn't go out for awhile. I tried the 2 inches of Dawn in a spray bottle, shook to mix it, and it worked. BUT I oversprayed a lot of places and damaged several plants, both roses and perennials. So no more of that but will try it on weeds, almost works like RU. So I had part of a bottle left of Bayer Advanced Rose and Garden Insect killer. I had four but swore I wouldn't use them any more on roses. But my cat got fleas bad and I couldn't afford much then and it has the same active ingredient in Advantage you put on the cat, just less strength. I sprayed the carpet and bad places with the Bayer and Adv on the cat, $10 a pop, vet asst told me it take four apps for the cat to mop up the fleas, she was right. Just have to get away and not let the cat near it til it dries, then it's ok although some spots I had to do 3 times. Darn cat knew where the fleas were and wouldn't walk through there and made sure to jump up on something high lol. The active ingredient is imidacloprid which kills bees. So I put on latex gloves, pruners in one hand and spray bottle in the other. Zaps them. If I spray a flower or get some on a nearby flower, I prune it right off and deadhead a little at the same time. I don't have to worry about the dormant roses they swarm on or rose leaves because bees usually only stop at blooms. I go out between 5 and 6, there are a few bees, but I haven't accidentally killed any. I like it because I can cover more territory faster, clip other stuff at the same time, aim further than I can reach, far fewer get away than they do from the soapy water drowning, and it's working better for me even though I know there are tons more up in my birch trees I can't reach. If you're still doing the soapy water, 3 swarms together won't work, but if they are swarmed in a rose blossom, I cup my hand over the blossom which keeps them from flying up, get the water underneath and tease them out of the bloom, most just drop right into the soapy water but I get petals in it and pick them out. terryjean, I don't know where you are in IL, but they must really be bad in Peoria County. I read in my Illinois Farm Bureau Farm News that the crops were showing signs of heat stress and no rain and that crop dusting planes were spraying for Japanese Beetles and also fungicide. I think with the wet spring, many farmers got their crops in late, the corn was at the silk stage, and too many beetles will get an ear with no corn. I was told the soybeans could take it. I shudder to think what they are spraying, probably something commercial grade, but it will kill all insects along with the beetles. Here they're doing all these hideous transgenic experiments with animals, saw a picture of a beagle puppy; it's white nose and light body parts glow red in the dark, for real, photo was on ABC news site, makes me sick. But if they could do something with the beetles like that where they wouldn't cross into the other insect population, I'd be all for terminating them. Sorry it's so long, spend a lot of time learning about different things. Too hot and humid this summer to enjoy much out there, then drought. Finally got some badly needed rain and now with the Bix weekend and RAGBRAI, we are having our 3rd flood of the Mississippi this year.

Cutting down the trees and turning them into mulch won't eradicate the beetles, unless they are piling the mulch and super-heating it to create compost. If the mulch is used in other locations, this could spread the infestation. I liked the idea of our local free mulch until I considered the possibilities that I was bringing in diseases/pests to my yard. I can understand your distress. I'm hoping the beetles don't make it to your place. Will birds feed on them? Is there any local predators? Sure don't want to bring in any foreign predators! Sandy

We have already proved the new USDA Hardiness Map wrong again this year (twice we have had zone 8B temps, when the map "says" we are in 9A). Anyway, a very rough winter here overall. We had a very warm, droughty fall followed by a freeze of 28 F in November, then 6-8 weeks of way above average temps (70s and 80s during the day) which prompted lots of stuff to grow, then 17 F in early January killed/damaged lots of plants, several more cold nights in the low/mid 20s in January, then another month of very warm temps, and a little rain, which caused damaged plants to begin growing again, then the last two nights we had 22 and 19 F (5+ hours at this temp last night). I could actually smell dead vegetation this morning. I know the rest of the country is experiencing a warm winter, comparatively, but I would say ours has been more erratic than anything else - and DRY.

Im familiar with the Emerald Ash Borer nearby here in Ohio. Unless contained by complete preemptive destruction of all available wild and domestic ash trees (read that as wiping out the species locally before the beetles get to them and reproduce), the genus Fraxinus in North America is doomed. No native ashes can survive an EAB attack. And few, if any, systemic insecticides appear to give any control. Consequently, the Ohio and Michigan horticultural trades are exceedingly alarmed. Their millions of dollars of horticultural ash tress are now effectively worthless as more and more commercial and institutional landscape purchasers are realizing that any installed ashes may be dead in five years or less. Ohio agricultural officials are pulverizing ash trees around each area discovered with the beetle. But the new infestations keep growing, and in 2004 effort may be abandoned for lack of effectiveness. You can only spend so many millions of dollars in a useless effort. This is far worse than Dutch elm disease, a fungal disease for which some American elms are resistant. No ash can survive the Emerald Ash Borer. And containment by destruction of the host ash trees as almost surely too little and too late. The bug hopped around nurseries and wild ash trees in SE Michigan for several years before anything was done. Too little, too late. The only long term hope for Fraxinus in North America, as I see it now, is to collect ash seeds from still-healthy trees in each ecological region and habitat. Preserve these cryogenically in germplasm centers (if possible), and let the trees become extinct in the next 20 years. In fact, once seeds can be properly stored, it would then be best to assist the wipeout of the ash by spreading the beetles. Then, after all ashes are gone, the beetle will die out. The ash tree is the obligate host. No ashes, no Emerald Ash Borers. Then, plant new ash trees and start over Âuntil some horticulturalist brings in another Asian ash to start the whole thing over again. (IsnÂt it too bad North America doesnÂt have any horticulturally acceptable plants? What would our landscapes look like if we only had native species? What would life be like without Austrian pines or Norway maples?) Want to really stay awake tonight? Indeed, forget oak blight. ItÂs a non-issue, at least in the North where we donÂt have live oaks. ItÂs been around for centuries, and our oak ecosystems will survive that fungus. But wait until the new sudden oak death fungus, Phytophthera remorum, gets out of California (as it will, probably in a containerized horticultural Rhododendron, where the fungus can live asymptomatically). If you thought Dutch elm was bad, check out SOD, sudden oak death. This newly-described fungus apparently kills every oak that it contacts. It resides quietly in Rododendrons and perhaps some other woody species, from which spores can easily infect nearby oaks. It apparently nails oaks in both the red and white sections of genus Quercus. It almost surely came into North America residing quietly in some Tibetan or Himalayan Rhododendron for the hort trade in California. Oaks in North America, at least in large scale environments as weÂve known them, may disappear within the decade. The native landscapes that we know may soon disappear. The threats are real. And need I mention the ominous menace of the Asian Long-horned Beetle. It eats and kills just about all hardwood trees. No effective controls exist. Better take a few deep, contemplative breaths next time you walk through a North American deciduous forest. Your children may never have the chance. Ecological globalization is such a wonderful concept.