Well personally, I have given up the JB fight, but I do wish you luck with your efforts! My rebloomers, the few I still grow, are being eaten alive in July as usual (though not as badly as in years past).

LIR

{{gwi:291432}}

Hi Long Island,

It's not that I don't have ANY JBs. It's just that there are far fewer this year. My rugosas are blooming without much attraction from the JBs and they are usually heavily covered with JBs. I even have some roses that have no JBS on them.

I'm just wondering if there are fewer of them this year rather than the cedar oil is doing its job. Could save my money instead.

Barbara

I am also in PA and I haven't seen anywhere near as many JBs this year as last either. I tried the cedar oil spray on my squash and cukes to control squash bugs, etc., and it works wonders.

However, I have not needed to spray my roses at all because there are so few JBs around. The ones I see are bothering the grape vines and asparagus a bit, but nothing serious, hardly like last year's infestation. And I am NOT spraying the grapes and asparagus with the Bye Bye Beetles.

My conclusion so far -- had I purchased Bye Bye Beetles for the JBs, I would have wasted my $ this year. The grackles (who eat grubs in the yard before they hatch out), traps, and the soapy water pail of death are workin' just fine.

Hope this helps.

I used BBB's this year. I also think it helped here in my yard. It didn't work 100%....but it definitely helped. Along with that soapy water pail of death this hasn't been a bad year here. They've been here now for just about six weeks so I'm hoping that they are winding down.

Carole

Thank you all for responding. I'm inclined to agree that there is less JBs in number and that the Cedar Oil helps but is not 100%. I think a true test would have to be made in times when there are JBs greater in numbers.

I think I'll save my money next year.

Barbara

I've slacked off some, but couldn't sit back and look at those icky things like that one photo without doing something unless I was simply unable.

Maybe 3 nights of rain in a row did something or they are starting to taper off. Bad storm, won't tell what all has been going on with me and others, at least I got my power back. They've brought in workers from many states the massive outages are that bad, a "derecho" according to NWS and not a tornado, still winds 65 to 95 mph. Lots of people are in a world of hurt at this point. I usually don't get scared but just for my huge tree dropping a big one, I was up early and pretty frightened but don't go to the basement, did when the kids were young and at home.

I just wanted to assure you that there was no criticism, implied or otherwise, by my comment regarding your photo. I was sorely tempted to do the same plus I've become obsessed about it this year and hate to give up having fought so hard. I have wondered what would happen if I couldn't battle them at all for one reason or another.

I'm really angry about those THINGS because so much of my energy has gone into that where there are many other gardening issues that need attention.

I sprayed BBB this year without much success. After calling the company to find out why the JBs weren't being repelled, they instructed me to increase dosage to 6 ounces per gallon, and make sure I sprayed the ground and underisde of the leaves.

I sprayed until everything until the surrounding area smelled like a cedar closet; and the JBs did stayed away from clematis, but it didn't make a big enough difference on the roses to the extent that I could justify it cost-wise since the product is expensive...I have 200 roses to spray.

Wish it would have worked for me...I'm so tired of picking and drowning....and having my blooms ravaged.

Cutting off the buds, if that helps, on that many roses would be almost as bad as battling beetles, and just because it seemed to work for one doesn't mean it would work for all of us.

I don't have 200 roses and at this point would be willing to sacrifice all the buds if it is solely the scent from blooms that draws them. That's what an ag ext guy mentioned I could do, but they were brand new last year, and I wanted them to bloom as much as they would.

Aliska,

Cutting off the buds does not work. They eat the leaves.

Barbara

Thanks, Barbara, what I feared. I figure by leaving them to bloom, they are easier to find (and they're funny about some blossoms seem to prefer them at a certain stage plus it might cause less leaf damage). Others they love at any stage even new buds. I think they will be fine, but would have eaten the new top growth off my Harison and might cause it to branch where I don't want it to.

They could yet show up on Dark Lady, and nothing in the yard would surprise me at this point that I figure they don't like, but I wonder what it is about her that they seem to pass her by altogether for 2 years running now. They've certainly gotten on all nearby all nearby plants.

Top damage isn't such an issue with most of the others because with a lot of them, they will die back over the winter anyway whether I winter protect or not unless I somehow protect the whole bush which I won't do.

I only have the one red rose, but I wonder what others' experiences have been with their red ones.

Aliska,

I have Rogue Royale and the JBs love this rose. I don't think any rose is immune to JBs. Just consider yourself lucky that you have a JB free rose. Also, the season is still young. They will probably be with us for another 3 to 4 weeks.

Barbara

Thanks, Barbara. I'll keep checking all the roses and a bunch of other stuff now, found one in an oriental lily bloom that is open, guess almost anything is fair game to them. Last year they were gone by the second week in August. They are worse this year.

A neighbor stopped by walking her dogs. She goes down into the park (boundry and substantial part of it is a block from me) and says the mulberry trees are infested with them in chains, right near an 18-hole golf course. I wonder what the Park Board is going to do about it, hard to do anything in wooded or semi-wooded areas.

The oddest thing. Some of mine are committing suicide in a 5 gal bucket I keep full in front to dip my sprinkling can into. My daughter noticed them, many were still alive, so I picked the live ones out and put in my soapy water. I found a couple in the 5-gal bucket, too, earlier in the week. One got away, must have clung to another beetle, a first, to get out of my soapy water. So I changed the water, have separate for front and back, was about every 3 days anyway. Ivory Liquid biodegrades pretty fast or it was a fluke.

Am down to 3 rounds a day but did get one off a daisy earlier when I went out with my sis to show her my garden, and damage from the storm. She lives on a lake in Minnesota 50 mi NW of Minneapolis, "is that what they look like?" She thought they were smaller but has many shade plants and trees, no roses.

Overall, they seem to be diminishing but when I heard the report about the park, I don't know.

FWIW, there is a long article on battling Japanese beetles in the Wall Street Journal today (July 23rd).

I used BBB until I ran out. It seemed to keep the Japanese beetle population down quite a bit. I've been out of it for a few weeks and have noticed a real increase. I don't know if it's just a coincidence or not but it sure seemed to be working. My biggest problem with placing another order are the shipping costs that seem pretty high. I'm thinking of ordering an 8oz bottle of concentrate but the shipping is almost as much as the product. I just haven't decided whether to tough it out or go for another bottle.

I got some Bayer Rose and Flower Insect killer pre-mixed in a spray bottle, says it has some residual effect, but hate to use it unless they get really bad again, wouldn't have let 4 get away this morning, one pair mating on my yellow coreopsis, another pair doing the same I got. Overcast and chilly, but still quite a few to pick in front, many sitting on leaves rather than blooms, found a couple in blooms but not like last night.

If enough people weigh in and convince me BBB really works and isn't too expensive, especially in my zone, I'm open to trying it. The ones that get buried deep in blooms, sometimes as many as five, I have to spread open enough to hit them with spray no matter what I use or do I?

I will be sooooo glad when this is over for the season. Despite my vigilance and picking 3X and more a day, I see damage since last picking that was not there then.

So far it sounds like for some, BBB has some residual effect but not for long. 4 weeks tomorrow.

The person who said they use insecticide and anti-fungal. What is it, how well does it work and for how long?

Had a long talk with the master gardener at the ext ofc yesterday, wanted to apprise him of the work at the U of Mich, hadn't heard about it. He said he uses 24 oz cottage cheese containers, grows roses, raspberries and grapes plus damaging his birch as well this year, counted 10,000 one year. OMG. I've had nowhere near that even with traps. He says he just goes out early am and late evening, can't get them at 11-ish and 3, I can and do. Some do get away, yes. He thinks traps just draw more in and don't get them all anyway. I'm not convinced either way, bait may be weakening in my traps or had to move them where there is little sun. I bagged a lot where they were before but much more damage to nearby plants. He also uses Sevin even on roses but not on larger trees and has to be careful with his fruit crops. I don't know about Sevin on roses.

I don't count, just guesstimate. Many more in front facing south than in the back now but still have to pick one row of roses and check all over there, too, just watch for signs elsewhere and eyeball stuff quickly.

i'm relieved to hear i'm not the only green gardener who has had to give in and spray with pyrethrin. my roses don't last twenty minutes on the bush, when i start around the yard with a small bucket (half a dozen times a day), i find roses so covered with beetles they look more like an ugly xmas tree ornament. i clean off each bush and by the time i come back to the first bush, twenty minutes later, a decent-looking rose has been chewed down to a fringe.that's been the story for 25 days, and now i'm looking for alternatives. i do want the butterflies, the lightning bugs, the praying mantises, the good bugs, but i can't find a way to manage the JBs.

I don't think they're attracted to scent, they seem to really like the white blooms on Seafoam which has no scent, and they like the daisies. The darker colored blooms don't seem to be as bothered.

Another thing I noticed are birds in the roses, I hope they're eating the JBs.