I thought you were going to say they scream when you squish them...

I noticed a few swarming around a candle last night. Possibly they are attracted to the light and then get stuck in the oil/wax?

I also noticed a bunch of dead beetles (not sure if they were JBs) inside one of my landscape lights. It was really gross, the whole thing was filled with them.

I thought you were going to say they run like hell when they see you coming.

I never buy citronella, but perhaps this is the time to start. I love the smell, anyway.

Here's something interesting about Japanese Beetles: In Japan they are called...CHINESE Beetles!

Interesting, all! What I found interesting is that they gathered en masse on my peonies, but appear to be skeletonizing the bindweed growing up through it! they have been on the roses, but nearly how I thought they would be. My husband said "Leave 'em, if they are eating the naughty stuff!" I said, "Are you nuts????!!!" LOL We knocked off a whole orgy of them into our Soapy Water Pail o' Death.

LOL I like your name for the pail, Greenhaven.

A friend of mine uses alcohol instead of soapy water, and another uses gasoline. The JBs die instantly with these methods, which I suppose makes the soapy water relatively inhumane. But cheaper and easier than alcohol and less dangerous than gasoline. Oh yeahÂand lots cheaper than gasoline!

I squirted in a bunch of pink Palmolive Ultra Oxy Plus dish soap in a bucket today and I noticed the beetles died pretty quickly. So I wondered if I mixed up a gallon of Palmolive w/water and sprayed, would it kill the beetles? Deter them? At least make 'em sick? Might be worth a shot.

The $40 Bye-Bye Beetles didn't work worth a darn. Stupid beetles. At this point I'll try anything.

terryjean, I have heard you can burn your plants with the soap if it's too strong...but I think it is pretty effective. I use a squirt of non-toxic and biodegradeble soap. Same stuff I use for the dishes and as hand soap. Kills them as quickly as any other soap, I found. very few live long. Only a rose weevil swam around quite awhile. Hope I don't see too many of those. (shudders)DS2 said "I hope you got the lesser of two weevils." Har har.

Soaps work because they cut through one of the most important defenses all insects employ against dehydration, waxes. Plants also use waxes for the same reason, so yes, you can at least sometimes harm garden plants as well.

Just as waxes are often used in "Chap Stick" and other such balms, waxes are exuded by insects to keep water inside their bodies. Insects' bodies are so small the surface to volume ratio is very, very high, and any time an organism has such it runs into the potential for dehydration. In insects this potential is very, very real. The waxes solve that, and since the soaps are so effective at cutting through waxes they wreck an insect's main defense against dying of dehydration.

But unfortunately just spraying soapy water on JBs doesn't seem to affect them, and it certainly doesn't kill them. Only when they are forced to drown in a bucket of it are they killed.

Gelee, not a nice remark about the Japanese beetles. In Japan they are called "mamekogane". I live in Japan, and this ssummer i have seen exactly 3 beetles and killed them.

I have an interesting report on JB's and that is that we don't seem to have any this year. At least not yet and it is way past time for them to appear here. I was wondering if all the rain had killed most of the larva. Don't have the armidillos digging in the yard either. Not complaining understand, but a bit amazed.

However they are named, they &uck!, literally. Hate them so bad.
Rain welcome but it brought mosquitos and more nasty evil beetles.

Carla

I'm trying a new defense. Since JBs will avoid traps that were filled with stinky, rotting beetles, I'm leaving a stinky jar filled with vile beetle carcasses under one of their favorite roses. We'll see if that does anything to deter them.

mehearty..I do that too and it does seem to deter them. I did it last year as well in a circular bed of 11 roses and that bed easily had the least amount of beetles. The smell is incredibly vile though!

I just sprayed my cherry tree with soapy water (2.5 Tbs/gallon) using a 2-gallon pump sprayer...and it didn't seem to do much! The beetles fly off the leaves, swarm around a bit and then land right back on the tree. Not sure what else to do since I don't want to use Sevin. Does anyone know what a good soap:water ratio is, and if this even works? Is it a delayed reaction? They definitely don't die right away. I am collecting some in a trap, which, once they start to sink, will hang in the tree! Thanks

I have a trap going right near my two 2nd-year cherry trees, changed the bag once already, one in front, too. They seem to be helping, but nothing like some infestations I've seen on the web. Just yuck!

I'm also picking as many as I can 3 times a day, gets tiresome. Yesterday after rain, 4, many more in the bag, more already today. Hate it when one gets away from me.

The darn things started poking halfway through at each of 6 drainage holes in the bag, and I was horrified to imagine that they could chew and/or claw the hole(s) larger. I had already drowned the whole bag in a bucket, so it was hard to put duct tape over them. But you don't want rain in there.

So I rigged up two roofs from alum pie pans and firmly taped the fresh bags, seemed to work when it rained, but not sure if it were a real humdinger of a storm. After I taped the first time, I would cover at night with a big plastic bag and secure it, remove it early in the morning. If I catch it in time. Need to get some more bags or rig up a jar somehow. I had to put the bags where they get some sun and as far away from the roses as I could. I'm finding them on my pussywillow, the 2 cherry trees (still short enough I can reach) too, phlox and a few on daisy blooms (near the trap in front). And still a few roses, of course, including leaves not just blooms.

We had a lot of rain here with soil saturated, and really had a bunch (for me) about 2nd day in, hope it's tapering off. Be glad when they are GONE and thinking about grubx or milky spore next year and picking, can't see never having to do some.

I know they're still coming in and also from my yard from the neighbors' whether I set traps or not, just may be drawing them from further. But at least what I'm getting, those aren't laying for more to hatch out.

That's all you can do aliska. Try to kill as many as possible to maybe prevent more from coming next year.

I actually would spray (with insecticide) a cherry tree or Crepe Myrtle if I see a lot of beetles on it. Since they are not blooming at this time, I don't worry about the bees. I know that some other bugs may be killed, but usually only the darn beetles are there.

One year they almost completely defoliated my one cherry tree and crepe myrtle. I must have killed thousands on those two trees alone.

I have been reading about JB's here on the forum but had not experienced them. After seeing some of the pictures that have been posted of the damage, I gave thanks that they were not here. Well....I found my first one today on Cuthbert Grant. I suspected what it was, so trapped it in a jam jar to study and then went on the web to be sure. Yup...they're here. :-(

buford, I am not about spraying...but you make very good point about the trees. We have a large honeysuckle bush that seems to be the JB catch-plant in our yard. I certainly don't mind them eating it, but don't want to encourage the fornication that occurs with abandon, on this plant! It is too tall to reach the top for hand-picking.

So, what is most effective against JB's and least toxic to everything else the spray might hit?

We're having a big beetle year despite continuing drought, the beetles have been here for at least a month. I'm thrilled that I managed to convince 3 neighbors NOT to put out traps-- last year my white crepe myrtle along the front walk was covered with so many beetles you couldn't tell what color it was. This year, just a few. Neighbors also agreed to apply Milky Spore. Looking forward to fewer and fewer beetles... It's too soon for the milky spore to affect the populaton so I deefinitely credit the LACK of traps with reduced beetles. The traps just draw in beetles from what seems like miles around...

buford, what do you spray your trees with, and how often do you have to spray? Sevin? My gf near St. Louis doesn't grow roses either but gets them anyway and sprays. Last year one cherry branch was nearly defoliated, and I couldn't imagine what had done it, now realize it was probably the beetles I was fighting then and thought they only went for roses. Not.

The reason I ask is that the trees will get too tall to pick them off except the lower branches. I would not attempt to spray the roses or the other plants, I have lots of trees; who knows what's up in the taller ones?

I never noticed any before in my life until I planted all the roses last year. My old cherry trees that died were a different kind and absolutely trouble-free. My friend warned me last year about them as well as reading here.

I know traps are controversial, but I also know that even though I'm drawing some in from further, I'd have to be picking a lot more than I am. Some of the damage doesn't matter that much, I suppose, but whether I have few or many, if I just don't bother picking them at all, that many more will breed whether I trap, treat the soil or not. I may not bother with the traps next year and see.

Of the people around here many don't even know what they are, don't grow roses, a few ornamental fruit trees, but some are learning, and my next-door neighbor was talking about spreading milky spore which would help, but I don't know if he will actually carry through on it; he doesn't have any roses but killed a bunch a grubs digging to put in some flowers and landscaping, probably didn't make a dent in the total population.

Next year, if I'm still able to garden, I may hold off on the traps and see how many I'm getting. I know there will be some no matter what we do, and all the neighbors are not going to treat their soil, or go after them aggressively or care.

I've been diligently hand-picking for years now, with no noticeable lessening of the infestation. This year, for the first time, I made a real effort to get to them early. I started with the very first one and have been picking and drowning at least 3 times a day, in hopes of a better year next year. I keep a rough count as I drown them, and my peak day so far has been 1066 (ole Bill and me, we just conquer), with 750 and more not uncommon. We live on a quarter-acre. Milky spore has done nothing, and neither has grub control. The hand-picking is time-consuming, but I don't know what else to do. I do think that by keeping them from congregating in any numbers, you reduce the attraction factor, but who knows? This year I also tried covering the raspberries with tulle and think that with a few tweaks next year, that might make the berries more palatable to eat (hate to think about what's been going on on those bushes!). I see no end to this and it's really discouraging. Got to go kill some more. Some days it really feels like gardening is more about death than life, though, between the JBs, the slugs, and those **** little red lily beetles. Killed ll6 of them yesterday.

The JBs were swarming my Snow Fountain cherry tree this year. It was so bad I was afraid they were going to kill it, so I went to Tractor Supply and bought the Sevin spray that you hook up to the hose and had DH hose her down. The next morning there were dead bodies everywhere. Since the bees don't bother with that tree, I felt it was safe to spray after the sun went down. The added benefit is that there are now considerably less JBs to reproduce!

-terry

terri, it's good to know the Sevin works, would only use that as a last resort and would try very hard not to spray when bees are around. I think you have to repeat apps though, not sure.

ophelia, that is one horror story, hope it doesn't get that bad here as I have to do all the picking. It's enough work to keep up with all the other, isn't it? And you sure don't want to spray a food crop like raspberries, always wanted to grow those, will rethink that. Sounds like you are in vt and I in the midwest where they are just making inroads.

If there was just some safe way to eradicate them all, even genetic manipulation which I'm usually not big on. Since the JB's are not native, I don't see how it would upset the ecological balance to eradicate them all unless a harmful eradication process is employed; at least what we're doing isn't that. I fear nothing is going to completely get the job done now.

I wonder what CA is doing/going to do about them? I saw on the map, they have made it to the Pac NW. Now all they need to do is move down the coast. Oh me. As if we don't have enough other worries outside our own little worlds.

aliska, I wanted to let you know that I put out a beetle trap Saturday and by yesterday afternoon, there were only about a dozen in one and 30 in the other. So I suspect i have greatly reduced the numbers of beetles in my neighborhood, because I know I have killed thousands, if not hundreds of thousand. I modified Ann of TN's husband plan. I cut holes in a milk jug and cut a hole in the top of an empty coffee can the size of the milk jug's top. Then I put the bait in the jug, stood it upside down in the top of the can, and set the can under their favorite tree. within five minutes I saw them coming to it. I have a second one like I made last year by attaching the small section of the bag to a milk jug and hanging the bag from the yellow plastic gadget.

We live in a fairly new neighborhood, so we only have 1 tree...but they are doing a number on it. I just planted roses this year and hydrangeas. They haven't bothered the roses too much, but they have stripped the leaves on one of the hydrangeas.

I can't imagine picking them off the tree...besides, it's a little too tall...but I'm seriously thinking about adding the citronella buckets around and see if they'll do themselves in.

countrygirl, I really want to try that modified trap, and if I set my mind to it, can do it. But I'm so nervous, strssed out about this and so many other things, everything is an effort right now. Maybe my son will help me, I don't know.

That's about how many I'm getting, what you are. I did cover one cherry tree with some double netting (can't get out to Walmart right now, too many directions to go when I do get out), so I got one mostly covered with a double layer of some slightly larger netting I found last year in somebody's trash, put it together with clothespins and hope that will help at least with the one tree.

They are swarming the trap, I changed the bag Thur, but they're awfully slow about dropping down in. They really like the sun, but will congregate in the shade, seems like less so or today is a bad day with the sun out. When it rained, had no more than 4 that day.

Do you think they will drop into the modified trap faster? If so, if I can get a grip, I will try that, but have to get some more bait, will pick some up when I go by Thur to get more bags unless I can cut off the top of the bag w/bait already stuck on it, feels like super glue on that thing. I looked and looked at Ann's design, if you have to leave the cap on the jug, then ours won't hold because they just snap on, maybe they will, but I am assuming you leave any cap off.

Does anybody think if I just take the traps down, I may not have so many? I'm not very squeamish about bugs, but these things just creep me out, feel like they're daring me to try to catch them.

Sorry I'm making such a big freakin' deal out of this.

aliska, you might want to move your traps away from your cherry trees -- 30 feet or so, that way if you do attract beetles from other yards, they're less apt to take up residence in the tree you're trying to protect. I'm still not sure if traps are the way to go. I've got one out myself and it's drawing lots, but the cherry tree's still popular too! Tried soap spray again...no luck. I forgot to bring the trap in last night and discovered raccoons seem to enjoy munching on JBs! My trap bag was chewed open, the ground was a bit tousled, and there was not a JB carcass to be found. At least I hope they got eaten and were not set free!

perl, oh my gosh, you first. That's awful, and you have no idea how many might have gotten away because it takes them a lot longer to die in the traps than it does the soapy water which does seem inhumane but I endure that. I won't dump dead ones in my gardens either; they go in the garbage, carefully tied and doubled bagged, or the soapy water w/dead bugs down the toilet, gets to stinking, maybe that's not a good thing to do to the water system, sure worse gets in through the sewers and street drains, sure would NOT dump a bag of them in the toilet regardless, 'spose I could dump them out back somewhere but anybody sees it will gross them out.

Moving the trap in the back away from the trees. Maybe behind the garage on north side, close to alley, but no sun until late afternoon; tall apricot tree on east b/h garage, but hardly any sun at all, it's so close to the alley, somebody might come along and vandalize it, or neighbors might complain about the odor even after a few days, it was last Fri not Thur. West side too narrow, very little sun, and right by the neighbor's. Yes, we occasionally have coons, too. So far so good on that front.

I forgot to thank folks for helping and will do so now. Thank you. It's my problem, and I'm stuck with it. It is helping keep them out of the long bed, hardly any there except on one rose bloom, a few, but that's not 30' away, may cut the buds off until it's over. As soon as I can get some netting that I can really secure well, that might help with the cherry trees for this year. So far there's been no major damage on those because I've picked diligently, more on the pussywillow, think it can take somewhat of a beating, didn't find any on that today.

Almost time to go out again, and waiting for a phone call which may not be returned, am in shock over another problem concerning my new glasses, nothing to do with gardening so inappropriate to say any more about that here.

Yes we used Sevin. The last few years I've only spot sprayed with the Bayer insect killer. The last 2 years because of the drought we hand enought to warrant spraying. We also did put down Milky Spore a few years ago on the front lawn.

Would dusting roses with diatamaceous earth work since it gets in the shells of hard skinned bugs and literally cuts them to death? It works wonders on roly polys.

Thanks, buford. I think I've bugged enough people about beetle problems for today, will give it a rest. I'm so confused at this point, I don't want to ask any more questions, don't know if the ext guy can help or not. He told me to take the traps down, but when I asked if the beetles would disburse now that I've already drawn many, he didn't know. Beetles miss the traps, and traps only trap part of the beetles you attract, grub control spring and fall plus supplemental with Merit or similar, several chemicals, sprayers, spreaders, additives so what you spray will adhere, and that doesn't cover those that are in the neighbors' yards totally untreated whether I trap or not.
Read some more, think I will move the trap in the back yard if I have to put a nail in the wood trim on the big, wide metal door, single-car garage (ground too hard many places to sink my shepherd's hook I bought, or just get rid of it, or take it down and cover it well, and wait and see. So many other choices. Plus the traps I am using, the beetles they draw will stop and feed on plants in the flight path, don't like that. Ag guy told me a week ago that all the neighbors have to put up traps for them to be effective, and they would be facing the same problem I am, too much shade, small yards, lots of trees and shrubs, no roses in the block I'm aware of.

But once you have them in any numbers, you have to do something or they will totally destroy some plants, even feed on the underside of leaves, haven't been looking there.

My clump of birches in front may have been attracting them all along, never saw any on lower leaves, most limbs have had to be trimmed off, but no telling how high they could be in those tall things, and they feed from the top down.

I didn't ask any more questions, just summarized a PORTION of what I googled. The useful link is for KY, not my state, but lists the plants definitely attacked and those relatively free of adult beetles.

Here is a link that might be useful: Managing adult beetles, U KY Coll. of AG, ext. entomologist

Ok then, if I accidentally DUMPED my jar of about 200 DEAD beetles on the ground underneath/inside some rose bushes, could that DETER more from coming? I had it in my mind the OTHER WAY around....that dead beetles ATTRACT more! I couldn't collect the ones that had fallen into the rose bushes. BTW, I knock them into BOILING HOT water to make them die instantly, instead of using alcohol or gas).
Thanks for your advice,
Phyl

live beetles attract other beetles (they give off pherenomes) but dead beetles may deter them.

IMO, the traps simply attract more beetles. I didn't have luck having the beetles fly into the traps, maybe I did something wrong. But the year we put up traps I had 10X the amount of beetles. That's when we resorted to spraying and we killed thousands. Since then we haven't had that many. Maybe we dented the population for a few years :)

buford, if I haven't completely made a nuisance of myself, I know you must spray your cherry trees. What other plants do you spray and how often and w/what (think you said you are using Bayer Insect Control; I find two types:

1. Bayer Advanced Home Indoor/Outdoor Insect Killer (Rtu)

2. Bayer Advanced Garden Lawn and Garden Multi-Insect Killer

No doubt about it, there are many dead beetles in both traps, they are getting in there but I don't know how nor do I know what proportion I trap vs. those that are getting away. Now I wish I hadn't opened this Pandora's Box and just picked awhile longer.

Yesterday was really just bad watching the swarming, mainly heading for the traps or cherry trees. Went out 4 times yesterday, still wasn't enough, am finding skeletonized rose leaves even in front, not enough to severely damage the plant yet, Bayer 3 in 1 said it was effective against JB's, didn't say how, took that back because of possibly damaging the soil.

Plus I don't know if I can use Sevin or what you're now using on roses.

Chickens are about the ony bird that likes to eat JBs. I wonder if that makes the meat taste bad, one can only hope!

It is also a poor reflection on their intelligence, alas!

Freshly killerated JBs attract their kin. Dead ones that have been fermenting in the sun for several weeks makes good mulch.

Sevin works but I am reluctant to use it, again.

Foghorn

This is really gross, but I read that you can take dead JBs and put them in a blender (preferably an old one that you are not currently using!) with some water and make a JB smoothie, then strain out the bits and spray the mess on your plants. Not sure I can stomach it myself, but thought I'd put it out there! Not sure if they need to be stinky first or not. AS for me, here's another reason why I'm done with traps now: Since a critter destroyed one of my trap bags, I only had one left, so thought, hey, I'll just empty this bag into a bowl of soapy water and re use it (I did NOT want to bring a semi full trap inside for the night!) I will not do that again. Ick!!! My soapy water to beetle ratio was insufficient...beetles overflowing in an undulating mess...bleah. I quickly transferred bowl to a plastic shopping bag then stood there panting, wondering what to do. Gingerly removed the bowl, started to step on the bag, but got too grossed out, so then added more hot soapy water to the bag...but oops, there was a hole in the bag, soapy water leaking! Sprinted inside for another bag and a bucket for good measure...now I have a plastic bag-o-beetle bits sitting in a bucket of disgusting brown water...smoothie anyone? Now that the cherries are pretty much done anyway, I'm reconsidering spritzing with Sevin and then doing a grub treatment in the fall (?) Anyone know what a good time is to go after the grubs?

Perl, I can't even imagine how disgusting those things are - I hope and pray they never come to my garden. I don't know if I could handle it! Your stories are akin to reading a Stephen King novel....

Judith

perl, thanks for sharing your miserable experience. At least I don't feel so alone.

That link I posted was pretty good, think it covered that. Whatever you choose for grubs, spring and fall, possibly something extra, then still have to fight whatever comes in the summer. They still could come in really bad from neighbors who don't treat, but probably somewhat effective.

Yes if somewhere I mentioned drowning them in the bags which I did and which worked, tied them off well, filled the buckets pretty high with soapy water, then plunged it in, tried to work as many air pockets out as I could, then weighted them down with something heavy. Waited 15 min to 1/2 hr. It worked. But then when I tried to tape the holes, the tape wouldn't stick on all the holes, tried to dry them off. The fresh bags I taped, made a roof, and seems to be sticking. Can't risk one chewing, clawing or those body parts scraping the hole larger and letting them all out.

Have to keep up the vigilance (picking and it's hot, that's when a lot are out) or damage could be much worse no matter what I do about the traps, and if it gets too bad, you can't possibly pick them all.

aliska, I'm using the Bayer Complete Insect Killer for soil and turf. It contains immidacloripid as the active ingredient. When I had a bad problem, it was on the crepe myrtles, roses, rose of Sharon and cherry tree. I have also seen the JBs on my crapapple but not that many.

If there are not that many I try to spray the beetles, not the plant. It will kill them and not leave as much reside for other bugs. But it's hard to do that with a tree.

I did also see a lot of beetles inside open Magnolia flowers...not eating them but just congregating. DH joked that they were the 'single bars' for JBS cause there was a lot of action going on in there if you know what I mean. I managed to get a lot of them while the were in the act.

Like I said, the last two years they have been almost non-existent so maybe I wiped them all out! I can hope.

I moved both traps. When I saw a bunch on Harison Yellow, long since bloomed, just below the front trap (that did it! and didn't think about it since it didn't have blossoms now and won't 'til spring), I bent a coat hanger and hung it from the garage entry door facing south and found an s-hook that will fit and hung it from a crack in the east comb storm window toward the front but away from Harison some. We'll see, have to go out and check in about 20 min. So what if they don't get much sun at this point? May take them down altogether, they really swarm around the traps in the hot sun, definitely drawing them from somewhere. Odd that they're only on a few back roses in front whereas before they were going first for the yellow blooms on Charlotte way in front, esp in the hot sun.

Good you're not getting so many last couple years. I hope I don't have to spray; if too many bugs to pick off will have to, but will read carefully and ask to make sure here locally or something. Sounds like you can spray it on the ground and lawn and may be a systemic for the plant. Well, I'll only spray the trees if there's no other way and hope I can just pick enough off the roses.

Thanks so much for explaining. Jotted it down carefully incl active ingred.

Magnolias, ours those we call that (as distinguished from tulip tree across the street which was blooming here lately, haven't looked, been too preoccupied, bloom in the spring here now done. But when the JB's are hungry, they will find something somewhere, that's for sure, if and when they are out there.