Hi Barbara.
My protection against Japanese Beetles

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Lana

Lana - glad to hear this. How do you fasten your netting, and what kind do you use? What do you use to keep the netting off of the thorns--anything? Thanks. I guess you and I are the only ones that are kooky enough to do something like this. It surely has helped me though - Barb

Lana, how successful was that for you in preventing damage?

I will be watching for the answer, looks like stuff you buy at the fabric store for party clothes, never sewed with that, don't know how this would play with the neighbors (maybe better than me and my lunatic asylum hat out picking the dang things 3X+ a day in the worst of the onslaught).

Yes, I can find those bamboo hoops at HD, have a couple spares already. Bamboo stakes are cheap and tall, could cover the ends w/something to keep them from piercing the netting.

Just when I was wondering how I could get through another season of those things, and all the alternatives floated, this just might be worth trying.

The only downside I can see is that the blooms will still be attracting the beetles, and this year they weren't real picky what to attack. I'll need several yards just to cover my gazing ball on upsidedown coat rack, yellow climber on that lol.

Barbara, I buy the cheapest net at Wallmart, 50 cents a yard. I put the net over the roses and make sure the net is caught by the thorns.

Hoovb, I only use the net to save the leaves for the Fall flash, but they still bloom under the net.

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I just covered the roses that I had not seen bloom and the ones the JB like. It is too much work to cover and uncover 150 roses when I have to spray fungicide every week.

Now that the JBs have done and the August heat is drying up the BS, all my leaves, and now even blooms are coming back. I am simply not inviting anyone to view my garden in July.

I did some netting this year, and it was pretty darn successful in keeping out the beetles.

Two problems I encountered were
a) bees are more adventurous than beetles (thank goodness!) and a few got caught under the netting.

b) the wasps couldn't get under to troll for rose slugs, and I did have an explosion of them on a couple covered plants.

For some reason the JB's have really kicked it up a notch here at my house in the last couple weeks, and I am going back to covering a couple of their very favorite plants. I am very discouraged, between the wet, wet, wet year making so much blackspot and the JB's which are just a losing propositon all around.