Hi dkgarber,

Sorry about your garden; it's frustrating to see all that work just get decimated in a short while--have had that with seedlings raised for months only to be torn down by cutworms--grrr....

Japanese Beetles are out in full force in my yard--do you have those? Have you tried any traps? They work--I know people say that they just attract your neighbors' beetles, but I would rather deal with that than have neighbors use pesticides (and they'd use something heavier than Neem). Plus, I am sure that they are mostly mine because I don't use any pesticide on my soil, not even on the lawn.

The traps and hand picking help out with the adults, but my gardens are pretty mature and can handle some damage from the beetles. They prefer the bayberry hedge and the meadowsweet flowers in my yard.

It's too bad about the Neem, but what's done is done. If you've already sprayed, you've already sprayed and please don't stress about it. I think Neem is fairly water soluble, so with a rain it might wash off, but I don't know it affects the organisms in the soil. In the future, though, it's a good idea not to use any insecticide because a garden could have any desirable caterpillar feeding--many caterpillars are secretive and are hard to spot. For instance, goldenrod is a host plant to many moth species, not really showy.

If you have Monarch butterflies now, you will have caterpillars soon--hopefully the Neem will be off by then. They may be eggs or early instars on your Milkweed. I don't know if there would be any residual Neem on the eggs and how that would impact the cats.

Good luck--hope everything turns out ok. I still haven't seen any Monarchs here yet.

Unfortunately (in cases like this), neem has somewhat of a systemic and persistent quality. In regards to the effects of caterpillars eating foliage that has been sprayed with neem, they are likely to stop feeding as well as cease their developmental growth. Neem acts as an insect growth regulator when ingested.

It's worth mentioning, too, that we should avoid spraying neem on flowers that are visited by foraging beneficials as we don't want to tempt them with tainted nectar and/or pollen.

berner, interestingly enough, I haven't seen any japanese beetles in years. I had a huge grub problem upon moving in which the previousowners had never controleed. No lawn. I assumed it was Japanese beetle grubs, but am finding that orientals and masked chafers are a much bigger problem here.

I stopped using grub control a couple years ago in fear that it was harming the earthworms which is probably why this year the beetles have exploded.

My butterfly garden is also new-so theplants aren't very mature. I have joe pye weed seedlings that are gone. They even cleaned out my herb garden, which I found odd. My lavender and thyme--GONE!!! Blue Knight salvia has been completely destroyed-only bare sticks.

I did try a trap once, and didn't find it worked, but I did see a trap the other day that was designed for oriental beetles as well as japanese. Maybe I'll try that.

I hope I didn't endanger the couple monarchs I've spotted. I have to find a way to control the grubs so this doesn't happen next year. It is so challenging to have an organic and cruelty free garden!!!!!

Hi again--There are specific traps for Japanese Beetles--I don't know about the other beetles that you have.

There is something called Milky Spore that is supposed to attack only the JB grubs and shouldn't hurt earthworms, but I can't say for sure. I don't use that, though. My yard is too big, and I don't give too much care for a lawn. Many lawn weeds are good for butterlies. I do put down organic fertilizer and that's about it.

I noticed this year that birds were loving our lawn, and I am sure that they were searching for grubs. Yellow-bellied sapsackers and grackles were here every day searching the lawn--the grackles looked like an FBI team out searching an area in a line.

I know--the JB do tend to test my limits--I do wish I could spray them sometimes, but I can't.

Still really sorry about your plants.