Some genius should come up an attractant they get stuck to and then some slug attractant that would trick the slugs into eating them. Oh, and 2 days later the slugs would die, too.

Me funny.

I'm so sorry you have been attacked so hard! The JPs can really be too much.

Here is a bit of advice, though. Try to catch them before they develop. We kind of did it by accident this year. We had noticed a LOT of grubs in the ground every time we tried to plant, transplant or dig anything. It was creepy. We finally sprayed the ground with a chemical grub killer - VERY unusual for us because we very seldom use any chemicals in our gardens. But this was extreme. There were hundreds...thousands of them! Anyway...I can only guess that it is connected but so far this year I haven't seen ONE japanese beetle. Not one.

A lot of people use the milky spore stuff to kill off the grubs and I really like that idea better - for one thing you don't have to keep applying it. I'd like to look into that next year. We get a lot of hay/straw/horse manure from a horse farm nearby. We compost it and use it on the beds and I think that is where the grubs are coming in. That stuff is too good to pass up so we just have to deal with the crawlies.

Anyway, try to handle the problem at the grub stage - either milky spore or chemicals (we used Triazicide...it may be horrible stuff - I really hate to use chemicals - but I have to say: NO JBs!)

Most perennials don't bloom throughout the summer but choosing wisely you could have a progression of different blooms thoughout. Right now the phlox are putting on a great show along with various rudbeckias and coneflowers. I also have asters, kalimerias, an indigoferia (thats been blooming since the beginning of April), daylilies, salvia, oh goodness the list goes on and on.

I find the buggers on my roses, hollyhock, and hibisicus regularly but occasionally they will be on something quite random. I don't have a problem with them in numbers though. I notice about a handful a day. They like my crepe myrtles too but my tree is pitiful, it really took a hit from that frost and has not recovered. I planted a bunch of the 'little chief' crepe myrtle bushes and they have not bothered with those.

I feel your pain. Nature has a way of humbling you. Try as you might to control it there are always those things out of your control. Adele

In my experimentation with deer-resistant plants, I'm developing a hypothesis. If deer won't eat it, if bunnies won't eat it, then jbs might not eat it. The exception is crape myrtles -- jbs eat our 'White Chocolate' but the deer leave it alone.

This will probably be the topic of my next blog as I am also fed-up with the jbs. They've devoured our Knock-out roses, munched our cherry trees and the white chocolate. My 'yellow and cream' bed isn't growing well, and that's where I dug up a lot of the grubs when I was planting.

Interestingly, damage is almost non-existant on our standard large crape myrtles (but like others, mine look pretty pitiful from the frost damage).

Now, back to the question of yellow, reds, orange and deep rose colors --- that the jbs haven't eaten in my garden.

coreopsis 'Moonbeam', 'Creme Brulee', 'Limerock Ruby', 'Heaven's Gate

crocosmia 'Lucifer'

penstemon 'Red Rocks'

salvia 'Navajo Red'

agastache 'Red Fortune'

echinacea 'Harvest Moon', 'Sunset', 'Sundown' (although I'm seeing the orange ones revert to the parental colors when the blooms begin to fade).

monarda -- any color

Cameron

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and your empathy!!

I'll investigate some of the suggestions and get back to you.

Lastly, I was looking at these on line and the vendor claims that they're a natural defender against harmful insects. They're called, Red Painted Daisies, (Tanacetum). I think they're pretty to begin with, but I don't know if the claim is valid. Any thoughts???

it may be what pyrethrum is made from. i know that's in the daisy family, but i thought it was a different name. with them changing names and classifications so often, though, that's my thought. along the same lines, 4 o'clocks are poisonous to jbs and come in the colors you like. they will eat them some, but then they die. bonus is they are very fragrant at night. hang tough- in my garden the bulk of them seldom last for more than 4-6 weeks, and we're the most of the way through now. the things they tore up will releaf and rebloom. and they tend to be cyclical- one year they'll be bad but the next no so much. for us, it's been a fairly light year. it's almost easier to have a few plants that attract them so you can collect the beetles there. see the other thread for instructs & more ideas.

They have decimated the leaves of hardy geranium. Left the flowers but the leaves are toast. They also seem to love to be on the bald cypress(or is it a dawn redwood..I forget) but I don't think they're the source of the browning..looks more like adelgid damage. The needles are still there, just brown.
Surprisingly, they missed the flush of mid May blooms on the carpet roses and are ignoring the occasional bloom but they're procreating like crazy on the vitex. Not eating, just procreating.
Course, neighbor has put out beetle traps so that would explain the excess of beetles here.

pythrethrum is made from chrysanthemum family.

yes, pyrethrum is from the chrysanthemum family, but unless i'm off base, i believe tanacetum is in that group as well. i know the pyrethrum daisies are red and pink and called painted daisies, hence my thinking that they may have reclassified them.

i don't think i've ever seen the jb's as early as may before. i know they miss the big rose flush i have from my old-fashioneds in early & midmay. they are always a june to early july thing for me.

boy, my spelling is atrocious! I'd forgotten the pyrethrum daisies. I'm confused about the congregating of beetles in the ground. Does the female beetle after mating, then drop to the ground and lay all the eggs in one spot? I know that if it's cloudy, the jbs tend to congregate (and stay all night) on my vitex blooms. Guess cloudy days are good days to tap them into a jar of detergent water. Sunny days they take off in flight when I try to capture them.

It is awful to watch your hard work being undone by the little beasts. So far they haven't touched any of the stronger smelling herbs I have scattered throughout the perennial beds. Been trying to do more companion planting, using tansy, savory, basil, etc. to deter pests. The JBs haven't touched any of them. I also have garlic all around the roses and I haven't seen any on them yet. But they're munching the hollyhocks.

Well, this year I decided to try planting four oclocks because I had read that they attract the JB and after eating the flowers, they die. Well, I sowed the seeds very early spring but they haven't flowered yet. I find at least 200 JBs a day, no exaggeration. I go outside about ten times a day (during the hottest parts of the day) and fill jugs of these horrible beetles. They congregate on my two hibiscus and all of my malvas and hollyhocks. Since I have about 25 Malvas and they are all over them, they don't seem to bother anything else. I am so disappointed that these four oclocks have not bloomed yet. Next year, I am buying some of them (instead of sowing) and see if it works.

(PS - I sowed them early but in a place where the soil really wasn't draining well, so they were moved and that may have been the reason for the delay in growth).

Carrie

Here's what blooming in my garden that the JBs have left alone:

Bee balm (Monarda)
Daylilies
Catmint
Calamintha
Summer phlox
Seashore mallow (won't bloom until August, is related to hibiscus but JBs seem to leave it alone)
Milkweed (Butterfly weed, swamp milkweed)
Verbena

DH and I have noticed that while our Knock Out Roses are being eaten up, the minature rose that we have in a pot on our patio is untouched. Comparing the two areas, the big difference is that there is a volunteer nepeta in the ground beside the pot. There is also a lemon scented geranium in another pot on the patio.

Has anyone experienced nepeta or scented geranium repelling the jbs?

carrie, around here the 4 o'clocks will make a big tuberous root that will come back bigger and faster in subsequent years, and you'll have blooms much sooner. mine would be full bore by now, but with the strange spring and the droughty conditions i haven't had blooms on even the old ones yet. just let them go this year, and next year should be better. you can get a head start by buying tubers, which are sometimes sold in spring. they'll actually reseed so much you may regret planting them in a few years. they are easy to weed as seedlings, though.

the jb's fly when it's warm, so if you are going to do soapy water, it really helps to do it during the morning or evening hours when it's cooler. if you have to do it midday, try spraying them with cold water first, which will slow them down temporarily. after a few days of going after them with the cup/jugs, they'll get wise and move quicker. good luck!

Have you tried larkspur and cleome? The JBs don't seem to bother them at all, while they're busy devouring so many other of my flowers, including bee balm. I do have some four o'clocks that I sowed that are just ready to bloom, didn't know they were poisonous to the JBs, but am glad to hear it.

I hate them so much that I squish them with my fingers when I see them on my plants, which I know is gross but is extremely satisfying!!

Sometimes Mother Nature is just so very cruel. I sprayed all of my roses, hibiscus, rose of sharon and Calla lillies with the Bayer stuff because I just couldn't take the jb's anymore.

This morning I was watering my plants and the darn beetles were on my verbena!!!!!!!!!!!! Aside from my petunias and my vinca, they're the only thing left with blooms!!! How dare they!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to say I stomped on as many as I could, which I know wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I was just "hopping mad"!!

{{gwi:582439}}

Hang in there, it's almost over! I plan to treat for the grubs this fall. Wonder when the best time would be? August? September? Any thoughts?

Puddle, what do you plan to use. I've heard milky spore only works if your neighbors use it too. If I could find their "hole", they are in big TROUBLE.

Carla

Frankly, I've gotten so disgusted with the damage to my garden that I want to nuke 'em - But, not there yet - I think I'm leaning toward using the beneficial nematodes, just need to learn more about them first. I think keeping the ground moist long enough for them to work will be my biggest problem. Here's some info ...

Here is a link that might be useful: Nematodes