*If* one were going to spray for these, what would they use and what kinds of plants might they spray?

Dora

I saw my first ones yesterday as well. There were two of them in a row of crepe myrtles trees I have growing along my driveway. Last year the mockingbirds kept them in check but so far this year I haven't seen many mockingbirds so we'll see how it goes.

Yes, they have arrived in our garden as well. We saw 3 just this morning on the roses.

what kinds of plants might they spray

Japanese beetles are "generalists" - they eat a wide variety of plants.

Squished number two this morning.

Not that I miss the little darlings, but I was wondering where they were. I went on a garden inspection for them yesterday and didn't find any. Normally they are all over my favorite rose bush when it's in full bloom but it's about done with its first flush.

In my garden their prime targets have always been roses, hibiscus, canna lilies and crape myrtles. They seem to leave everything else alone. When they do show up I do a morning beetle hunt and knock them into a cup of soapy water. My mom and I e-mail each other every day to compare our kill count and see who won lol. Often times it's in the hundreds, but so far they haven't gotten so out of control that I have to use sprays. I'm leery about beetle traps because of the school of thought that it might actually attract more from nearby areas.

Ah, the joys of summer in the South.
Danielle

They are in my garden big time. They were using my red roses as their "love dens".... wish we could all be so lucky. Went to Lowes and bought Bayer All in One Rose and Flower Care. It has worked well so far in keeping the Japanese Beetles away. By the way, I like to flick them.

Keeping the beetles away does nothing to reduce their population in future years. If you want fewer JP next year, you must kill them.

I have found that the soapy water bucket is excellent - just hold the bucket under the branch and knock them into it. They can't get out.

And remember that the babies overwinter in grass roots ....

Don't use the traps, you will only get 10x more JBs. I did that one year and had to spray with Sevin it was so bad. The only upside is that I killed so many, I haven't had many since that year. I've see a few so far. I squish them or if there are a lot I use the water method. They are very slow in the morning that is a good time to catch them.

Karma, I HATE it when they think they can "engage in extracurricular activities" right in front of everyone. Yesterday I found four of them in a train, enjoying each other's company.

Let's see, I posted on June 14, and 1 week later they arrived. And boy did they ever arrive. Grrrrr.

I'm still using the soapy water method. Went out hunting for the first time yesterday and got around 100. It was during the afternoon though when they're friskier so I did lose a good many too that flew away. There were definitely some on my knockout roses and my Golden Showers climbers but their main love this year seems to be the Wisteria tree I got from someone at the swap a couple years back. And also the wild blackberry bushes which I don't remember being a fave of theirs in years past. I couldn't give a flip if they eat those but I know if I don't kill those as well they'll just breed more. It kinda' sucks 'cause those blackberry brambles around the edge of my property are large and hard to get into without getting pricked. Say, anyone have a flame thrower I could borrow?

Tomorrow I resume the hunt for my quarry.
Danielle

I tell you, this last week has been rough for us. we left town for Germany on business, came back and i'm finding JBs. i also had two or three of the same species of unknown caterpillars (dark brown and green, with a weird shape and some hairs) go to town on my reliance (or himrod) grapes, and ate 80% of the leaves off one of my grapevines that is pretty loaded with grapes for its size. i am hoping the fruit manages to make it, i picked all the little buggers off and threw them to the concrete 2' below. to boot, cabbage white butterfly larva went to town and fleeced about half of my broccoli. i came home to this, thought it was JBs but ... meh (note the broccoli in the background)