anntn6b, thanks. I rather thought you might be. That's wonderful but a big responsibility to manage all that property. I wondered how it affected agricultural crops, principally corn, soybeans and hay for those with animals. On our farms we have I guess it's a sharecropping arrangement, and it is principally corn and soybeans. I wondered how the JB's affect these farmers. Sweet corn is one thing, but if they only eat the tassels on field corn, probably not a problem because they now buy new seed every year, shell the corn and store until it's time to sell. And I'd rather it not be GM but it is. I'm having trouble figuring if tassels are all they eat, why it is such a problem other that market appeal. Plus I'm old fashioned and much prefer the all-yellow sweet corn, and I couldn't find any last time I was at the farmer's market or roadside stands. Everybody likes that salt and pepper better because it's sweeter. I eat it, but the only way I can get yellow corn is at the store which I seldom do because it isn't fresh. I was told farmers can use field corn for eating off the cob when it is still very young, then it gets too tough. So you lured all his beetles to your property. At least you can place your traps right. Glad your efforts are paying off. Tonight I got the bags ready for the garbage and put the other parts in the garage because it is supposed to rain, I tape the holes, and my roofs haven't been tested yet. I will put fresh bags on in the morning and put them back out. I added a weapon to my arsenal. A very bad one for midday when clusters are getting away. Methinks you would not approve. I'll use it if I have to, but will continue picking and dunking. I'm hoping they will start to phase down and the worst is over but I'm too new at this. At least if I had done my dream and lived on one of our farms, I could place the traps more strategically; I'm so new to all this. I SHOULD be spraying for BS and bought a pump sprayer to use with Orthonex. I can't figure out how to put it together. My son said he would help. You wouldn't approve of that either I'd wager. I can't find the receipt to take it back or might have today. If you have a lot of roses, I'm guessing you don't hand pick the bugs. Maybe it works so well for you now you don't need to. I have to and am fed up with the whole business. Only two this evening, one on a rose bloom and one on a yellow coreopsis. Just when I think . . . .and me the purist who never wanted to spray with dangerous chemicals. I sure appreciate your sharing your storehouse of knowledge with us, a real eye-opener about a lot of things.

Insect changes I've noted - way more ants and fireflies this year, and mosquitoes (no surprise there, with all the wet weather). Tons of tiny beneficial wasps, but I have a lot of chamomile, parsley, etc attracting them, too. I haven't seen JB's or SVB's yet either, and my population of those annoying orange wasps seems to be way down, but I suspect that all three will show up more soon - it hasn't been hot enough long enough yet.

Japanese beetles prefer feeding on foliage in full sun, and the upper crowns of mature trees generally suffer more damage than the lower portions. "They especially seem to love the leaves of the Stella Cherry and Red Oak trees" That's interesting since Red Oak is not a preferred host for JB. I have plenty of JB's here but I don't think I've ever seen a JB on the 2 red oaks in my yard. "One thing that helps with Japanese beetles is to stop killing your birds" I agree that we shouldn't be killing birds, but birds alone probably don't have a major impact when JB numbers are high. Weather factors can have a significant impact, like very dry conditions after egg laying (mid to late summer), or very low soil temperatures in winter. These factors seem to have resulted in somewhat lower JB numbers in recent years at my location, although numbers may be higher this year since we had adequate rainfall mid to late summer last year. Lots of JB activity out there today, currently 95F and sunny.

DublinBay, you said you were hoping to find some rhyme or reason to the beetles population growth/decline. I think it is very unlikely that flooding or excessive rain contributes to their downfall, considering the highly conflicting reports. However, I’d like to hear more from others who experienced severe LACK of rainfall last year, as I did. It’s a fact that the grubs need the fleshy grass roots to do well, and if the the grass is brown and dead from lack of water/rain (as ours was), it is unlikely many grubs thrive. I think this contributed, at least somewhat, to the lessened quantity of beetles I have experienced this year. Granted, if one lives in a neighborhood and there are well watered lawns all about, this wouldn’t be the same. I live in the countryside, and there were no green lawns, no pastures, barely any weeds by the end of summer. Impossible to irrigate miles of hayfields. lol any of you experiencing some relief from The Little Green Devils, do you remember if your summer was rainy or excessively dry?