I don't think the giant japanese beetles are actually Japanese Beetles. I think, like a lot of insects, all Japanese Beetles are more or less the same size. THere are many, many species of beetles, and most are more or less harmless. One nice thing about the large, night-flying beetles is that they are an important food for large, noctunal predators like Whip-poor-wills and Screech Owls (screech owls eat lots of insects in the summer)

Horticulturists are saying that it is important to take ALL aspects of plant culture into consideration, kimmsr. Not any one at the exclusion of the myriad of other natural forces out there. Growing healthy plants should never be one dimensional. As an absolutely dedicated proponent of soil health and utilizing the myriad inherent forces to be found within a healthy soil/root system, I am fully aware of the benefits of fostering such a system. Actually, much of my career has been based on soil science as it seems to be the piece of the puzzle that most people miss. I disagree with your wording, however. Denying that plant resistance is not important as long as the soil is healthy is simply not true. Plant resistance PLUS a balanced, vital soil system is, however, a remarkable combination. Recognition of pest problems PLUS a balanced, vital soil system. Smart plant placement PLUS a balanced, vital soil system. When one takes into account various elements of a plant's genetic predispositions, local climate expectations, predominate pest species (diseases and insects), AND the essential workings of a soil system, then the pieces of the puzzle begin to come together. I believe that you know this. The importance of soil health was noted loooooong before the late 1800's, by the way. Again, civilization's earliest growers made use of their primitive understanding of soils as they settled into the rich flood plains of river valleys all over the world. They also knew when they had ruined a soil by overuse, and took pains to renew and restore soils. The study of soils began thousands of years ago.

I went with a Bayer rose and flower spray that specifically said it killed japanese beetles, and was chosen only because it was being given away by my late neighbor's son while cleaning out her house. I only sprayed it on the plants that they went after because I felt bad about using sprays at all. I usually make do with the soapy water but the infestation was just too severe. I'd go out four times a day and still find tons each time I went back. And even though I had very few escape as I tried to dunk 'em, it was still insane. You can't use it on vegetables or other edible plants. I just directly sprayed the affected roses, hibiscus, hardy hibiscus, kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate and one variety of perennial geranium in my yard. I chose to not spray the ivy geranium basket, as the flowers paralyze or kill them anyway. I've noticed no more than two or three total on all my plants combined now each day (I sometimes don't bother to remove them if I don't have time now), and it seems confined to just the rose blooms (which of course weren't anywhere near open when I sprayed). It's supposed to be systemic and not wash off (ha ha like we get rain anymore). I don't usually recommend spraying because sprays kill good bugs and bad bugs, but I have never seen anything like this (OK, the carpenter ant infestation we found when we moved into our house was pretty bad too but that's a whole other story...) and was concerned they would munch the plants enough to kill them. Here is a link that might be useful: Stuff I used on the plants

Good idea, Jim, that would be sturdy & easy to clean. What store did you get it from? I will have to look for that. One healthy rose worth buying: William Shakespeare 2000, I never find any Japanese Beetle on that for the past 4 years, since its petals are tightly-packed, and JB can't get inside. I have W.S. 2000 in a flooded area, with the overflow of rain barrel dumping water on that tiny rose, yet it's clean. I also put gypsum (for its zillion-petals), and cracked-corn in the planting hole (for anti-fungal agents in corn, such as zinc and copper). How one prepare the planting hole determines how disease-resistant it is. If the hole is well-drained, and has beneficial microbes, it will be healthy. When I piled up horse manure on Golden Celebration, I was surprised that the previously compacted soil underneath is made fluffy, thanks to the microbes from the well-rotted manure. The below link explains why: http://www.naturalenviro.com/Article.php?ArticleSKU=Soil-Building "The broad and diverse population of soil microorganisms will immediately begin to build an aerobic zone in the soil. The aerobic zone is the top portion of the soil that supports plant life. A healthy soil will normally have an aerobic zone 8-12 inches deep. Most soils today have an organic matter content of less than 1% and usually have very shallow aerobic zones (1-2 inches). One of the main causes of this is the lack of diverse population of beneficial soil microbes. Soils that have low organic matter and shallow aerobic zones also have a very low water holding capacity, are compacted, and have very low oxygen content. These conditions are very adverse to good root development by turf or plants and usually indicate very low microbial activity. When you apply microbes, you will see conditions in your soil begin to change quickly." An excerpt from another site on humus: http://www.naturalenviro.com/Article.php?ArticleSKU=humic-acid-role "Humic acid is also especially important because of its ability to chelate micronutrients increasing their bio-availability. Humic acid stimulates microbial activity by providing the indigenous microbes with a carbon source for food, thus encouraging their growth and activity. Soil microbes are responsible for solubilizing vital nutrients such as phosphorus that can then be absorbed by the humic acid and in turn made available to the plant. Additionally, microbes are responsible for the continued development of humus in the soil as it continues to break down not fully decomposed organic matter." William Shakespeare 2000 as own-root can take lots of rain. I look over the pictures over the last 4 years, including the 1st year when it was in a pot, with chemical fertilizer. My rating: it was really stingy in a pot, from high-nitrogen-soluble. It gave lots of bloom with sulfate of potash & gypsum, but the health can't be compared to horse manure. This year with too much rain: I used red-lava-rock & cocoa mulch, bloom-quality is good, but leaves got holes from excess water, but no black spots. Below is William Shakespeare when I used horse manure & alfalfa meal, 100% healthy, fantastic bloom-color and quality: Here's William Shakespeare 2000 bloom with horse manure: nice purple, thanks to the trace elements in horse manure. I like more than what I have now, deep crimson from red-lava-rock: