Search gardenweb's New England forum for how others there have dealt with this beetle. You'll get some excellent advice. Luckily we don't have it here, but who knows? One day NE will get fed up and kick them over to Illinois. :) Then you can advise me.

Hi All! I have several raised beds and one has Canna and Four O'clocks. When the Jap' beetles arrived just over a week ago I began picking them off. At first first there were only 5 or 10. Then last weekend the amounts began to grow slightly. It was the first real beetle infestation I've had since we moved here 4 years ago. I had a metal Jap' beetle catcher from way back, along with a can of scent. I hung it in the middle of the bed on Monday eve. On Tuesday morning before leaving for out of town, I went to check to see if it was catching. I couldn't believe it. Without to much exaggeration there must have been 500 in the small 4 X 8 area. The pungent scent on Tuesdas hot humid morning must have drawn them to the catcher, with a quick stopover to the plants, from all of my neighborhood, and there was only 1 or 2 inside the catcher. Boy what a screw up that was. Well it's taken me almost a week of picking and drowning to get it under control. I began culling off all the hundreds of leaves they destroyed over the weekend. I had 1 beautiful Hollyhock in the bed that I left that came up from seed. All that's left are the Maroon blooms. I'm going to leave it to see how resilient a plant can be. Last year we had a Maple tree that was infested with the small inch caterpillar and I swear I was going to cut the tree down as we couldn't even use the hot-tub because of the droppings. I'm not that heartless so I'm leaving the Hollyhock as is because I swear the tree has come back stronger than ever. Of course the Holly won't have that chance for next year. But isn't Nature amazing? Jim

irisgal - They have hooked feet. They land on rose bugs or flower and chew through. When you try to pick them off, they drop like a stone and bury in the soil or mulch. I have one very long rose bed I am monitoring several times a day and get them. But my roses on other parts of the property are either shrubs where the branches make it impossible to do the shake thing or get so covered it is a losing battle. I fear for Heirloom, because she is so fragrant, they just cover her. It's not just the roses either. They are on my cannas, crepe myrtles, cheery trees, grapes and other fruiting crops.

what she said.. but it would be helpful to know the product ... and how you used it ... properly diluted.. etc.... btw ... if you fert your lawn... your tree will NEVER need any further fert ... regardless ... i SUSPECT.. unless you dumped a bag of nitro right next to the tree trunk... there isnt any real problem ... so lets not try to fix something that probably isnt broken .... and if this is one of those snake oil things.... its probably not very strong.. properly diluted ... just dont try to love it to death ... trees simply usually need nothing.. ever ... [beyond proper watering the year or two after planting]... they are not children.. they dont need to be fed.. pampered.. educated.. etc ... ken ps: and if you maple loses its leaves in a month or so.. dont freak out.. lol.. thats what they do in fall ...