More of the critters arrived to join the party, so they're now in buggy heaven (thanks to a few shots of Sevin). Although they couldn't hurt the hibiscus since it's finished blooming, they were right beside my confederate roses (that are now as tall as the house). They haven't started blooming yet.

Greengrower, I would get rid of the traps immediately. They just act as a beacon to every jb in your area. You'll never be able to catch enough to make a dent, plus, once they are in your backyard they are more likely to lay eggs in your soil, meaning more will emerge next year. Since you plants are potted your best chance is to dust them with Sevin, pick them by hand, and just plainly wait for their couple weeks to pass. I feel with you, as jb have made me rip out my rose garden and plant it with perennials they don't like. I also put down milky spores in my lawn area to fight the grubs before they emerge. I don't want to praise it too early, but it seems that after three years I finally seem to see less beetles. Mind you, they are still a plague, but somehow don't seem to reach the level where you want to use H-bombs. Also, I found out that by pruning back my Hibiscus syriacus bushes, their flowering seemed to be delayed enough to maybe make it passed the beetles. Maybe. Good luck!

Hello iloveflowers41A, No experience with this species, but my research says that its pollen is viable within its own species. It apparently sets it's own seed very well also. I agree that floating seed usually means empty contents, but try cutting some open to see. Try planting anyway. Regards, Brian Kerr.

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