Have a population of little birds to eat them seems to effectively control them in my yard. Much more effective than Milky Spore. One year I put up a JB trap which only collected a few beetles--I concluded that the biggest JB attraction in my neighborhood is the roses. And, if you like to watch birds, the little birds attract big birds like hawks.

Control is difficult. She can shake them off into soapy water. Birds will eat them too. They seem to be attracted to the lighter colored and scented roses in my yard. Very frustrating :) There is some debate regarding the use of the JB traps. I haven't tried them, but some have & seem to think they help. Milky spore will help but it's not immediate gratification. Sorry she's dealing with them, they are no fun!

The beetles emerge in early July . They feed for maybe 6-8 weeks, then lay an egg and die. The egg hatches and grows into a grub. The ideal time of the year to treat is the first of September. I would use Merit Granules. and water it in. that will kill the newly hatched grubs. Spraying is wasting your money. It will not treat them properly.

I live in Central Illinois and the JB's have left our area and are now visiting your area. We've had them for 20 years , enjoy!!

I used to have a Beagle, she used to eat them!!!!!

Get a badminton racket and have fun as they fly in!!!!!!!!!

I have been dealing with them since last year. They are horrible and a nuisance. I have already put a Japanese beetle trap up today. Trying to whack hundreds (note the plural) of them with my hands is just too much effort.

Just keep in mind that the traps will attract more JBs to your yard, so put it away from the roses and other delicacies. I go out in the morning and evening and check the roses and if I see any I pull them out and stomp on them. Right now I don't have that many blooms, but I have seen a few already. We used to have a lot more. I am not sure if they go in cycles, but they aren't really a problem here.

They are doing a job on a lot of my light colored roses. They seem to come about the time my 2nd bloom cycle starts to bloom. I'm going to take off all the light colored blooms as they start to show color and see what happens. I really don't like the idea of feeding those nasty suckers with my roses.

Ken, are those light color roses that attract them very fragrant? The love my Courageous roses, which is a dark pinkish red, not light color at all. I agree, I too get them normally on the second bloom cycle but with the cool spring we had my first bloom cycle was later than normal. So far I haven't had many, and am hoping its going to be a mild year.

Here is a recent article from the ARS on the matter.

http://www.rose.org/tricks-and-secrets/

I do avoid traps. As my garden has become larger I cannot spend hours gathering these blasted creatures as I use to. I am very reserved about using any pesticide in the garden but I am considering the use of Demad CS this season as the article discusses. I treated my garden and lawn with milky spore last year. Likely not my neighbors, though, so I'm not sure how much help it will be. When weeding the garden today I gathered a large number of Japanese beetle grubs in such a small area. I think it's going to be bad year for them here!

The licked to ARS article stated: "In 2011, it was brought to my attention by a commercial pesticide applicator that one of the pyrethroids, Lambda Cyhalothrin, sold as Demand CS, might be effective in controlling Japanese beetles. I tested it in the summer of 2012 and was very surprised and pleased at how effective it is."

H. Kuska comment: Regarding using Demad CS (Lambda Cyhalothrin), I recommend not using it based on the precautionary principle.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22Lambda+Cyhalothrin%22+sperm&hl=en&as_sdt=0,36

http://www.scopemed.org/fulltextpdf.php?mno=207603

http://tih.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/04/19/0748233716635003.abstract

http://tih.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/03/17/0748233715627736.abstract

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1382668915300971

http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ijhs1&volume=2&issue=1&article=005

Well two gardeners I know have tried the traps and said it is effective for them.

I don't have the time to hand pick them as I work and my dad is tired doing it. It is either trying the traps or rip all the roses out as my dad would have liked to. We saw some scout beetles already.

I don't have them but want to keep an eye out. Where are they found on a bush? Eating the buds? Are the grubs underground?

I treated with Milky Spore about 6 years ago both my yard and the arboretum where I volunteer. Definitely reduced the number of beetles. My neighbors on both sides treated their yards as well. They were struggling with moles tearing up their lawns, which is a side effect of having a lot of grubs so they were happy to participate.

Also, I find that the white crepe myrtle in my front yard is very attractive to them, making my morning and evening hunting expeditions more effective!

Have learned to live with them. It's the voles that really make me crazy, their damage never goes out of season! At least it's just 6 to 8 weeks with the beetles.

I heard that JBs are in San Diego area :(

They hitch a ride in on planes and the airport puts up traps but some get away ........

Were I live the beetles come out as soon as the heat turns on. That shall happen in 3 days this year and they don't leaves until it cools down. Here the traps were hopeless. They live in swarms in the corn and bean fields and I'm the only one to have put them up close by anyway. After putting traps up for several years the population did not dwindle until I quit using the traps. This place looked like Harryshoe's old photos. I do the soapy water though I'm sick of it. Every morning and every evening at least it's a good way to scout for rrd.

How big is your property, and how close are your neighbors' lawns/garden? Milky spore will only help so much if they can just grow in your neighbors' lawns a few feet away and hop the property line. Same with traps: they will attract JBs from a long distance away and you may end up with MORE in your garden. But if your property is big enough--or if many of your neighbors also use traps/milky spore--then this might make a dent in the local JB population. I'm talking about putting out multiple traps over a large area (and preferably away from your garden) since killing a thousand with a trap will not make much difference if a million of them are living within a couple of miles and are attracted.

In the end I resort to manual control: picking them off and shaking them into soapy water. It's just part of my normal garden routine along with pulling weeds, deadheading/pruning, and getting those danged lily beetles as well. I pick some off in the morning when I let my dog into the backyard, and then again in the evening after work and a trip to the dog park. These times are when they are most inactive and easiest to catch anyway. For the smarter ones that burrow deep into the petals to evade capture I use a pair of needlenose pliers to pick them out and minimize damage to the flowers.

I second the bird recommendation.

Something not yet highly publicized is the use of a fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae:

http://jee.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/04/30/jee.tow080.abstract

Concerning safety, see:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09583150701593963

AND

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#newwindow=1&q=%22Metarhizium+brunneum%22+safety

socks(10a) yes, you can usually find a Japanese beetle butt peeking out of a rose bud or bloom. They will also eat leaves. The larvae live in the ground.

Let's hope they stay In San diego. They had issues in Sacramento with the beetles thriving there and residents refusing to let them eradicate them so the department got police escorts and a warrants to spray and said in the case of Japanese beetles this is one pest we don't wan't not after what become of the east coast . Although the article showed that the beetles have popped up all over California in the past century in drifts that seem to disappear .

Henry, thanks for the info on Metarhizium anisopliae! I wish it were effective as a foliar spray (as it is on thrips, etc) but it appears milky spore is still less expensive to add to the soil. I hope effective, environmentally conscious solutions will be found in the future to control JB.

I only have 23 roses, so I hand pick and smash. Read somewhere about leaving the crushed carcasses around roses to repel. I did that last year & it did seem to help a little. A friend uses a shop vacuum & sucks them up! They are awful pests.

Actually I heard the opposite if you smash a JB it may attract even more Jb's... Knock them off into Soapy water to be safe...

What I read in is that the scent of dead beetle repels living beetles. In actuality, it probably doesn't matter either way. It did seem as though no new beetles came after I left smashed beetles along the edges of the rose bed. Probably a coincidence; no more were coming anyway. I do confess I had jo qualms about smashing them to paste, though. Quite therapeutic, actually ;)

LOL Holly!