Haven't spotted them here yet but I ever only find a few on my beans. They much prefer my raspberries, blackberries, roses, rhubarb, and the wild grape growing along my back fence.

Rodney

Here in E. Tn., I've always had them on my Italian flat beans. This year though, is the first year that I'm growing soy beans for edamame. They've been leaving the flat beans alone, and are on the soy. The good thing is that the soy is already established with immature pods, so the beetles aren't affecting production to any appreciative degree. Like you, I'm getting rid of all of them I see. It's not as bad as last year, but it's still early. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep their numbers down and they'll never really damage the flat beans.

There is something very satisfying about putting an end to their mating on the plants. A couple of times I have managed to scoop up 4-6 in a cluster at a time and plunk them all into the soapy water. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

They eat my rhubarb every year, leaving lacy skeletons where there used to be leaves. They go away as the summer winds down, and the rhubarb is able to regrow for a fall crop. They don't seem to bother much else. Yet!

They're all over the Fortex pole beans, but not a single one on the Rattlesnake pole beans only a few feet away. I interrupted their "happy times" (including some kinky threesomes!) with a bucket of soapy water, quickly reducing their numbers.

Every year since I planted my grape vine I've had Japanese beetles. They would cover the entire grape vine. I would hand pick and put into a soapy bucket. We never got to enjoy a single grape. This year I decided to cover my grape vine with netting. I will take a picture of it tomorrow and post. I saw a few Japanese beetles on top of the netting. But that's it. No more Japanese beetle problems.

I read something about using neem oil. Has anyone tried this with success? I might be netting off my bean plants, though, I fear they're just going to move on to another available plant... it looks like they already starting nibbling on the okra leaves.....

I have related this many times here...so please excuse repetition.

In 2003 I trapped an estimated 270,000 JBs...plus killing thousands more. I did not listen to the 'common wisdom' of don't trap...you'll bring them in from the neighborhood. Well, that's what I wanted to do...get them all from the neighborhood. I also noticed that they emerged out of roadside grass and hit the soybeans in the first few adjoining rows. I killed them too. I also treated my daughter's yard with Milky Spore and had some left. I put this in troubled areas. Fast forward...it got so I only found 5 beetles one year, 8 another, about 11 another, about 22 another, and last year things had ballooned to 27...all picked out of hibiscus blooms.

Milky Spore takes a couple of years to really get established and take hold of the grub issue, though, right? I mean, definitely worth doing for the long haul so future years aren't spent hand picking.

In that first year of using traps, how did your plants fare?

After the first few days, I could set the traps further away....mostly southwestwardly. I used both floral and sexual scents. In the first trapping day, the beetles filled the traps in an hour or so. I used more than 1 trap...one was ¼ mile away. The beetles hit the plum trees and wild grape vines on my perimeter fence. They didn't destroy my garden crops. You don't want to set traps too near a garden.

Don't dump the dead beetles in grass....dead females have eggs in them that hatch out!!!

I've often wondered about the advice you constantly read and hear saying not to use traps because it just attracts more to your yard. The traps may attract more but surely they are going to trap the majority of them. Maybe this year I'll try them out...

Rodney

I would try to trap early so as many of the females could be killed early in the season so not so many eggs get laid.

I thought I'd make a little update... it would appear that neem oil works fairly well.... I sprayed down my bean plants several days ago and the next day the number of beetles were less and they seemed to not be as interested in the bean plants... but they were now hanging out on the okra, marigolds, and the fence around the garden. So, that evening I sprayed down nearly everything with neem oil. Maybe something else is in play and I'm just wanting the neem oil to take the credit... but, the numbers definitely have lessened.

I was going out and hand picking enough to fill a stadium cup of soapy water each day. Now, I am three days out and still haven't filled the cup up with beetles.

Here in western Missouri they still haven't gained a strong foothold yet as far as I can tell. I picked a half dozen or so off of an Asparagus bed about a week ago and picked one off my first bean planting over the weekend. I inspected my other 2 bean beds and did not see any more.

They are after my Fortex Pole beans the most. A little on the Emerite and none on the Bosnian Pole, Lazy Housewife, Dragon Tongue or any of the Limas.

Had serious problems last year. They attacked my okra and fruit trees. This year I planned to attack aggressively. I purchased two traps and hung one near my garden and the other near my fruit trees and blueberry bushes. Normally JB's do not get too bad until mid July. This year I have emptied both containers three times the last two weeks. I place them in a five gallon bucket of water drowning the critters. Once they have expired, I empty the contents in the river adjacent to my property. The fish love 'em...Property is located in the N.C. Mountains...

I built my house in 1979 and used Milky Spore immediately. 3 years later, I was totally beetle-free until 2005. (It is only supposed to last 20 years because it dies out when there are absolutely no grubs left to infect to keep the disease alive.) I used it again in 2005 when a very, very few beetles started to appear. I saw the first beetle in 10 years this year - on corn, which I never grew here before. I used Raid on the leaf, and no more beetles. One japanese beetle in 10 years is worth the price. Don't delay.

Whatever you do for immediate help, GET MILKY SPORE started to protect your place for 20+ years.

It is a miracle.