I dont have them now, but, I did a few years ago. I made the mistake of buying the traps, and that drew more of them in, and they stripped my ivys, and about everything else, until someone told me to mix dawn and water in a spray bottle and go around and spray the plants and the beatles. It really does work to eliminate the beatles.

You should treat your yard for their grubs. This is the only time (when they are flying) that grub treatments are effective. They flew here in March / April but we don't have enough of them to bother treating them. We have moles that eat them while they are still larvae. I hope that you can control them before they do more damage.

Rhizo, I was desperate! They skeletonized my rose bushes overnight!

Cat, thanks I'll try that! Dawn is amazing stuff! LOL!!

Yes, only their dinner of choice here is the potato vine in one of my pots. It is the only plant they have any interest in this year. I frequently just hand pick them into a container of soapy water, but not allowed to garden after my SCT. I (my husband) just ripped out the potato vine a couple of days ago and they seem to have left ??????. No sign of them anywhere else.

We get them every July. Many years ago we treated the yard with milky spore powder. I remember thinking it was expensive, but then it kept the Japanese Beetles away for about 15 years!

I went out early this 53º morning and collected them off my rose bush. Normally they fall easily into the container of soapy water (what one GardenWeb member calls the "Bucket o' Death"), but this time they were so lethargic from the cold that I practically had to pry them off. Then, instead of swimming strongly like they always do, they floated on the water almost without movement. Odd but interesting.

Sevin is bad stuff in my book. I love roses, but I love the environment and those who live in it more.

Yes, but the numbers have been dwindling greatly in the last week or so. That would be after they skeletonized the serviceberry trees. I don't grow roses, Rose of Sharon or Hibiscus because of JBs. I hate, hate, hate those bugs.

We did and then used Milky Spore disease and now if we get any, they are few and far between.

They arrive here in June, just in time to devour my roses. I usually patrol several times a day, with a bucket of soapy water, which kills them quickly, but takes more time than spraying a pesticide. Late evening, or a breezy day, are the best times to sneak up on them.

I've been very busy with other things this year, and haven't had time to keep after them, so they must be in bug 7th heaven. I might try Milky Spore, but the neighbor's bugs would probably notice the uninhabited territory and decide to branch out.

I've never seen one.....OMG....hope that holds true....

Since my roses bloomed early this year and the JBs arrived later, they had very little to eat; so they went after hollyhocks, coneflower, and I even saw some on the zinnias out front. What roses were left they mobbed, not even waiting until the buds opened.

I don't see very many now either.

nicole, where do you live? These nasty little pests aren't found in most of the country.

rhizo....Manitou Springs & Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Last Summer I had an aphid invasion, but Dawn dish detergent took care of it. I haven't seen so much as one this year.

Yes, I have them on my roses but I also have a ziploc baggie of soapy water by each rose bush - just scrape them off into the water about 3x a day, zip it shut and they die.

Well I'm certainly glad I came here for advice! I originally asked my farmer BIL and he advised the Sevin for my small problem. Thank you everyone for the advice! They're gone now but I'm sure they will return next year......I have plenty of Dawn!

I'm going with Dawn also. The devoured my calla lillies. I wish I would have known about Dawn then. But I'm glad I know about it now.

I did some reading on soap sprays and learned it'll kill the insects it comes in contact with but doesn't act as a repellent. Also, soap sprays tend to burn the leaves. I don't know if this has been Cat's experience, but I don't think I'll risk it with my pole beans. The only advantage to soap spray over knocking the beetles into a container of soapy water is that the spray has a longer reach than my arm. But if it's going to burn new leaves I'll avoid using it.