I wonder if Rosemary works too. Its pretty pungent.

I have rue, catnip, rosemary, tansy, 100s of marigolds, etc...and thousands of Japanese beetles. Maybe in areas that aren't as heavily infested with JBs, pungent plants might help, but here they do not

Thanks for the laugh Pat.

Mary thank you for providing the article. I’m afraid that I have about the same luck as Pat does. Beetles are not usually as bad here. Every so often they come in droves. I swear I have seen them smile when they smell the rose. There are a few trees that are their favorites. We have one variety in the woods in back. They don’t even bother with it any more. Nothing detours them from their destination (your roses). They like heat, SEX and a good meal.

I have 3 beds of alliums in my garden (garlic,onions, and leeks) and they don't seem to repel JBs that I can tell but they are also not attracted to them.

I did notice by accident last year that parsley seems to repel asparagus beetles to some degree. I somehow got some volunteer parsley growing in one of my gus beds and it had a small fraction of gus beetles compared to my other gus beds that did not have any parsley.

Plant a trap crop of pole beans and most of the JBs will be found at the top of those plants. My JBs tend to be drawn to my asparagus these days but I don't have 1/10 of the population I had 3 years ago since I applied Milky Spore around my garden area in late August 2016. I don't find very many JB larvae in spring when playing in the dirt either.

Interesting. We always have yellow beans growing in our garden, but I've never noticed any Japanese Beetles on them. I guess pole beans must be very different. I find my Hansa rose is my "trap plant" naturally. So when you buy milky spore, how do you decide where to put it on your property? I don't notice any lawn grub problem, so for me there isn't an "obvious" place to put it.

Has anyone on the East Coast with JB issues tried neem oil spray? A high quality cold extracted neem oil has the highest repellent ingredients (cheap on Amazon). Using 1 tea neem plus 1/2 tea soap per 1 qt warm water. It works like a charm to keep away the huge 4-6” grasshoppers that otherwise want to fly into my yard looking for a place to lay eggs. They just go elsewhere for a better food source. I haven’t seen a single large grasshopper since I started spraying all my roses with this solution. I didn’t catch in time so one cluster of babies hatched, but I think the numerous lizards around here got most of them after a couple weeks. A single large grasshopper can completely defoliate a rose bush in a couple days so I was happy to figure this out. Scientific studies were done that found neem created an “I am not hungry” response in grasshoppers that landed on neem sprayed leaves but doesn’t kill them. We don’t get ANY rain from April until October so I only have to spray every two weeks. Might be too difficult if you have to spray after every rainstorm there.

They do eat a lot in our veggie garden even though I have various allium & pungent herbs growing in there. Corn seems to be their favorite veggie here, but they will eat beans, as well. The thickets of blackberries in our pastures seem to be their very favorite...over and above even the roses. My lone rugosa, Sir Thomas Lipton, is their favorite rose, but as their numbers increase, they get less particular and will eat just about anything and everything. Living on a farm, milky spores really isn't an option...way too much ground to cover. What was most helpful here were the armadillos and skunks...not the most sought after yard companions, but they did a good job of eating the JB grubs in the ground. Armadillo and skunk population seems much less this year, though...and JB population is back up :(

Do birds eat the grubs?

Favorite fruit strawberries.

I read somewhere that they like to eat 4 o'clocks/mirabilis plants but that the plants are poisonous to them and they die. I have no idea if this is true since although I grow a ton of 4 o'clocks we don't get JBs so I can't test it.

I have a ton of 4 o'clocks, too, but have never seen a JB on them. My four o'clocks are all white and planted in my white garden with all my white roses...white roses are favorites of theirs, so they may ignore the 4 o'clocks because of better things to choose from in there. Vaporvac, I have tons of birds of many varieties. My birds definitely don't eat the adult beetles, and although, I watch them pull earthworms out of the ground constantly, I've never seen them with a grub in their mouth. Maybe the grubs are deeper than the birds go...much to DH's annoyance, the armadillos dig fairly deep holes all over the place when they feast on grubs.

Mary - I applied the Milky Spore around the perimeter of my vegetable garden and in the raised garden beds themselves. It was probably about a 80' x 150' foot area. It really cut down on the population the first year and so far is still working 3 years later. The grubs eat the spores and the spores then multiply inside the grub and it kills them and then releases more spores into the soil.

Jim, those JBs don't have a single good habit, do they? I can just envision tiny little cigarettes. Did you happen to see any tiny little bottles around the roses? Maybe their rotten habits will shorten their life expectancy.

Everyone, good luck with this scourge. I know that Four O'Clocks and morning glories are toxic to about every bird and mammal from deer to voles to quail, and none of them will touch these plants. I don't know about JBs, though. Praise be that they aren't around here. Now if I could only find a reliable deer repellent. Diane

I planted garlic between my Rose's last year. Lots of JBs, no effect. But the garlic was yummy.

I always place potted geraniums (pelargoniums) in clay pots along the ledge of my bay window.

I've noticed over the years that the roses planted beneath this window are nearly untouched by the Japanese Beetles while roses elsewhere in the garden are ravished by them.

I find the beetles passed out in the geranium leaves occasionally.

There's also hardy geranium in the same spot nestled between the roses.

It's not completely fool-proof, but the difference every year is quite noticeable in my garden.

I just came back from a trip to Poland, Hungary Austria and the Czech republic. Even in the huge rose gardens there was not one rose damaged by Japanese Beetles. I'd love to know why.

I don't think they have them there. That's why the import restrictions are so strict. I think we got ours when things were more lax.

Tammy, I am sure I read fairly recently that pelargoniums (popularly called geraniums) are toxic to Japanese beetles. Hardy geraniums were not mentioned. This would be worth some Google research.

Mary, I don't know the history of Japanese beetles in the US, but it is an introduced species, not native to the US. Perhaps, it's never been introduced into Europe. Another research topic. There are still lots of areas in the West where JBs have not spread, including here. Diane

My experience is that the pelargoniums do nothing significant to stuipify or repell the Japanese Beetles. I had read several good things on that and had high hopes and tried them, but was disappointed. I'd even read that whites ones were more effective, but alas no results at my house.