I’m in metro ny area and I saw nary a one.

I saw a few early on, but I haven't seen many nor any repeats. I bet they drowned this year :)

Very bad here, worst I've ever seen in some 30 years. And we had a LOT of rain over the winter.

I'm on the outlier, I'd never seen Japanese beetles till maybe 10 years ago.

Have not noticed many this year. It was a very rainy spring.

We haven't had heavy JB activity in a few years - BUT I was wondering what had happened to the usual secondary summer bloom an the Chinese wisteria. It had started 2 weeks ago and then seemed to vanish... Yesterday afternoon we were doing some deadheading/cutting back near the Chinese wisteria - I noticed that it was swarming with JBs! They had decimated all the new growth, especially the flower stems - so, no mystery now why the secondary summer bloom vanished! Interestingly, the hardy hibiscuses are just starting to bloom now and the JBs usually like those flowers; the first hardy hibiscuses to bloom are always the ones at the base of the Chinese wisteria. Those hibiscus flowers don't seem to have any damage at all yet, but one flower a ways away in the driveway border is riddled with holes - but others near it are fine - so far at least! We had all the grass here (not a lot left!) removed in early June and replaced with new sod. I wonder a bit if perhaps the larvae came in with the topsoil they put down under the sod.... I also wonder how much damage will be done now to the new sod by the larvae from the JBs that showed up. While JBs seem to be back after a few years' absence, lily beetles seem to be fewer. There are lilies that bloomed - or are blooming now - that have clean foliage with no signs of those nasty little red beasts. The lilies haven't looks so good in more than 10 years! ... you win some; you lose some... :-)

There were a ton of them in June and July. They really did a number on some of the trees in the nearby park and they also ate most of the fresh growth on some of my perennials, causing reduced blooms.

good to hear that some people are getting a year off. There are more than usual here but still not as bad as I’ve seen elsewhere, and they did love the wisteria shoots and persicaria... which are both plants native to japan So I guess the beetles wanted a taste of home lol

We had a lot of rain last summer and the grass was green all year. I recall reading that they reproduce better in a lush lawn vs a brown dried up one, which does make sense since the grubs feed on the roots. Just wondering if people seeing less beetles had a dry summer last year...

They came late, at least in my garden, long after the roses had bloomed so now they are eating anything they can. I find them on flowers and plants that I have never seen them munching before. However, the number of JBs isn't what it has been in past years. Interesting idea about the flooding perhaps killing larvae.

I seen 5 JB's this year...Rainy Spring and beginning of Summer here...

Very rainy season last year here..

Ditto.

I've seen a LOT LESS than last year. Massachusetts had a ton of rain over spring and summer and I agree with your theory. I have been pleasantly surprised. I still get them but not nearly as many

I have way less JBs but gobs of giant rosebud eating grasshoppers, some are almost long as my hand!

I have not seen one. My Hybiscus has never looked better!

I had tons, the most I have ever seen. I had 2 volunteer purple loosestrife pop up, and fortunately for the plum and apricot trees (which they also attacked in numbers) they were very much attracted to those. I killed many multiple dozens over a 10 day period (soapy water in a container method) - and I am sure missed plenty. They were pretty much gone by July 26.

We had record rainfall this spring and early summer, with flooding in our backyards, so I don't think that had to do with the regions with few JB this year

I've not seen as many this year as usual but we had a polar vortex last winter down to -26 F and a really late, rainy spring. They love the rugosa bush!

I caught one on my Persicaria polymorpha, one of their favourites here, and that was it. I must say, last year they were not all that bad either. Whatever the cause of the decrease in numbers, I will take it!

Also, something curious. In the past several years I have seen sparrows chasing down and eating JBs. I may be wrong, but it used to be birds, even sparrows, let the bugs alone. Somewhere I read they had a bad taste, I don't know how the author of the article knew that but it always made sense to me.

I'm in SE Michigan and we had very few this year. Talking with several of the members of my rose society they all said they had noticed fewer this year. All we could come up with was either the extreme cold of the winter or the soggy wet spring killed a lot of the grubs.

I invite a ton of Sparrows here gdinieontarioz5... I watch them land on the roses they jump from cane to cane doing whatever...Guessing eating insects etc. I provide a Birdbath etc. And they like to bath in the soil...lol...Eat insects in our compost/mulch...

I am also zone 5 IL. Very few for me. Counted 5, tops. I see damage on the roses, but I have had a lot of different insects eating plants this year.

I had the worst JB season ever this year, with record rainfall and sudden change to intense heat. Must be ideal for JBs since they were EVERYWHERE. Quadra was a JB haven and eaten down to the canes, but fortunately it's a thug and could handle it. I had the kind of infestation where the blossoms on a majority of the roses couldn't be seen because of the hordes of JBs in several layers on top of them. Just disgusting. I was in and out of town during July so I didn't have to witness the devastation, but I also wasn't there to squish the vile creatures. I did the milky spore for the last couple of years, but sadly my neighbors haven't and my yard with all the roses must have been irresistible. Sigh. They're on the way out though come mid-August.

Cynthia

Our beetles this year are a good bit better than last year. Not saying much, because last year my roses, peaches, grapes, and pretty much anything else they liked, were completely defoliated. This year, although I won’t see a bloom on Summer Romance or Nahema until the little beasties depart, they are manageable.

I believe the drought last year, which was dreadful, had an impact on them. As katob said above, the larva need lush green grass. The American obsession with a lush green lawn is the reason for their rapid and unstoppable spread. Japan has no such cultural mandate, and so the beetles are kept in check by environment (as well as natural predators).

last summer, cattle farmers were in panic, because there were no fields for grazing. No hay to be bought. Even bringing in hay from out of state was exorbitant because the drought extended for quite a range around us. It was pretty bad, and my garden severely suffered. However, if the beetles suffered too, I can take it!

I’ve also learned a few things. First, beetles send out a feeding pheromone when they begin to feast, letting every other beetle within pheromone-sensing distance know that this is a good place to gather. Try to keep them from congregating. It’s like sharks and blood. I go out every morning and try to pick off as many as I can. Secondly, don’t crush them. This also releases pheromones. I prefer to drown them, but you could choose your weapon. Chemical warfare, suffocation, dry ice, submersion in boiling oil... whatever floats your boat. Lol. I’m usually a kind and humane individual, but I have absolutely no tenderness towards the green devils.

I wish they were less this year! They are so thick in the garden that they are standing on each other in some places -- and no, not like that. There are just so many. Same with slugs; I never used to have trouble from them and this year it's been awful. I would have thought the very rainy spring and the super hot, then super cool periods we had would have done them in, but the bugs are thriving.

Still some, but a lot fewer here in Lancaster county PA.

About the same as last year.

Say what?!?! If anyone feels deprived of their fair share of JBs, just send me your address and I will happily pay the postage to send more to you! LOL! We had tons of rain last year and again this spring and our fields were standing in water until June. I don't think anything drowned! My roses look like black alliums on some days with 20 or more on one bud. And they have only ramped up in the constant high heat this past week! Got to keep your mouth shut when walking through the garden! Looking forward to fall when they slow down the end of September!

JBs used to never be of concern to me--never even saw any until a couple years ago, and then it was only 2 or 3 of them daily for a month or so. However, they noticeably increased this summer--not the Biblical plague proportions that some of you report, but maybe a dozen daily for about 6 weeks (mid-June to end of July). Every day, I made a morning and evening JB patrol of the gardens (soapy water method) which kept them under control enough for some of my more floriferous bloomers (such as Munstead Wood and Molineux, two of my favorites!) to keep on blooming, though not as plentifully as before, but by the end of July, there wasn't a rose blooming anywhere in my gardens. Whether that was due to JBs or to the very hot weather for several weeks in July, I don't know. Regardless, it was getting discouraging.

Here we are a week later--JBs are gone and some cooler, cloudy, rainy weather has returned. Also returned are some blooming roses--Munstead Wood, Molineux, Double Delight, Elina, The Fairy, Mystic Beauty. Just 2 or 3 blooms per plant, but a welcome sight compared to no blooms! Lots more roses need to kick back into gear, but I'm sure that in the next couple weeks, the rosebeds will be restored to their usual beauty.

I keep reading over these posts hoping I'll find some pattern or logic to JB emergence--where, when, in what numbers, etc.--and disappearance, but it all seems to be so random other than that once they appear in your yard, they will probably return! : (

Kate

What part of the lifecycle, which spans for months, is most crucial for their survival, and what does it need? I know that many of the places that do not have Japanese Beetles are dry for a pretty reliable specific portion, if not most of the year.

Well, they have been all over the top of my Weeping Willow Tree, miniature.

DublinBay, you said you were hoping to find some rhyme or reason to the beetles population growth/decline. I think it is very unlikely that flooding or excessive rain contributes to their downfall, considering the highly conflicting reports. However, I’d like to hear more from others who experienced severe LACK of rainfall last year, as I did. It’s a fact that the grubs need the fleshy grass roots to do well, and if the the grass is brown and dead from lack of water/rain (as ours was), it is unlikely many grubs thrive. I think this contributed, at least somewhat, to the lessened quantity of beetles I have experienced this year.

Granted, if one lives in a neighborhood and there are well watered lawns all about, this wouldn’t be the same. I live in the countryside, and there were no green lawns, no pastures, barely any weeds by the end of summer. Impossible to irrigate miles of hayfields. lol

any of you experiencing some relief from The Little Green Devils, do you remember if your summer was rainy or excessively dry?

We had a very rainy spring and summer. I have not had the hose out even once, only spot watered a few English roses that had been transplanted recently. Caught only one JB to date. There may be more coming?

@Lynn I'm not sure what stage is most important, but I would guess the larval stage. There's obviously plenty of food for the adults when they emerge, but if the larva never reach adulthood in the first place the adults won't be a problem. This is just another theory, but maybe the reason I didn't see so many this year is because more animals/soil predators (nematodes) are starting to incorporate them into their diets. We've had lots of skunks in my area over the last few years, and they love to dine on Japanese beetle grubs (as well as pretty much everything else in my garden!). I imagine the skunks have reduced their numbers significantly over the years.

And it seems the Japanese beetles don't like the cold much. Several posters from Michigan and Canada have reported very few this year, and all those places are in the north. Obviously it's not impossible for them to survive in these cold climates, but I don't think their numbers will ever be as high as what you see in the south.

Perennialfan, it might be true that JB don’t do as well in the north as farther south. I have had years when I could always count on finding them on certain plants, but never in the quantities some people mention, that they completely cover a bloom or bud, even in double layers. Never more than 3 or 4 on a single rose flower, and never all over the bush. I sincerely hope it stays that way!

I've actually seen more of them this summer.

They destroyed foliage and buds on roses, hollyhocks and crepe myrtle, and did other scattered damage. Down to one or two a week at this point, but a few weeks ago they were everywhere.

Yes much to my blessing there’s been so little this year in my NJ suburbs. I agree the rain late last year and early this season drowned all the larva and destroyed eggs. I’ve also killed at least 50 last year, not that that would probably make a difference. My woodland salvias can finally go through a year without excessive holes in its leaves

I have more of them this year than ever. We had plenty of snow and rain this year. We also had very cold temperatures in winter. So I think those theories don't work here. I really wish they did though. I have been picking them off daily. At least 50-100 at a time. Sometimes I wish I had no fragrant roses. But I also noticed that they also like the foliage on some roses more so than some of the blooms on the rose next to it. So I cannot win there either. Thankfully, they usually come after my spring flush and are gone by the fall flush. They are very frustrating! They also love my hardy hibiscuses, select dahlias and my linden tree.