I never had them until last year. Last year I got SWARMED with them on the big rose in the front. Gross! I'm holding my breath but I'm sure they'll be back since they would have laid eggs nearby. I've read that they are drawn to the scent of damaged foliage. Last year just before they arrived, we had cut off a rose cane that was leaning over a path. I have issued an edit that no rose this year gets touched in any way that might damage the foliage until after the JBs finish their lifecycle at the end of June! Since grass is their preferred egg-laying site and we have little grass left in the front, I'm hoping we might escape without too much damage this year. Actually, last year we just lost the major bloom flush on the Blanc Double de Coubert rose and the rose was gross while they were feeding, but the damage wasn't really all that much. The rose recovered quickly and fortunately they didn't go after any of the other roses. They munched a bit on the wisteria but a little insect pruning on that does no significant damage :-) But they are indeed ugly feeders!

That is another thing I have not had to deal with. Very lucky here as there are no Japenese beetles, If I throw 5-6 a season into a cup, thats it. We do have afew of those other beetles, shiney and smaller than the Japanese Beetles. But only afew of those also.

They were awful on my roses year before last. I took a good friend's advice last year and put up two traps. (Across the street at the ball field.) We had much less damage, although they decimated the calla lilies and they hadn't been cut.

I am just too lazy for my own good, or I would put out milky spore. I am not putting out the other grub X for the earthworm's sake...don't want them damaged.
kay

I used to get some when I grew hollyhocks. Never a lot - I think my worst day was 10. I would pick them up bare handed and drown them in a bucket of soapy water. Grossest thing I ever did. I really do love my plants!

I feel your pain as I am dealing with them on top of thripes, leafhoppers and another kind of sucking bug that is eating and sucking the life out of my roses both the leaves and the buds. They are driving me nuts! I have tried several organic sprays and now have resorted to something stronger as a last result and they still keep coming. This has been the worst year for bugs on my roses as I haven't seen anything like it before. I even had jbs eating the leaves on my 4 o'clocks which I thought were poisonous to them? I read somewhere that the weather this year is causing it. Don't know. I'm also having a terrible time with bs and I hardly have a problem with it at all.

Ugh. So that means they will be here in several weeks. The two roses in the orchard suffer so badly from them, one rose started to bloom early this year and may be on the way out before the JBs get here, the other has just now started to bloom. It's kinda of weird, but all the roses up by the house and outbuilding don't seem to get attacked. Could be the JBs are more interested in the Virginia Creeper on the garage so the roses are spared.

Anyway, I feel your pain.

They arrived here in Central Illinois a couple years ago - before then I blissfully did not have them. They are horrid horrid horrid. My husband puts out the traps and it does save some of our trees. We catch so many I know the traps are not a good answer but they have saved the trees we perch them next to.

Terrible horrible creatures. Is there an answer to this terror?

I read that white geraniums are supposed to make a good trap crop for Japanese beetles in the garden. Would it help to have some planted with the roses, or maybe in pots nearby?

They ignore my geraniums: Here's what they like:
ROSES!!
{{gwi:319237}}

And we got them 2 years ago for the first time.
kay

For every one you trap and kill, that means hundreds less eggs to hatch next year. Put those traps across the street again and keep them fresh.

We have a horrible time with them as well. I had a trap last year in the tree, and I bet I didnt catch more than a 1/4 cup of the buggers.They havent hit here yet, but i am sure they are on the way.
Tammy

Invest in once bloomers =).. My main flush is over before they arrive.. they like just about everything.. they are so prevalent in maine.. that people are starting to loose corn crops over them..

Its is the single worst ecological disaster in our area, trumping concerns over everything else.. including any sort of discussion on global climate change..

BTW they might like hardy hibiscus and raspberries just about as much as they do roses.. Oh yea throw beans in, and amaranths.. heck throw it all in except cosmos.. I guess I could grow cosmos ...

Some gardeners have given up trying to do this organically here as there is no natural predator around here to destroy them in enough #s so they have started spraying pesticides on a grand scale...

Silverkelt

Cindysunshine, the best thing you can do to combat the scourge of Japanese beetles is to to buy milky spore disease. This targets the larvae. It is harmless to other insects, plants, animals and people. Even better if you can get your neighbors to do it too.

A friend of mine has her gardens devastated by JBs. She put down milky spore and the problem was solved.

Can anyone tell me why they seem to eat bushes, trees, roses...and other stuff..but they MOSTLY leave annuals alone....

Unfortently, Milky Spore has shown to be eratic here, doesnt seem to enjoy anything beyond -10 degrees here..

Its not a effective control in Maine..

They tried overlaying it on corn crop fields and it hasnt worked , there is study link to this somewhere if I can find it..

But you southerners, should give it a go and see what happens, convince your neighbors to spread it, or walk over with a jar in hand and say, PLEASE please spread this before next rain, or if you allow me let me do it =)...

Silverkelt

Silverkelt, I hadn't heard that. That's really too bad about the milky spore not working in the colder regions. It is one of the most amazing (and interesting to me) biological controls that I've heard of.

It would take a grant from the government to treat our neighborhood with milky spore -- everyone has at least 2 acres of meadow grass.

I saw very few grubs when digging in the garden this year, so I hope our wet winter drowned them! I'll cut the flowers off of my roses. That greatly reduced the attraction last year. I have a neighbor across the road who puts up traps and lures them away from my garden and into their veggie patch! I'm not telling them anything different! :-)

So far, they are not here...........yet.

I put up a trap yesterday up front away from the garden.

We used three traps last year and caught 5-gallon bucket full of those evil things. I lost my entire crop of blackberries to them!