They're complaining on winter sowing, so it's not looking good. I found two boinking on my raspberry bushes, and flicked them into oblivion. If I'm not getting any, why should they?

I don't know if that should be the criteria for death. (Altho' it is satisfying, in a way!)

After all, I'm enjoying munching leafy greens this summer, too....

I've found a few of them myself on my crape myrtles. They love munching their leaves. I too hate to kill anything...but when it comes to bugs eating my crape myrtles...it's "crunch time!"

Today, I took an unholy pleasure spraying lethal bug spray on the monsters that were covering and munching my rhubarb, crabapples, raspberries and rose leaves into lace. If that offends folks that abhor chemicals, sorry, but until they are willing to come to my yard and 'relocate' the locust-like monsters (preferably to their yard)... all I can say is Die, Bugs, Die!!!

Japanese Beatles, that is a bad subject around here, We have had a outbreak of thousands, my flowering plums, dappled willows, gernaiums, petunias etc. Hubby was cutting grass yesterday and hundred of them came flying out of the plum even with down his shirt and shorts while on the mower, I had to laugh but he didn't find it amusing at the time.

Last night I sprayed with liquid sevin and could not believe the infestation. This is the worse year ever for them in my area.

JoAnn

They were munching my beloved 4:00s. Flick and crunch!

The critters are eating up my Hollyhocks, which they seem to prefer over the other delicacies like roses, zinnias and okra (a relative of hollyhock(?) in that case not surprising!) Anyway, I garden organically so I am using Pyola (sold by GardensAlive). It doesn't erradicate them, but it keeps them under control. Also, we have discovered that they do not seem to fly so well in the early hours of the morning and the cooler evening hours. So, we grab a cup, catch as many as we can and toss them in to the chickens. They LOVE them! Crunchy snack!

Well, I am finally allowed walking a little bit on the grass (foot injury has kept me off since June 1 - doc's orders = whaa!) Well, those buggers have eaten a third of my climbing hydrangea and most of a few other things. I am teaching my neighbor's (Mimi) 10 years old son, Isaac, to kill them. He loves it! I've been saying...pick 'em and throw them in the soapy water. It's a grand time for a ten year old boy! (I think he pulls the legs off..whatever )

I have found them on plants they have never bothered before. Hand picking and spraying are only slowing them down. So far they haven't attacked me, but it probably is only a matter of time! Hopefully another 3 or 4 weeks and they will be gone.

My father used to knock them into a can with a little gasoline. I prefer the passive method of using Bag-a-Bug beetle traps. Place them upwind of your plants in full sun, and watch the bag fill up! Change the bag at least once a week because they stink bad after a while!

They are horrible here. My roses, hydrangea, Stewartia, plums, canna, and tons of other stuff are getting munched to smithereens. I've taken to gathering them into my hand, and squishing them....and lately, I've even gone to far as to squish them in my bare hands.....I don't want to use any pesticides near my pond (although this was giving me pause), and I'll put down milky spore this year I think....

I think they are beginning to wind down for the season. I hope saying that I'm not bringing them back for a second round. Haven't seen as many these last few days. They're still out there, but not by the hundreds. I hope this years crop is coming to an end.

I highly advise NOT using the traps. I read the pros and cons of those, and just had to try it myself, and I'm glad I got rid of it. Ultimately the traps are not effective because they draw more bugs into your yard that otherwise wouldn't be there and then capture only a fraction of the bugs they draw. Meanwhile, they find your foliage. When I got the trap, the bug population skyrocketed, and when I got rid of it, the population plummeted. I just pick off adults a few times a day into soapy water. In our case, the beetles devastated a sand willow shrub. They aren't too bad in the vegetable garden. They like pole beans somewhat and basil just a tad. Luckily they have no interest in the nightshade family (tomatoes and peppers). At Stokes Berry Farm in Wilmington, we saw more beetles than berries when picking the red ones. We planted marigolds because we heard they repel japanese beetles, but in fact they love these flowers. Maybe we misunderstood and perhaps they're used to attract the beetles so they leave other things in your vegetable garden alone. If that's the case, so far it's doing a decent job.