Hi Ryse: Thank you for your organic ways. Here in Chicagoland we had JB with last summer drought and heat. But a friend within 5-minutes drive, next to a creek and a lake had zero JB ... so JB feast on plants for moisture.

My next-door neighbor put a Japanese beetle trap on her peach tree ... which attracted beetles to her tree, and my peach tree was NOT infested. I put a big brown grocery bag under my roses, shake it, then JB fall down ... then I close the bag and stomp on it with my feet. I do the same with a big plastic bag.

From eHow: "Some plants, instead of repelling pests, actually attract and then kill them. Larkspur and four-o-clocks, for instance, both attract Japanese beetles but also contain substances toxic to them." Four-o-clocks smell really good.

Another excerpt from eHow: "Garden plants that repel Japanese beetles include tansy, rue, garlic and catnip."

The below link from Gardens Alive has more ways to combat JB. Good luck to you, Ryse ... Last hear I had to cut all my roses in bud-form before the JB get to them.

When we first moved here with no trees, I had the WORST infestation of JB ... then we planted 26 trees ... lots of birds came by, with a decrease in JB population.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardens Alive on Japanese Beetles

I posted updated info. on ways to fight JB in the Antique Roses Forum, and the type of roses least affected. Best wishes! See link below:

Here is a link that might be useful: Your least affected roses ... Japanese beetles, thrips ...

In June I put traps at far end of my property, AWAY from roses as one website suggested. It works wonder! I got immense satisfaction from crushing dozens in the bag, and fed them to the birds.

As the result, I went from crushing with my finger 15 JB's a day, down to 5 per day. Then I put whole-grain corn meal around rose bushes (for fungal prevention), and wonder why I haven't seen any Japanese beetles whatsoever. Here's one answer from the Soil Forum:

â¢Posted by digdirt 6 -7 AR (My Page) on
Sat, Mar 15, 08 at 13:18

Corn meal also an effective control for grubs and cutworms - they love it but can't digest it, so they eat and die. I'd add it straight to the garden as well assuming we aren't talking a tiny little garden for that 25 lbs. ;) Dave