I need them. Badly. Can't find them up here.
Luckily they only bother Asian Lilies...we've lost every one of ours after battling these beetles for the last 4 years...we finally just gave up and threw what was left of the Lilies in the compost.

Maybe if I can find some traps I can think about maybe getting more lilies.

Good Grief Larry - what an absolutely detailed photo and text article and I don't think anyone will come close to eradicating beetles like you have. I'm stunned at how many are in your trap.

The only thing I've ever done is hold a bucket of soapy water and knock them into it but that gets old real fast. This year, I cut my roses almost to the ground and now they are back and blooming and doing fine. The beetles got on the crape myrtle a little but not much.

We didn't have as bad an infestation this year as we have in years past. You need to go live on tv in a commercial or something.

I'm so freaking impressed

Those pictures of the beetles all over your flowers are horrifying. So glad those traps worked.

Good report. So, you'd recommend utilization of traps and sprayer patrol? I usually do a couple hand-sprayer patrols a day. I need to break out a pressure tank as they are wreaking some havoc in our paw-paw trees where hand sprayer can't reach (I guess I could get a ladder).

Lee Anne--Amazon to the rescue: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BPEZUK/

We just started getting them in our area last year but they're much worse this year. My Harry Lauder's Walking Stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') seems to be their main focus here. I'm definitely trying the traps. Thanks for a great article.

Milky spore powder is worth the investment. Lay it down now because it will help kill the larvae that develop in the winter. You only treat once and the treatment growsin your soil, living off Japanese beetle larvae. Try to educate your neighbors as well.

Great article!!! Very comprehensive and lots of very useful information. I have printed it for future use should the occasion arise. Haven't had Japanese beetles here yet, but you never know when they will arrive.

Vicki, thanks for the kind words. If this drought ever breaks and we have rain on a fairly regular basis again, I'll follow suit and cut back all the perennials that were damaged by the bugs.

Thanks, Anna. I'm glad, too!

j, I strongly recommend traps as they serve several useful purposes. Obviously, catching beetles in the trap is one. A second advantage is that you'll be able to hit a lot of the beetles with your sprayer as they hover and cluster around the traps. Third, you can use the traps to lure the bugs out of the trees, so you don't have to spray them. Once I had the traps in place, the damage to our trees was minor. Unless you examine the leaves on the trees closely, you wouldn't be able to notice any damage at all.

BTW, the gloriosa lilies are up!

Thanks, Chris. Good luck with the traps.

Thanks for your comments, Judy. I've tried the milky spore, but had no success with it. I'll give it another shot this fall.

Thanks for the kind comments, jean. Forewarned is forearmed!

Good going, Larry! Great pics and information.

As for the stench of the dead beetles, if ya'll are as adventurous as I've been I used them for double-duty one year.

Japanese beetles were tearing my gardens up so I put out several traps. When I noticed on the directions to "empty the bag (dead beetles) regularly as the smell will repel other beetles from being drawn to the trap" I knew exactly what I was gonna do.

I had extra bags with the traps I bought so instead of emptying them I took the bag of beetles to my corn patch, tied it to an extra tomato stake and left it. I figured if the smell would repel other beetles I might as well give them a dose of themselves. I ended up with a few bags in that corn patch. It seemed to work but who really knows. I admit, when the wind blew in my direction I learned to automatically hold my breath until it shifted! Pee-yuuu.

Hope they are now leaving your plants alone, Larry.

Shoe

Thanks, Shoe. Great hat!

I read the same comment on one of the traps I looked at about the stench keeping other beetles away. My experience has been that it doesn't bother them in the least. The zip-lock bags are used over and over, so you can imagine what they smell like. Didn't faze the beetles a bit.

Your corn patch story reminded me of a plan I hatched one year to keep the raccoons out of th corn as the ears were ripening. I went out and got me some road-kill raccoons and tossed them into that patch. Kept the humans away as well!

"Thanks, Shoe. Great hat!"

Well, it's July. I figure an Uncle Sam hat would be par since we celebrate the 4th! :>)

Heheheh, I think I'll pass on the road kill gathering but I've been known to hang dead squirrels in the garden to scare the others off.

Shoe (who just sprayed deer repellent and it seems to be repelling humans away from me; think I better take a shower now instead of waiting till Saturday?)

Shoe ---- So that's what I smelled way over here in AR!

Well if you can smell it from that far away you may be free of both deer AND Japanese beetles!