Wooly: Japanese beetles

[mint]

I know you are big on roses. Me too.  I have learnt about Japanese beetles recently and wonder if you have them in your garden.

We have 2 rosiers that they are particularly keen on.  Both pink roses, one the usual bush and one en tige.  Since learning about them, I have now called time on them.

Apparently, the best method of getting rid of them is to pick them off the plants and drown them in water and washing-up detergent.  I could go out, pluck off a handful and go out again another hour later and pluck off another handful.

You could spray them with an insecticide that contains either Neem or Pyrethrin.  Anyone know of what spray is available in France and what name they go by?

What is it about the Japanese and their threats to gardens?  In our previous house, I killed off all the Japanese knotweed and now I have to contend with their beetles?

[idun]

mint is this Xylella?

[woolybanana]

Not seen them yet, touch wood but will check it out and see what is what. Thanks for the heads up

[mint]

Id, this is what they look like:

[url]https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/control-japanese-beetles/5163.html[/url]

They are eating my rosebuds, even before they are fully open.  OK, I have rolled up my sleeves and doing hourly patrols of the garden and I have my jar ready primed with water and washing up liquid[:D]

PS just made my link live. Apologies

[woolybanana]

I wonder if the late frosts we have been having will see them off?

[mint]

Where I live, Wools, while cold in the mornings, there ain't no frosts.

[idun]

Just looked up Vylella, it is a pathogen, and working it's way up through Europe and is in France.

I had half watched a program when it was mentioned and as I know zilch about gardening hadn't paid too much attention when they were talking about it. Just caught it was very  destructive, so had sort of thought it was a bug, rather than a disease.

[pip24]

Thanks for posting that Mint. I saw some of those little blighters last year and thought how attractive they looked. Little did I know! I had noticed that some of my flower buds had been eaten inside out but didn't know the culprit until now. I also get the Romarin / lavender beetle .. I hand picked that one. Locked down in the UK I dread to think what the garden is like.

[mint]

Yes, they are beautiful looking things; the mature ones have an irridescent shine to their shells.  I could imagine them looking stunning set in gold earrings[:-))]

It's open warfare here:  Mint against Japanese beetles[:D]  So far the score is one all; I grasped a wasp by mistake (didn't have my reading glasses on) and the pain is really bad and the thumb is twice the size of the other one!  So the beetles are using camouflage weapons!  Well, I have promised them a real fight.

OH probably suffers the most; he'd always remove unwanted creepy crawlies with extreme care and send them off elsewhere.  I remember when we had a mouse problem in our previous house and he'd set up "humane" traps charged with cheese and goodies.  And, in the morning, we'd find all the bait gone and no mice!  I don't think he likes me gloating whenever I've scored a hit and even took to showing off the biggest beetle I have caught so far......a good centimetre in length![:D]

Pip, did you notice if it was just the pink roses they attacked?  I haven't found any of the blighters in the red rosiers but always in the pink ones.

[pip24]

Oddly one of our pinks performed very poor. We have a deep red rose in a different bed and that was ok. Another pink in the same bed as the red was also ok. At the time the only bugs that I could find were tiny black beetles which I also suspected of eating out the geranium flowers. I didn't know what was happening and by the time I had sprayed it was too late. My neighbour has sent some photographs and the beds look ok but its early in the season so time will tell.

[woolybanana]

Got me looking every ten minutes now, Nimty, every,rose, every plant........ ahhhhhhhh.

[mint]

Haven't done a body count this evening as I just HAD to out for a walk as the countryside looks absolutely ravishing.  Hope it's a better one than yesterday's.....I fear the war might last the summer long and that the casualties might tote up considerably!