Have you seen any Japanese beetles in your garden yet this year? 

I haven't seen too many of them this year. Usually I find them on my wife's roses and our Japanese maple.

Pete

They hit my figs, dill and kiwis this year but I got a betel bag there seems to be a lot less of them compaired to previous years. But maybe the stink betels have chased them away.

About 10-15 years ago, those (beautiful greenish) Japanese Beetles were a real pain!

I have seen a grand total of one Japanese beetle this year, on a rose.

Not sure what caused their population to drop. The USDA inspector was telling me that the last three years their have been a huge decline in their population and there's a research being done on why. Western states as well as Florida don't have this infestation. 

I saw 2 a couple of days ago. Last year I had a lot of them on my apple, pear, and plum trees.

I saw a couple on the roses the other day. but you know, roses are like their #1 target, so if you have none, you probably would not see the few that are out there.

every time i see their grubs (as much as i want to fish with them) i throw them in the street to burn and die.  it's reqarding to watch them try and inch back to the earth again.....

I'm happy for you folks who aren't seeing many Japanese Beetles this season. But, by my assessment, they must have all moved to KY! I've got plenty to share! Any takers?

They are fully enjoying my peaches - by the 100's. Also seeing them eating my ripe blackberries. Also eating the leaves of my elderberries, grapes, & other stuff. Have seen a few on the figs but they don't seem to like fig leaves too much. No ripe friut on the figs yet either though. I imagine they would go for the ripe fruit. I'm hoping they will have moved on by the time my few figs have ripened.

I don't usually fight them much. Just bear with them until they move on. I will "harvest" a few hundred of them before they're gone though. I feed them to my Leopard Geckos.

I usually go out with a bucket or 1 gal jar with a lid. Tap the branches much like gorgi described above. When they fall in the container I just slap the lid over them & move on to the next branch. The geckos enjoy the treat :-) . 

Bill spray them with Sevin, it kills them by the hundreds. You can also set traps.
I guess I've been lucky so far.

Have never seen one here. Just keep them in KY! lol

I have a lot of June Bugs,flying around for past three days.
They are large bugs as big as the size of a thumb end.
Japanese beetle supposed to be smaller in size and browner,as far as I know.
I had a lot of those in the past,like 5 years ago,but not anymore.

Here is a web pic of an adult Japanese Beetles.

June bugs can get so bad in my area that they will literally eat every single leaf off of a fig tree. They are particular and do not eat the leaves of just any fig tree......they are picky about which tree leaves they will eat. My Flanders tree was almost completely defoliated with these pests. If you see that something has been eating your leaves.....go out at night to inspect. June bugs come out only at night to do their dirty work. Thankfully we do not (yet) have Japanese beetles after our fig trees.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

Thanks for the tip Bass. I assume you mean Seven Dust in liquid form as apposed to the powdered stuff - ? I imagine applying this to ripe fruit that I'd hoped to harvest is out of the question though huh?

Most of you guys in the east are dealing with those relatively new stink bugs aren't you? I'm very thankful they don't seem to have reached here yet.

Glad you don't have to worry about the JB's Rueben. I'm sure you have your own set of pests in TX though. If you like, I can send you a box of beetles. I beleive in 'sharin the love man'  :) .

H2, I usually see a few of the June bugs around my area also. They don't seem to cause much trouble though.
Folks seem to apply the name Junebug to a variety of the larger beetles but this is the one I think is most commonly called the June Bug -
http://www.carolinanature.com/insects/coleoptera/junebug9537.jpg

http://dragonflywoman.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/cotinus.jpg

Coming back to my house after being out of town for over a month, the first thing I saw on my Persimmon trees was lots of Japanese Beetles. At night it was june bugs on the Okra plants and stink bugs on the tomatoes. Only small insects on figs. 

Bill :That is what is flying around here for abourt 4 days now,in the first part of day,morning.
I am talking I can see a dozen at once,so they must be many more I do not see.

@Bill, The brown marmorated stink bugs were bad for us last year but not unbearable.  They seemed to focus on certain things, like when I would take the cover off of my grill I would find them by the dozens inside the cover the next day, copulating like crazy. 

June bugs and Japanese beetles have always been a persistent issue, but I think having a healthy lawn and garden helps cut down on the grubs significantly, which means less adult bugs/beetles.  Whenever I find one while digging, I throw it out on the hot asphalt to die.

These are what our Japanese beetles look like, and the damage they tend to do:



And this is what our June Bugs (/June Beetles, /May Beetles) look like:

Their populations are definately down the last couple years here in SE Texas. They don't bother my figs(yet), but occasionally see one on the roses. I wonder if the drought has affected them? Maybe the local refineries? Growing up here they were out by the thousands after dark. Used to have lightning bugs growing up too but, no more.

Ya know.....Those are the same brown Junebugs we have.  They have kind of cute faces, with those large, black, wide-spaced eyes, but they have to die!

Tim,  They're all over at Dan's house chowing down on his trees.

noss

Ligthning bugs are never seen in my yard as they were years ago. Who knows why they are no longer around. On the postitive side......I have seen a return of many of the honey bees that had been missing for the last few years. I have bumber crop of pears this year thanks to the work of those little guys.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

I wish whatever is reducing the number of lightning bugs and Japanese beetles would also hit those big, metallic green fig beetles here in AZ. Our summer rains have started and the increased moisture cues the beetles to emerge. I was out this morning and they're already buzzing from tree to tree.

Dan, I'm very glad to hear that bit of good news about the honey bees. I haven't noticed much of an increase of them in my yard but at least I am still seeing some.

Ken, can you find a pic of those green beetles you have out there & maybe link it here for us? Is it the same beetle as the pics linked in my post above (#15) ? This may be some useful info for my buddy who is moving out there this fall.

Bill--they're trickier to get a good shot of than I would have expected! They have a slick, almost waxy texture that's very hard to hang onto, and the one in my hand managed to pull its leg loose from my grip and fly away, but he was there long enough to give a sense of scale. The ones in the jar were scrabbling so frantically that I couldn't get a perfectly sharp photo, but you can sort of see the dark wings on one and the iridescent green/brown belly on another. The back is a dull green.

Sorry Bill, I missed your question about whether it's the same as the ones linked in your post. It looks similar to, but different from, the first (live) and identical to the second (pinned). If I identified it correctly, the ones I have are Cotinis mutabilis. Here's some info that also mentions the Japanese beetle and the Green June Beetle as well http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figeater_beetle and also has a clear photo.