Japanese beetles love cherries. See the link below for ideas on controlling them in Georgia.

For immediate help, I'd suggest getting a bucket of soapy water and catching what you can by hand and drowning them in the water. Eliminate the adults now to have fewer babies over the winter and fewer adults next year.

The babies overwinter in the ground as white grubs and can be diminished by the application of milky spore over a period of several years.

Here is a link that might be useful: UGA CAES japanese beetle control

I have been having the same problem for the first time this year. I did some reading on it and many people recommend milky spore. I actually just started researching it the other day. I have read it is pretty effective but pretty pricey as well. The drawback that I can see is that if you live in a neighborhood with small yards and houses right next to you. It doesn't seem to me that it can work too well unless you neighbors use it as well. Run a search on it yourself but it seems to be the top remedy for japanese beetles and grubs. Supposably it lasts for 10 to 15 years.

Thank you. Good info

If you want to try the soapy-water-filled-bucket, then do it early in the morning, before the beetles are warmed up and able to fly well. They tend to simply drop down when disturbed, so be prepared for that, also.

Another trick, which is a lot messier, is to collect a handful of beetles, and using a blender you don't intend to use again for food - try a garage sale? - blender them with water. Strain the liquid into a sprayer, and spray whatever plants/trees/shrubs you want to protect. Seemingly, the smell of the dead/blendered bugs tells the others that this is not a safe place. I have yet to try this - I'm squeamish!

dibbit,
I am not that squeamish, and I hate the %*#@$*%$^@#$&!!!! We have ALLOT again this year, and they are just starting. Though I will probable put them in a bag and mash the living %T(#&%R$&^ out of them. I think that would be more satisfying way to do it. :-)

With that said, I have been using Sevin (carbamyl sp?) for point attacks. As an instectide, it is about as innocuous as they come. It breaks down pretty quickly and does little or no harm to anything but insects. But that does not mean to spread it recklessly. It kills them in a short while when the fluid maintains contact with them. This for those that don't mind using insecticide responsibly, though I'm sure there are many that will say that any use of a "cide" is irresponsible. To those, I wish you well. On a side note, something with lots of caffeine might be helpful, as it is a alkaloid compound, and alkaloids are often employed by plants as a insecticide/inhibitor, but I don't KNOW that this will work.

dibbit's got a good point for the future, yet I cannot do it!!!! Is there any other way to PREVENT them coming back, even if I got all of them this time? They might come back every year!!!!

If you have them now, then your almost certain to have at least some every year until a truly effective control is found, as was the case with the gypsy moth. We had them BAD last year, and this is is not starting out well. I'm just trying to reduce the damage done until there are only eggs in the soil again.

Sorry to have to tell you that they are probable there to stay.

Why do people think that Sevin is relatively harmless? Any chemical that is a cholinesterase inhibitor needs to be handled with extreme caution. Sevin is also deadly to non-target insects, especially bees and other pollinators. It's lethal to earthworms, as well.

You might consider trying Neem oil. It works as an anti-feedant against those insects that either munch on the leaves or siphon the plant juices. It probably won't kill the beetles outright, but you should observe far less damage.

chueh, I am sorry to say that this was one of the main reasons I got rid of my weeping cherry. It is possible to spray for JBs - Bayer makes a a spray that contains imidacloprid that is somewhat effective on adult JBs, but, as you suspect, it won't stop them from coming back next year.

If the tree is not very big, go over to Home Depot and look for a Bayer product called (I think) "3-in-1". This is not a spray. It's something you mix with water and pour at the base of the plant. I know it is considered effective on roses, but don't know whether it's labeled for trees, so read the label before you buy. One dose is supposed to last for about 5 or 6 weeks. Two doses ought to get you through JB season, but start in late May, well before the JBs emerge as it takes time for the plant to take up the chemicals.

The names of the Bayer products are really confusing. There's 3-in-1, all-in-1 and several others. Look for the one that does NOT have fertilizer in it.

chueh, don't forget the milky spore application to kill the grubs before they hatch. Convince your neighbors to do it too. Do it on the recommended regular basis and you will hopefully see few beetles each year.

I always wonder how did those beetles get here in my yard anyway? I did not have them before at all. Where are they come from. Do they just decide that they want to visit this neighborhood, smell the weeping cherry tree, and decide to stay?

Japanese Beetles eat my nectarines. They are also great flyers so I also don't see how milky spore would do much good unless everyone within a a half a mile used it. I have fun sometimes standing next to my nectarine tree with a badminton or tennis racquet and see if I can swat them in the air and hit a home run by sending them over the fence. Makes the most pleasing splat sound when I get one. I also use the soapy water in a bucket method but most of them are too fast for me and get away or I end up knocking nectarines into the bucket. They always eat my best, ripest nectarines, sometimes three or four of them will be on one fruit.
My soil and mulch are full of grayish white grubs about 3/8 to a half an inch thick and about an inch or so long. Would these be Japanese beetle larva? I must have killed about 30 of them while digging in the garden.

I just answered my own question as to what those grubs were. I was just digging a planting hole in my garden and I see some bright green shiny object in the dirt, a Japanese Beetle. I thought maybe it was a dead one from last year but no, it was alive. I promptly cut it in half with my shovel. Looks like my Nectarines will start ripening in another week, and the Japanese Beetles must have some inbred trait that tells them time to emerge and chow down on my Nectarines.

I have a plum and cherry tree and my neighbor has cherries as well. I have a love hate relationship with the trees. In spring they are beautiful and the cherries attract many birds; however every July they become jb magnets. There are thousands of these monsters invading the foliage and the only way to get rid of them is to spray. For this reason I am seriously considering cutting them down. I have never been comfortable using pesticides in my yard and this approach contradicts the idea of supporting a natural balance in my garden. Any suggestions on small, upright ornamental trees for zone 5 that are resistant to these sex crazed, gluttonous freaks are welcome.