Japanese Beetle

Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) was found in North America for the first time in 1916 when it was discovered in the state of New Jersey. It was found in Canada for the first time in 1939 in the Niagara Peninsula of southern Ontario. Currently, the Japanese beetle is distributed throughout much of the eastern U.S. In Canada, it is limited to areas in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Japanese beetle is a serious pest of turf and ornamental plants. Grubs feed on the roots of turfgrass and adults feed on the foliage of more than 300 plant species.

Japanese beetle adult is a colorful beetle 1/3 – 1/2 inch long with a shiny metallic green color and coppery brown wing covers. There is a row of five tufts of white hair along each side of the abdomen and two additional tufts on the top of the abdomen tip.

The larval or grub stage of the Japanese beetle is a “C” shaped white grub that lives in the soil. Its primary food source is grass roots, but it is known to feed on the roots of corn, beans, tomatoes, and strawberries. All “white grub” species are similar looking but vary in their life cycles, so identifying the grub to species is important for the proper timing of pesticide application. Grubs can be identified to species by the pattern of hairs on their brown hind ends (raster). Using a 10-power hand lens, you can see that the hairs on the raster of Japanese beetle form a small “V” shape just below the anal slit.

Life Cycle : Japanese beetle completes its life-cycle in one year, but some populations in cooler climates may complete their development in two years. Appearance of adult, the timing of oviposition and subsequent development have been shown to vary with latitude, altitude, and also from year to year. Adults emerge in mid-May in the warmer climates of Georgia and North Carolina. More northern populations in Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire have adult emergence from late June to early July

Life of adult beetles is relatively short under high temperatures and long under low temperatures . Studies with Japanese beetles under captivity have shown variations as wide as nine to 74 days in males and 17 to 105 days in females; the generally accepted range is 30 to 45 days.

Damage : Japanese beetles are chewing insects that destroy leaves, flowers and fruits.It can completely skeletonize leaves, feed on corn silk and corn ear tips and are especially destructive to grapes, peaches and other members of the rose family.grubs feed on grass roots in lawns, parks, golf courses, and cemeteries.

Management: In a small area, beetles can be physically removed from the plants on cool mornings when they are less active. They can also be collected in a bucket of soapy water by shaking the host plant. High value plants may be protected with nets during peak beetle activity.

During dry summers, female beetles seek irrigated and low lying areas for oviposition since soil moisture is essential for egg survival and larval development. Withholding of irrigation during peak beetle flight activity may reduce grub population in turf.

Control Japanese beetles, you must control both the larval grubs and the adult beetles.

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