The Japanese Beetle
MEET THE PEST
The Japanese Beetle is coppery bronze and beautiful, but the mess it leaves behind, with its voracious appetite, it tears through foliage, flowers, and roots of more than 300 plant species. Both as adults and as grubs (the larval stage), Japanese beetles are destructive plant pests. Adults feed on the foliage and fruits of several hundred species of fruit trees, ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, and field and vegetable crops. Adults leave behind skeletonized leaves and large, irregular holes in leaves.
PEST TYPE
- Chewing insect (Popillia japonica)
ORIGIN & DISTRIBUTION
Native to: Japan
Distribution in United States:
- Most states in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S.
- Washington and Utah.
- Introduced multiple times and eradicated in California and Oregon.
COMMONLY AFFECTED TREE SPECIES
- Maple
- Elm
- Oak
- Crepe Myrtle
- Linden
- Stone Fruits and Apple
- And More
DAMAGE/ SYMPTOMS
- Adults feed on leaves and flowers, sometimes on overripe or injured fruit.
- Skeletonized leaves.
- Larvae feed on roots underground (more damage to turf than trees).
- High populations can cause tree dieback.
MANAGEMENT
CHEMICAL:
- Criterion/Merit (imidacloprid), 1 month before adult emergence in mid-spring to early summer.
- Ace-jet/Lepitect (acephate), 2-3 weeks before adult emergence
- Green option: neem oil, Bt.
Contact Johnson Ops Tree Care at 608 526-6297, one of our ISA Certified Arborists will evaluate your landscape and determine whether a Plant Health Care plan is required.
