Develop a beachhead against Japanese beetles

Where there’s a pest there’s a solution

This

is the time of year when many homeowners confront an unwelcome guest in their lawn and gardens. After the female Japanese beetle feasts on your plants, it burrows down into the soil where it lays eggs that produce larvae that feed on roots and organic material. Fortunately, there are steps homeowners can take to keep Japanese beetles at bay.

How do I know it's a Japanese beetle?

Adult Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica Newman) are a brilliant metallic green, generally oval in outline, eight to 11 millimetres long and five to seven mm wide. The wing covers are a coppery colour and the abdomen has a row of five tufts of white hairs on each side that are diagnostic. The larvae are typical white grubs that are C-shaped when disturbed. First instar larvae are about 1.5 mm long. Life cycle Adult beetles normally emerge during the last week of June through July. The first beetles out of the ground seek out suitable food plants and begin to feed.

These early arrivals begin to release an aggregation pheromone (odour) that attracts additional adults. Newly emerged females also release a sex pheromone that attracts males.

After feeding and mating for a day or two, the females burrow into the soil to lay eggs at a depth of five to 10 cm. Females lay one to five eggs before returning to plants to feed and mate.

This cycle of feeding, mating and egg laying continues until the female has laid 40 to 60 eggs. Most of the eggs are laid by mid-August though adults may be found until the first frost.

The eggs hatch in eight to 14 days and the first instar larvae dig to the soil surface to feed on roots and organic material. The first instars shed their skin (molt) in 17 to 25 days. The second instars take 18 to 45 days to mature and molt again.

Most of the grubs are in the third instar by late September and by October they dig deeper into the soil to overwin- ter. The grubs return to the surface in the spring as the soil temperature warms, usually in mid-April. The grubs continue their development and form a pupa in an earthen cell 2.5 to 7.5 cm in the soil.

CONTROL STRATEGIES

Hand picking By noticing when the first adults arrive on a property, you can pick off and destroy these scouts that attract additional pests. The adults are less active in the early morning or late evening. They can be destroyed by dropping into a container of soapy water. Trapping Japanese beetle traps draws beetles away from your trees, shrubs, roses and flowering plants and traps them so they can't continue their destruction. Its effective combo lure system, with natural sex attractant and floral lure, draws insects from over a 5,000 sq. ft. area to help protect your entire lawn and garden from these destructive pests throughout the entire beetle season. One trap is more then enough for a home situation. Remember to put the trap out in the open and away from the garden as you want to draw the beetles away from your plants not to them. I put my beside the driveway near the sidewalk away from any plantings.

GRUB CONTROL

Nematodes These aggressive organisms attack the pest by entering natural body openings or by penetrating the insect cuticle directly. Once inside, they release bacteria that stops the pest from feeding, quickly killing the pest.

They do not stop there. The nematodes reproduce inside the dead pest and release a new generation of hungry nematodes that disperse to hunt down further prey. Once they have killed the pest for which they have been bred they die back to their natural numbers. Clever! Nematodes are best placed on the lawn in spring and fall when the grubs are feeding close to the surface.

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