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| Photo Credit: Lee Ivy |
| Japanese beetles are easily identified by their shiny, metallic-looking wings. |
Spring has sprung, and my plants have finally started to come back to life after a long winter’s nap! Nothing pleases me more than to walk through my yard at the end of the day to do a little bloom hunting and see which plants have leafed out. Unfortunately, not all my evening plant walks leave me feeling rosy.
Come summer, instead of a peaceful stroll through the garden, I often feel like I’m trapped in beetle-mania. Japanese beetles invade my landscape every year, making it difficult to enjoy many of my favorite plants. Once I spot the first one of the year, the battle’s on! Japanese beetles are actually quite an attractive pest, and they’re fairly simple to identify, sporting shiny, metallic-green and copper wings. It’s also easy to tell when they make their debut, because their damage leaves a classic pattern on foliage. Because they’re chewing insects and eat the portion of the leaf between the veins, what’s left of the foliage typically resembles Grandma’s lace doilies hanging on branches. And leaves aren’t the only plant part in jeopardy – flowers are at risk for becoming a beetle meal, too. (Even though the pest doesn’t attack all plants, it does enjoy sampling from woody ornamentals, perennials, fruit trees and even some grasses.) Sadly, Japanese beetle management is a little more difficult than simply identifying the culprit at hand. Even with a combination of methods, complete control is a challenge. But if the goal is to keep this pest’s damage to a minimum, there are a few methods worth trying: Plants can be dusted or sprayed with chemicals labeled for Japanese beetle control, like carbaryl, imidacloprid and other multi-insect products. Since newly susceptible leaves and flowers continually emerge, dusting and spraying may feel like an ongoing (and never-ending) process. But to achieve the best control, you must be persistent and apply chemicals carefully and accurately according to the pesticide label!
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