Monday, June 11, 2012

Invasion of the Japanese Beetles



Information provided by Jim Jarman, Central Missouri Extension Region Agronomy Specialist. (jarmanj@missouri.edu)

Japanese beetleJust about everyone will benefit from monitoring prize plants in gardens and crops. Japanese Beetles (JB) feed on a wide number of plants. The most damaging feeding injury in vegetable gardens is probably feeding on corn silks. During hot, dry weather pollination can be a problem for corn even if something is not eating off the silks. They will also attack ripening fruit, flowers and leaves. The immature stage of growth is a grub which feeds on the roots of grasses and plants. The larvae prefer lighter, sandy soils so larger numbers may be found near creeks and river bottoms. In central Missouri more JB have been trapped in Jefferson City along the Missouri River than Fulton. 

Get to know what JBs look like and watch for them in ornamental and vegetable gardens. They are in the same family as the scarab or June beetles. Adults may be separated from other scarabs by their metallic green color, copper coloring across the back (wing covers), and six white short hairy tufts on each side of the abdomen. Most of the June beetle species in Missouri are larger. The Japanese beetle usually measures 3/8 to ½ inch in length. County Extension Centers have lists of the JB’s favorite host plants, but a partial list is provided below.

When JB are infesting, check pesticides on hand for the infested host plant and JB to be listed on the label. Extension specialists use traps to monitor the numbers and timing of when they occur. Traps are known for attracting more insects than they catch. It would take a high number of traps in a small area to control a localized infestation. Plus traps have to be emptied frequently and most of the beetles will still be alive. See the MU Extension web site: http://extension.missouri.edu/p/IPM1020-19 for photographs and more information. 

In vegetable gardens plants Japanese beetles like:
Japanese Beetles DO NOT like
Green beans and other beans
Strawberries
Tomatoes                                              Peach tree leaves
Blueberries
Peppers
Grapes                                                   Hops
Cherries                                                 Plums
Pears                     
Peaches
Raspberries                                           Blackberries
Corn
Peas
and others from  these general families
Chives
Garlic
Tansy
Catnip

Landscape plants nearly always severely attacked by adult Japanese beetle.
American chestnut  
Hollyhock
American elm
Horse chestnut
American linden
Japanese maple
American mountain-ash 
Lombardy poplar
Black walnut
London planetree
Cherry, black cherry, plum, peach, etc
Norway maple
Roses
Crape myrtle
English elm(shrub Althea)
Rose-of-Sharon
Flowering crabapple, apple      
Sassafras                         
Gray birch
Table grapes

Landscape plants relatively free of feeding by adult Japanese beetle.
American elderberry
Magnolia
American sweetgum 
Persimmon
Black oak
Red maple
Boxelder
Red mulberry
Boxwood
Red oak
Butternut
Rhododendron
Common lilac 
Scarlet oak
Common pear 
Shagbark hickory
Evergreens (fir, spruce, pine)
Silver maple
Euonymus
Tuliptree
Flowering dogwood
White ash
Green ash    
White oak
Hemlock
White poplar
Holly

No comments:

Post a Comment