Japanese Beetles

One of summer’s best-known images isn’t a flowering plant of home-grown vegetable. It’s a trap full of Japanese beetles.

Throughout its life cycle, the endlessly hungry Japanese beetle feeds from the ground up in many homeowners’ yards. The larval white grubs feed on grass roots, and, as any gardener can tell you, the adults munch on flower blossoms and leaves of just about everything they worked so hard to cultivate.

While many a gardener joyfully empties bagful after bagful of dead beetles that were lured into the traps that were set up after the first sign of infestation, there are hundreds of free-roaming beetles for every one caught. Traps rarely make a dent in the total population and damage to plants is usually not reduced.

Japanese Beetle Description

Oval in shape and metallic green and bronze in color, the Japanese beetle also features five patches of white hairs along each side. Larvae are a white grub with a dark head and are often discovered while weeding.

Adult female Japanese beetles lay their eggs in turfgrass areas in mid-summer, digging two to three inches into moist soil and depositing a small cluster of eggs throughout the roots. One female typically deposits 40 to 60 eggs during her brief four- to eight-week lifetime. Hatchlings feed on grass roots and are susceptible to an early death if the ground becomes too dry.  Surviving larvae are full-size by September and begin eating in earnest, often damaging turfgrass.

When soil temperatures drop, larvae move deeper into the soil to overwinter. As soil warms up in spring, feeding resumes and adults emerge after a few weeks of pupation, ready to beginning enjoying what’s on the above ground menu.

SprayTech, Colorado insect treatment specialists, can help you identify and eliminate Japanese beetles on your property. Call them at 720-248-0000.