Japanese Beetle

Description: Metallic green/copper adult grows to 1/2" long. Larvae or grubs are grayish-white with brown head; fat body is 3/4" long. Adults especially like beans and corn but will eat almost any plant, often skeletonizing the leaves. Larvae chew on roots of lawn grass, bean, beet, sweet corn, onion and tomato; except during cultivation, they are seldom noticed, but their root pruning action severely reduces crop yields and can kill grass. Growth of grubs and root damage is mostly in June. Adults cause damage from late June to early September.

Solution: To protect lawn grass roots from chewing damage, apply Grub-Away Nematodes at the rate of 10 million per 600 sq. ft. of lawn. For adult beetles use Neem-Away^TM Insect Spray to repel beetles; Pyola^TM Insecticidal Spray or Liquid Rotenone/Pyrethrin to kill them; or Japanese Beetle Traps with pheromone lures to mass-trap them. Set out traps in mid-June, before beetles emerge, preferably in sun, 50 feet or more downwind of vulnerable plants.