How to Control Japanese Beetles

If you find your flowers, landscape plants, and trees are dotted with shiny copper and green Japanese beetles, you have some options for fighting the pest before it destroys your landscape.

Traps, poison, and a unique, specialized bacteria can be used to fight the pest.

The Japanese beetle is thought to have arrived in the U.S. in 1916, shipped on flowers from Japan. Just a few beetles one year can turn into a swarm the next. Each beetle not only attracts more beetles, but its very fertile life cycle is largely unchallenged by predators.

Mature beetles emerge from the ground in late June, find suitable plants to feed on and begin attracting mates from as far as two miles away. Females feed, mate, and lay eggs in a two-day cycle, repeating this cycle until they each lay 40 to 60 eggs. Eggs hatch into grubs in eight to 10 days and as the weather cools, the grubs dig deeper into the soil to overwinter.

The beetles begin feeding at the tops of plants, chewing out tissue between the veins, which gives the leaves a skeletonized appearance. The beetles then move down as defoliation occurs.

Many insecticides are effective against mature beetles. Most insecticides have to be reapplied after rain and may not be effective against large populations. Further, they have no effect on next yearís population, which will surely rise from the ground.

Beetle traps capitalize on the beetle’s poor flying skills. Beetles fly clumsily toward the flower-scented bait, hit the trap’s wall, and fall straight down into a sack from which they can’t escape. Some critics of the traps say they attract as many beetles as they kill.

One product kills Japanese beetle larvae, thus stopping the reproductive cycle. Milky Spore, contains bacteria (bacillus popilae) which kills the beetle grubs. Each infected grub dies and releases new spores into the soil. It remains in the soil for 15 to 20 years. In one treatment, beetles can be controlled in one to five years with fastest results in warm climates.

Milky Spore is not affected by freezing, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or other lawn chemicals. It is harmless to food crops and may be used in gardens, and around pools and wells. It does not affect pets, fish, bees, birds, other animals, plants or man.

Milky Spore has unlimited shelf life when stored in a cool dry place.

10 oz. Milky Spore Treats 2,500 Sq. Ft. “MILKY SPORE GRUB & BEETLE CONTROL One Application Lasts 15 years! There is no better way to eliminate these unwanted pests! Produced to USDA standards, MILKY SPORE is the safest material ever developed for control over the larvae (or Grubs) of Japanese Beetles. Grubs do damage to your lawn and attract digging vagrants such as moles and voles. Milky Spore is a naturally occurring host specific bacterium (Bacillus popillae-Dutky). This product is lethal to a familiar destructive summer-time pest. It targets and discriminately works to attack the white grubs of Japanese Beetles. Milky Spore is not harmful to beneficial insects, birds, bees, pets or man. The product is approved and registered with EPA, Milky Spore will not affect wells, ponds or streams. Interested in learning how to identify a white grub infestation?