Guest post by Kasey Plucinski of Breezy Hill Nursery

Watch out roses here they come. The long metallic green Japanese Beetles have copper- brown wing covers with a row of white spots on the under wings. These beetles begin feeding on your plants in June and continue for a 4-6 week period until they die off after 30-45 days. These nasty little green beetles feed on 300 species of plants, devouring plant foliage and overripe fruit. Females burrow 2-3 inches in the soil and lay eggs, 40-60 in a lifetime! Eggs hatch and grubs emerge feeding on roots of turf grass and vegetable seedlings. Grubs do best in irrigated home lawns, golf courses and parks. During winter the grub stage of the beetle over winters underground. If you want to control the adult and juvenile stages there are several options to consider. First and foremost, consult your landscape specialist when selecting plants for your garden, there are several varieties of plants that are commonly snacked on by the beetles. Some plants that are prone to beetle damage are Roses, Lindens, Norway and Japanese maple, and Purple-leaf plum. Secondly, there are organic treatments that we carry at Breezy Hill Nursery. St. Gabriel’s Milky Spore is a one time application that you inject into your lawn. This injection can last up to 20 years and kills the grub stage of the beetle with natural bacteria that eats the grub from the inside without harming beneficial insects. Lastly there are many chemical applications that fight the adult stage of the beetle, some examples are Bayer Advanced Lawn, Ortho Bug-B-Gon and Sevin. We don’t suggest using beetle traps; many attract more beetles than are actually caught in the traps results in significantly more damage to your plants. Please feel free to visit our website, should you want more information on this subject or many others. Watch for our future blog posts.