By Colby Williams

news@joplinglobe.com

Japanese beetles are devastating local flowerbeds and have gardeners in a frenzy.

“I started noticing them about four or five days ago,” said Yogi Hicks, of Alba. “So I got my spray out and my insecticide didn’t even phase them.”

Hicks is surprised by the number of Japanese beetles he is noticing this summer. Others have seen an increase, too.

“This year is the worst that I’ve seen,” said Robert Ellison, of the Botany Shop Garden Center in Joplin. “Typically, people are either unaware of Japanese beetles or they’re overrun.”

Ellison has talked with at least 30 customers who are reporting infestations.

“A couple weeks ago everyone who walked through the door had Japanese beetle problems,” said Gayl Navarro, owner of Ozark Nursery. “And that’s just people paying attention to their plants.”

A gardener for 10 years, Hicks always pays careful attention. When he saw the beetles on his hibiscus and roses, he knew he had a problem.

“My roses are my pride and joy,” Hicks said. “That’s what really devastates me, when I see my rosebush get all eaten up like that.”

Life cycle

According to the University of Missouri extension, adult Japanese beetles usually surface in June and live 30 to 45 days. They are a half-inch in length and have a shiny green and brown body. They are most active on sunny days and in groups. They devour the tissue between veins, giving leaves a lacy appearance.

Once the beetles begin feeding, the victim plant attracts more beetles, which many say is the result of an odor emitted by the feeding process.

More than 300 species of plants are prone to Japanese beetle infestation, including those with soft leaves or fruit. Currently, urban lawns and flower and vegetable gardens are the primary targets, but farmers in southern Illinois and southeast Missouri report cornfields being overrun.

During the feeding, the beetles breed and lay eggs beneath grassy areas. They prefer well-irrigated places, such as golf courses, cemeteries and healthy lawns. The grubs then feed on grass roots, which causes gradual wilting and thinning.

The first case of Japanese beetles was reported in the United States in New Jersey in 1916. The United States provided nearly perfect conditions for the beetles to prosper and spread. More recently, they have begun to migrate south and are now reaching Southwest Missouri and Arkansas.

“They could’ve hitched a ride on a vehicle. They could’ve been brought in on a plant from another area. They could’ve flown in. It’s hard to tell,” said Ed Browning, natural resource engineering specialist with the University of Missouri extension office in Carthage. Browning first noticed the beetles in Joplin about five years ago and just recently in Carthage.

Treatment

Browning recommends treating plants for Japanese beetles during two crucial phases of the beetles’ life cycles. One is the adult stage, when full-grown beetles are noticeable on plants.

“If they’re not in large numbers, they can just be picked off and crushed,” Browning said. “If you see quite a few, spraying is probably the best option.”

There are a number of insecticides available at local garden stores.

The other opportunity to treat Japanese beetles is during the larvae or grub stage, when hatchling beetles grow under grassy areas. These treatments should be applied in early August and again in May after the larvae hibernation period.

One of the most common treatments applied to larvae is the milky spore bacteria.

“If you spray that over the lawn and water it in, the grub will consume that,” Browning said. “Then the bacteria kind of eats them up from the inside.”

Even when treatments work, however, the destruction already caused is heartbreaking to plant lovers.

“When you go out and see one of your plants that’s just a skeleton, it’s like, ‘Whatever it takes!’” Hicks said. “I’ve been in a panic since Sunday. I just go out and start knocking them off and stepping on them.”



Counterattacks

The University of Kentucky extension Web site suggests shaking beetles off of plants into soapy water early in the morning while they are still idle, or covering plants in cheesecloth. Traps are also available for those wanting to avoid the use of toxins.