Japanese Beetles

The Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica Newman) is a highly destructive plant pest that can be very difficult to control. Feeding on grass roots, Japanese beetle grubs damage lawns, golf courses, and pastures. Japanese beetle adults attack the foliage, flowers, or fruits of more than 300 different types of trees and plants.

Adult Japanese beetles feed on broad-leaved trees and plants and can cause significant damage as they defoliate the plants. The grubs will also feed on a wide variety of plant roots, including ornamental trees and shrubs, garden and truck crops, and turf grasses. They seem to prefer Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, tall fescues, and bentgrass.

Symptoms of Damage

Adult Japanese beetles are skeletonizers. This means that they eat the leaf tissue between the leaf veins, but leave the veins behind. Attacked leaves have a lacey appearance, and soon wither and die. Adult beetles will often attack flower buds and fruit. The grubs can kill small seedling plants but most commonly damage turf. The turf first appears off-color, as if under water stress. Watering may help temporarily, but more often it will have no effect. The turf feels spongy under foot and can be easily pulled back like old carpet to reveal the grubs. Large populations of grubs kill the turf in irregular patches.

Life Stages of the Japanese Beetle and white grubs

Eggs: The white oval eggs are usually about 1/16 inch (1.5 mm) long and 3/64 inch (1.0 mm) wide. They are placed in the soil, where they absorb moisture and become more roundish.
Larvae: The larvae are typical white grubs that can be separated from other soil-dwelling white grubs by the presence of a V-shaped series of bristles. Juvenile larvae are about 1/16 inch (1.5 mm) long and grow to a length of about 1-1/4 inch (32 mm).
Pupae: The pupae are first cream colored and become light reddish-brown with age. The average pupa is about 1/2 inch (14 mm) long and 1/4 inch (7 mm) wide.
Adults: The adults are a brilliant, metallic green color, generally oval in outline, 3/8 inch (10 mm) long, and 1/4 inch (7 mm) wide. The wing covers are copper-brown and the abdomen has a row of five tufts of white hairs on each side.

Larvae that have matured by June pupate and the adult beetles emerge from the last week of June through July. The first beetles out of the ground seek out suitable food plants and begin to feed as soon as possible. Newly emerged females release an additional sex pheromone to attract males. The first mating usually takes place on turf with several male suitors awaiting the emergence of a new female. Mating also is common on the food plants and several matings by both males and females is common. After feeding for a day or two, the females leave feeding sites in the afternoon and burrow into the soil to lay eggs at a depth of two to four inches. Females may lay one to five eggs, scattered in an area, before leaving the soil. These females will leave the following morning, or a day or two later, and will return to feed and mate. This cycle of feeding, mating, and egg laying continues until the female has laid 40 to 60 eggs. About 95% of a population are generally laid by mid-August, although adults may be found until the first frost of fall.

If the soil is sufficiently moist, eggs will swell in a few days. The first instar larvae dig to the soil surface, where they feed on roots and organic material, taking typically 17-30 days to mature. While this development is occurring, grubs may tunnel laterally in search of organic matter and fresh roots. This creates a very spongy feel to the soil and turf. The grubs burrow four to eight inches into the soil as cold temperatures arrive. At this depth, the soil rarely gets below 25 degrees F and the grubs survive with no difficulty. If the soil begins to cool further, the grubs may dig deeper. The grubs return to the surface in the spring, as the soil temperature warms. Generally, the grubs can be expected to be active at the surface when the surface soil temperatures are about 60 degrees F, usually in mid-April.

Recommended Steps to Control Japanese Beetles

Use Japanese Beetle Traps (see below) to identify the early emergence of the beetles and to reduce the number of beetles. At the first sign of the beetles, spray the area with Bug Buster Pyrethrin Insect Spray. The timing of the initial spraying is important, because females lay the majority of their eggs within the first seven to ten days of their lives. Continue spraying with Bug Buster every seven to fourteen days, to reduce further adult feeding.

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TreeHelp Annual Care Kit

SKU: TRKIT-ACA BRAND: TreeHelp

Regular price: $33.95
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Description

TreeHelp developed easy-to-use Annual Care Kits to help homeowners maintain healthy and vibrant trees.

TreeHelp Annual Care Kits provide health supplements that are specific and appropriate to the type of tree that you care for. The supplements are designed to promote root-development which will have a lasting effect on the long-term health of your trees. Root development is vital for a tree because it gives the tree a reserve of strength and vitality that will help it survive through periods of drought, nutrient deficiency, insect infestation or disease. Too many fertilizers and other soil additives on the market focus on immediate impact - like "candy for trees". Our soil treatments, on the other hand, provide nutrients and organic elements that will help your tree today and for many years to come.

Some of our more popular kits include:

Palm
Contains 5 Complete Fertilizer spikes with high amounts of Manganese, Magnesium and Potassium, crucial to palm tree health.

Citrus
Contains specialized citrus fertilizer spikes loaded with micronutrients to improve tree health and fruit production

Birch
Birch trees are vulnerable to devastating insects such as Bronze Birch Borer. ?ÿThe Birch Kit is designed to promote stronger growth that helps make your tree less susceptible.

Customized kits are also available for over 90 other types of trees.

Having the right composition of minerals and organic material is extremely important in maintaining tree health. As a result, all of our kits are "custom-built" with specially selected components to suit a particular tree type. For example, the mycorrhizal fungi that benefits an oak tree will have no effect on a maple. And the fertilizer recommended for use on a pine would not be ideal for an elm. With our custom care kits, you can be certain you are applying the right treatments to your trees.

Step 1: Mycorrhizal Fungi

Mycorrhizal fungi is a relatively new soil treatment for trees. Co-existing with trees and plants in nature for hundreds of millions of years, these beneficial fungi provide a "safety net" for the tree in times of stress. By colonizing the roots and extending themselves further into the soil, the fungi enable the tree to take in more nutrients and moisture. The result is a healthier, more robust tree better capable of withstanding the many stressful conditions that exist in an urban environment and to better metabolize nutrients.

Because trees are often transplanted into non-native soils, and because urban soils have often been damaged by pollution and compaction, it is essential to re-introduce mycorrhizal fungi to the soil. Our custom care kits match the correct type of mycorrhizal fungi with specific types of trees.

Step 2: Fertilizer

Fertilizer will always be an important component of a comprehensive tree care program. But it must be done properly. Nutrient balances are difficult to achieve and improper fertilization can have drastically poor effects on trees. All too often, trees are fertilized with Nitrogen-rich, quick-release fertilizers. Not only does this have the potential of 'burning' the soil around the roots, it can also promote structurally weak growth that can attract insects and disease. Our fertilizers, on the other hand, slowly release a carefully measured balance of nutrients into the soil for a constant feeding that provides more long-lasting benefit to your tree.

The fertilizers that are included in our custom care kits have been specially selected to provide maximum benefit to a particular type of tree. The formulations are often very different from species to species and target different biological structures. The result will be a healthier, more vital tree.

Step 3: Biostimulant

TreeHelp Bistimulant is a dry, water-soluble green-up powder that is watered on tree roots as a root drench. BioSurge provides benefits to all types of trees, shrubs, and other garden plants. It is designed to increase the microbial activity in the soil around the root zone and encourage root and lateral bud development, improve the efficiency of a plant’s respiratory and photosynthetic systems and delay the aging process in plant tissue. The unique composition of ingredients includes beneficial bacteria, as well as humic acids extracts, soluble sea kelp, yucca plant extracts, amino acids and vitamins.