Dreaded Japanese beetles makes an appearance!

Right on time (it’s June the 8th), the Japanese beetle that plagued some of my vegetables last season are here in southwest Missouri once again. As the name suggests, the Japanese beetle is native to Japan. The insect was first found in the United States in 1916 in a nursery near Riverton, New Jersey. It is thought that beetle larvae entered the United States in a shipment of iris bulbs prior to 1912 when inspections of commodities entering the country began. Since that time they have been spreading relentlessly across the United States.

I noticed them for the first time some years ago, when in the course of just a few days, they decimated my pole bean crops. One day everything was fine and the next there were no leaves left at all! Typically these guys last about a month and then go to wherever they go. But, in the interim, they can really do a number on small garden all across the region.

The last two seasons, I’ve done my best to get my bean plants (which they seem to really love) in early so that I get mature bean pods on the vine before the attacks begin. I’ve been pretty luck this season as the Great Northern beans are all heavily laden with pods. So, for the rest of the month of June, my plan will be to use a spray to kill them as I find them. This may not be the best solution and there are others advertised on the internet. One of the best approaches is to use an application of milky spore disease during its larval stage when it is in the ground. These applications can take up to five years to work so you have to be patient.

In the meantime, Japanese beetles feed on a large range of plants, including leaves of the following common crops; strawberries, beans, tomatoes, peppers, grapes, hops, roses, cherries, plums, pears, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, corn, peas and blueberries.