NEWS HOME

Japanese beetle update

The lifecycle of the Japanese beetle

ODA spokesman James LaBonte says, “We found a couple of “hot spots” outside the quarantine area this summer. Those are being treated next week with BtG, a biological pesticide acting only on beetle larvae in the soil. “BtG” is Bacillus thuringiensis galleriae. This agent is a version of the more familiar BtK, B. thuringiensis kurstaki, which is widely used for control or eradication of gypsy moth (we use it in our eradication programs). Unlike BtK, which is generally applied as a spray, BtG is applied as granules, just like the Acelepryn G used in the main treatment area. We also plan to treat these “hot spots” with Acelepryn G during next year’s general treatment.

Even though you’re probably not seeing beetles in your yard now, that’s only because they have likely already laid their eggs in the soil and died. It’s the eggs and the hatching grubs that are targeted by the larvicide that was applied by the ODA this spring.

We hope by now that everyone (and their landscapers) knows to take lawn clippings and some other yard debris to the designated drop-off area during the active season. However, the good news is that loads of fallen leaves are not a risk to spread Japanese beetle and are not part of the quarantined material. Clean Water Services performs street sweeping for most areas that they serve, so leaving piles of leaves on the street is okay. Note however that the quarantine period has ended for 2018, and will resume on April 1, 2019. The quarantine went into effect in summer of 2017 and will continue to be active for several more years.

The boundary of the quarantine was expanded this year because of increased Japanese beetle detections in the county in 2017. See the interactive map on the project website—it shows the beetles that were found during Summer 2017, which is why the treatment area was expanded. Each colored dot is a trap that had beetles in it last year. Click on the dots to see how many were found. A map showing this Summer’s catch will be available on the website soon.

There is a useful chart of common beetles and pests that are not Japanese beetles on the updates page, scroll down to the July entry.

Previous article

NEWS HOME