stacey tips art 1Have you ever been innocently working in your garden or enjoying a cocktail on your patio, when all of a sudden, “IN-COMING!” you get dive-bombed by a beetle that proceeds to get trapped in your hair or stuck to your shirt?! This crazy kamikaze pilot is either the Japanese Beetle, Oriental Beetle, Asiatic Garden Beetle, or European Chafer. They are notorious this time of the year in Connecticut.

The metallic, brown and green, Japanese Beetle gets all the fame or blame, depending on how you look at it. Every hole we see on a rose, a weeping cherry, basil, or pepper plant, we tend to blame the showy Japanese Beetle. Its coppery color shines in the sun and they tend to cluster on a plant while they feed and mate. They get all the glory but they should be sharing the spotlight with a few other scarab beetles. Oriental Beetles can be out spotted during the day but their mottled gray and black body is just not as interesting as the Japanese Beetle. Because they do their flying at night, they are not as obvious until they end up tangled in your ponytail. The Asiatic Garden Beetle and European Chafers are other nighttime flying beetles that fall under the radar due to their nighttime clandestine activities. Don’t be fooled by that plump, little, chestnut brown Asiatic Garden Beetle. It can do a lot of damage to plants at night and then it stealthily burrows itself in the soil during the day. Have you ever noticed devoured Basil leaves but no critter? I bet the Asiatic Garden Beetle is the sneaky bandit. Dig at the base of an eaten Basil and you may find him hiding in the soil.

This nighttime dive-bombing of Kamikaze Scarab Beetles will not last forever. They are busy flying, eating, mating, and laying eggs right now, but in a couple of weeks, they will be done. BEWARE OF WHAT LURKS BELOW…GRUBS! All of these Scarab Beetles lay eggs in the soil of our gardens and lawns. The next phase that we have to pay attention to is the white, c-shaped grub stage that will be hatching sometime in August. We can’t see them lurking below the mulch or our turf but they can really be a menace, especially to our lawns. It’s hard to believe that these ugly-looking grubs come from these somewhat flashy beetles. The newly hatching grub babies are very hungry and feed on roots from summer hatch too late fall. We don’t even notice the damage until next spring. Those sneaky, little devils!

What should we do to stop these dive-bombing beetles and sneaky little grubs?! The beetles are pretty easy to control. There are several good products that will wipe them out especially when it comes to ornamental plants.

Products for Ornamentals:

Products for Veggies:

Products for Herbs:

The discreet grub stage of the beetle requires a different form of treatment and product timing. Here are the products that work to control the grubs on the lawn.

Pro-Active Product to control grubs before they hatch:

Re-Active Product to control grubs after they hatch:

Take charge of these crazy nighttime feeders and sneaky underground dwellers. Don’t spend one more evening untangling them from your hair.

Come see us at Van Wilgen’s. We would love to help!