8-28 IAN Japanese Beetles

 Potentially the start of an invasion by an invasive insect... the Japanese beetle. A new invasive insect, the Japanese beetle, recently was detected in Idaho in both Ada and Kootenai counties. The Japanese beetle was first introduced to the United States in 1916 in plants imported from Japan. The insect is approximately ½-inch long, a shiny metallic green with copper-brown wing covers.

Adult Japanese beetles feed on trees, rose bushes, stonefruits and many garden and field crops leaving holes and skeltonized leaves.  The larvae, or grubs, live under the soil surface and destroy patches of turf by feeding on roots of grass. Here is Mike Cooper from the Idaho Department of Agriculture: “This is a new incursion. We have had them show up on off for the past 20 years but this is the 1st year that we have caught this many at one time.” Believe it or not, this is the 1st good news that I have heard about the drought. “This year, believe it or not, the drought will probably put a stop to it because the larvae don’t do well in drought conditions.” The Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) is identifying suspect areas with intensive trapping.