Description: 

• Popillia japonica are members of the Scarab Family
• Grubs are creamy colored, 1 – 1 1/8” long, with a small V of hairs on their rasters
• Adults are ~ 1/2” long with green metallic heads, have bronze wing covers, & 6 white hair tufts per side

Life Cycle:

• Japanese Beetles go through one generation per year
• Larvae are in the soil and feed on roots from August until June
• Adults emerge in June and continue eating, mating, and laying eggs until late August

Damage:

• Adults will feed on several hundred different host plants with a fondness for ornamentals and fruit trees
• Damage lies predominately on the outside edges in both corn and soybean fields with feeding rarely spreading throughout
• Treatment is warranted at 30% defoliation during the vegetative stages and 15-20% during the reproductive stages in soybeans
• In cornfields consider treatment if silks are clipped to less than 1/2” and pollination is less than half complete