What You Need to Know About Japanese Beetles and Your Crops
The adult Japanese beetle is shiny metallic green with copper wing covers. Along each side of the abdomen are six tufts of white hair. The adult is about 1/2 inch long. The larva is a large (1/2 to over 1 inch long) grub that may be easily confused with May/June beetle or masked chafer grubs. It is native to Japan but has spread elsewhere, notably eastern North America.
The Japanese beetle is known to feed on over 300 different species of plants. They are especially fond of roses, grapes, smartweed, over-ripe and decaying fruit, corn silks, and soybean foliage. A sign that these beetles have been eating your crops are leaves being skeletonized. This means the veins are the only thing remaining. Leaf feeding is typically insignificant in corn but may be more significant in soybeans, causing defoliation prior to pod fill. Clipped corn silks from the Japanese beetle may reduce pollination and yield in your corn.
You can control and prevent Japanese beetles by using insecticides after determining thresholds of the pest.
