This Destructive Invasive Species Is About To Terrorize Michigan Crops

We are in full gardening gear here in Michigan, being in the heart of summer. They’re going to be a lot of flowers, budding and vegetables starting to make that slow climb to ripeness. But there is an invasive species that originally came from Japan and eastern Russia that can cause, a lot of devastating impacts to lawns and turf grasses.

The Japanese beetle, which is no longer being mapped in the state because it’s already been established, will be making the return to Michigan and you want to make sure you keep an eye out for these pests. They start as grubs that live underground and usually eat away at the root of the grass. When they’re full-blown adults, they can eat away at foliage, flowers, and fruit of hundreds of different plants.

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The Michigan government has said before that they are partial to tree fruits, small fruits, ornamentals garden vegetables, soybeans, and corn, and describe what these little bastards look like:

Adult beetles are about 3/8 inch in length, with a bright metallic green head and body and metallic brown wings. Legs are darker green. Twelve tufts of white hair surround the edges of the abdomen. Grubs or larvae are about 1/16 to ¼ inch in length, white, with three pairs of legs. Adult beetles emerge in June or July and feed throughout the summer. Japanese beetle grubs damage lawns and turf grasses.  Beetles skeletonize leaves and flowers of ornamental plants and trees and can damage crops.

What To Do If You See Any Japanese Beetles In Your Garden

Smash that sucker.