Japanese Beetles: Summer and Fall Lawn Pests | Superior Lawn Care
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Japanese Beetles: Summer and Fall Lawn Pests

If you have Japanese beetles in your yard, you probably already know they are there. These beetles are easy to spot: they sport metallic-green bodies and have shiny, rust-colored wings. They’re about 3/8 inches long and attach themselves to your grass and plants when they need a meal.

The Grub Stage: What to Look For

These beetles, either in grub or adult form, are known for feeding on your grass, plantings, and roots.

Japanese beetles start out as grubs. The grubs are also easy to identify, because they are C-shaped, white, and live in your soil. They eat the grass’s roots. (That’s right, when they’re young, they eat grass from down below, and when they’re older, they go above ground and attach and devour the grass blades. They’re destructive in every cycle.)

By eating the roots, these grubs are impairing the grass plant’s ability to take up water and nutrients every fall. Yo

u’ll often see grass start to die in patches, and if you do try this: grab the underside of your grass and pull up. If it pulls up easily, that’s a sign that the turf’s roots have been damaged. You’ll also see the little white C-shapes of the grubs in the ground.

Feeding Habits of Japanese Beetles
By July, the grubs have become full-fledged adults, and will crawl up to the top of grass, plantings, and ornamental trees in the sun to eat and lay eggs. By September, the eggs will become grubs, which is when they are most destructive. After lying dormant during the winter and early spring, they’ll begin another destructive phase.

The adult beetles can fly, so that means that you may not have grubs in your yard when you see these beetles eating your plants. However, by July, the adults will be laying eggs, which will bring a grub infestation to your yard.

Insect Control Applications from Superior Lawn Care
If you have had Japanese beetles in the past, or you think that you see grub activity or adult beetles right now, contact Superior Lawn Care. Our insect/ grub control program can be applied now – and one application is usually all that it takes – to protect your lawn so these pests don’t overtake your yard during the summer. We also offer a full tree and shrub care program which can help keep unwanted Japanese beetles from causing major damage to your ornamental plants. Our service extends throughout all of southwestern Pennsylvania, including Cranberry, Wexford, Upper St. Clair, Pittsburgh, Indiana, and Penn Township, so give us a call.