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Recent Posts
- Home, Yard, & Garden Newsletter article from 7-20-15
- Home, Yard, & Garden Newsletter article from 6-22-15
- White Grubs
- Japanese Beetles and Silk Clipping: New Research on an Old Foe
- Japanese Beetles – lower numbers this summer!
- Japanese beetles survived the winter, now what
- Japanese Beetle Update by Dr. Phil Nixon
Links
- Japanese Beetle Factsheet - Utah State University
- Japanese Beetle Myth Information
- Japanese Beetle Q&A by Minnesota Extension
- University of Illinois Extension Home, Yard, and Garden Pest Newsletter
- Japanese Beetle and Look-alike Pictures
- Request a speaker
- University of Illinois Extension Field Crop IPM information
- ILRiverHort Blog - Ferree's Horticulture Blog
Blog Archives
- July 2015 (1)
- June 2015 (1)
- September 2014 (1)
- July 2014 (3)
- June 2014 (2)
- July 2013 (1)
- June 2013 (8)
- May 2013 (1)
- July 2012 (1)
- June 2012 (19)
38 Total Posts
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Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Home, Yard, & Garden Newsletter article from 7-20-15
Japanese Beetle Original article found at http://hyg.ipm.illinois.edu/article.php?id=732 Japanese beetle adults are present throughout the state. In most areas, numbers are low, but there have been reports of locally high numbers. We c...
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Home, Yard, & Garden Newsletter article from 6-22-15
Home, Yard, & Garden Newsletter article from 6-22-15 Japanese beetle adults are present throughout Illinois. Robert Bellm, Extension Educator, reported their presence in southern Illinois, and Martha Smith, Extension Educator, reported them in northwestern Illinois. Extended deep soil freezing in northern Illinois d...
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
White Grubs
Update on September 23, 2014 from Home, Yard, & Garden Pest Newsletter White grub infestations continue to be widespread and scattered this year. There appears to be more mammal and bird damage than direct grub damage appearing. With the low number of Japanese beetle and masked chafer adults in most areas of the state,...
Monday, July 7, 2014
Japanese Beetles – lower numbers this summer!
June 20, 2014 Yes – this news is a gardener's dream come true – for at least the 2014 growing season! All the winter data is in and the experts now say Japanese beetle numbers in northern Illinois will be much lower this year. Many Japanese beetle larvae did...
Friday, June 20, 2014
Japanese Beetle Update by Dr. Phil Nixon
Many Japanese beetle larvae did not survive the winter, particularly in the northern half of the state. Research has shown that Japanese beetle grubs do not migrate deeper than 11 inches into the soil for the winter. They die if the soil temperature reaches 15 degrees F or if they are subjected to freezing temperatures for 2 months. Last winter the soil was frozen to 15 inches deep in central...
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
2014 Beetle Update
Extension Entomologist Phil Nixon provided the following update during an academic horticulture team meeting on May 19 th . Now is the prime time for Emerald Ash Borer insecticide treatments as the new leaves are expanding. Go to http://www.agr.state.il.us/eab/ for treatment options. We expect a reductio...
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Drought Dwindles Beetle Crop
http://www.pekintimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130715/NEWS/130719763 I was interviewed last week for this article. To date, reports of Japanese beetles are very low in the Fulton-Mason-Peoria-Tazewell area. They seem to be in pockets, here and there. My colleagues in Macomb think they all...
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Japanese Beetle Adult Emergence
Japanese beetle adults should be emerging in southern Illinois and will be emerging in central Illinois during the last week of June. They will emerge in northern Illinois during the first week of July. Look for them first on golf courses and other well-watered turf and then on smartweed, one of their favorite host plants....
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Factsheets for Homeowners
Adult Beetle Factsheet One page factsheet that describes the adult stage of the beetle that feeds on leaves and fruit above ground. Includes control recommendations. Japanese Beetle Lifecyle and More Four page factsheet describing all...
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Pinterest Japanese Beetle Board
Check out my Pinterest Board about the Japanese beetle. It contains links to various sites with more information about this pest. Japanese Beetle Pinterest Board...
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
MORE Japanese Beetle FAQs
Question: Tell me more about the Japanese beetle traps (also called bag-a-bug)? Answer : University of Illinois does not generally recommend using these traps to control beetles in your yard. The traps contain scents that attract the beetles, bringing even more beetles into your yard. If you are in the country, place the trap a mile or two from your house or le...
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Rhonda's Social Media Sites
Visit my social media sites for current information on the Japanese beetle and more. Illinois River Valley Extension Horticulture Program Facebook Page ILRiverHort Twitter Page Illinois R...
Saturday, June 15, 2013
News release - Japanese Beetle Myth information
Invasion of the Japanese Beetles – it sounds like a horror movie title, but is reality for most people living in central Illinois. Japanese beetle adults are present in high numbers and devouring leaves for about 6 weeks from mid-June into August. After mating and feeding females lay eggs in moist, actively growing lawns. Eggs hatch into large "C" shaped grubs that feed on plant roots. In...
Friday, June 14, 2013
News Release on Japanese Beetle Invasion
The invasion of the Japanese beetle has arrived in west central Illinois. According to Rhonda Ferree, extension educator in horticulture, her office has received a flurry of calls, emails, and Facebook posts about this insect pest. If these beetles aren't causing plant havoc in your area, just wait. Japanese beetle adults have a 1/2 to 3/4 inch long body with copper colored wing covers...
Friday, May 24, 2013
The Management of Japanese Beetles Begins Soon
It is not too early to begin preparing for Japanese beetle problems. "It is too early to tell how bad the Japanese beetle problem will be this year," says Rhonda Ferree, extension educator in horticulture with University of Illinois Extension. Here are some tips from Dr. Phil Nixon, Extension Entomologist, University of Illinois, for starting early to help keep Japanese...
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Newspaper article on July 12, 2012
This article in the Peoria Journal Star has comments from Rhonda Ferree about the Japanese Beetle in west central Illinois. Japanese beetles munch in Woodford...
Friday, June 29, 2012
Frogs - an alternative control method?
The past two nights we picked Japanese beetles off of our rose and grape plants. There weren't many, so it was pretty easy to do. We threw the beetles into our garden pond, thinking that the fish would eat them. Instead, one of the large bullfrogs leaped three feet across the pond and began devouring the bugs. I will try to take a video of this and post....
Monday, June 25, 2012
Television Interviews with Matt Montgomery
Tips for Managing Japanese Beetles on WEEK's Good Company Japanese-Beetles,,,To Spray Or Not To Spray on WEEK's Good Company...
Friday, June 22, 2012
Beetles in Sweet Corn
I'm receiving some calls on how to control Japanese beetle in sweet corn. They feed on the silks and disrupt pollination, resulting in missing or sporadic kernels. Since my fact sheet for homeowners doesn't list this crop, here are the chemical recommendations for controlling Japanese beetle in sweet corn. Apply at fresh-silk stage to early and late corn every 2 days, repeat...
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Bird Toxicity to chemical treatments
I've had a couple questions about how the chemicals used to control Japanese beetles affect birds in your yard. Obviously, the most safe control options are nonchemical. However, if you choose to use chemicals, here is some more information. I checked the labels for each of the products that I have listed on the one page factsheet for homeowners. The only product that is nontoxic to birds is pe...
Monday, June 18, 2012
Japanese Beetle FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Question : Why do Japanese Beetles congregate in mass? Answers : Adult beetles congregate in an area for two reasons. First, females release a pheromone (mating attractant) as they feed, drawing males to that general location, which also begin to feed. Secondly, the first beetles in an area release another set of chemicals that draw later emerging beetles/other a...
Friday, June 15, 2012
Japanese Beetle NEWS website now available
Japanese Beetle News website now available The current Japanese beetle invasion raises questions for many people. How long will they be here? Will my plants die? What can I do to stop it? To help answer these questions and more, University of Illinois Extension Educators Rhonda Ferree and Matt Montgomery developed a new website. The website is set up as a blog s...
Friday, June 15, 2012
A Whole Lot of Info About....Grubs
Any discussion of Japanese Beetles would not be complete without a good discussion of this insect's larval stage, termed the white grub. Area producers can testify to quite an increase in grub observations over the last decade, but several beetle larvae can actually be classified as white grubs. So which grub is which? How does one tell the difference? Four "grub groupings" are commonly...
Friday, June 15, 2012
Japanese Beetle Life Cycle
Japanese beetles go through a yearlong lifecycle. Adult Japanese beetles tend to emerge in our area around the mid to latter part of June. Those adult beetles, noted for their metallic green head, metallic brown wing covers, and white abdomen-lining "tufts" of hair, mate and burrow a couple inches deep in the soil. There they lay an egg or two and continue the process every few days for a perio...
Friday, June 15, 2012
Japanese Beetle Look Alikes
For pictures, go to this Minnesota Extension Factsheet PLEASE NOTE: Control recommendations for Illinois may vary than those given for Minnesota. ANNUAL WHITE GRUBS Annual white grubs, the larvae of the southern masked chafer (Cyclocephala lurida) pass through one generation each year. T...