Came across it this afternoon in the backyard by our fence bordering the creek behind our property... Is it the dreaded Japanese Beetle? It was about 1/2-3/4" long and wide. If it is, what steps should/do I need to take? Thanks!
Not a Japanese beetle, a green junebug (Cotinis mutabilis) I wouldn't do anything... I think they're cool.
Whew! Thanks for the id - we have tons of june bugs around (the dogs love to chase and eat them, eww), but I hadn't seen any with this type of colouring before, just the typical brown ones.
You haven't had any Japanese beetles in Kansas? You lucky dog! They came into our area about 5 years ago. Although, I must say I thought they would be worse than they are this year. I have tons of wrens this year. I wonder if they have discovered they are a yummy food? Hopefully, you won't get them eventually. Kay
Japanese Beetles are AWFUL! I don't know much about gardening yet because this is my first year. However, my grandma has made it her personal crusade to find out how to defeat those little devils. She suggested that I get the Bag-A-Bug Japanese Beetle trap made by Spectracide. It's a very simple trap, just an hour glass shaped bag hanging from a platic apparatus. It has a scent thing that snaps in just above the bag. The scent smells quite nice, kind of like roses (which Japanese Beetles love to destroy). Anyway, you just put the trap down wind from whatever you are trying to protect and that's about it. I put up two because I can't keep moving them every time the wind changes and it has worked very well for me. The reason I know that it has worked well is because each bag has dozens of the bettles inside either dead or dying. I have found them occasionally on my roses, but really not that often. I think I have found 4 all season on my various rose bushes. That's a joke when you consider that I have trapped well over 100 of them. I keep having to buy more bags because the rotting bug smell. But it works really well and I feel like it's very reasonably priced.
