100 Years of Japanese Beetles in New Jersey

  Here’s an anniversary that’s not exactly worth celebrating: 2016 marks 100 years since the Japanese beetle was first discovered in America. From the Reading Eagle newspaper, July 22, 1923: “Seven years ago, concealed in imported azalea roots, an unsuspected grub entered this country from Japan. The destination of the roots was Burlington County, New Jersey. They got there and the grub came with them. It burrowed in the ground and hatched the Japanese beetle that already has done much damage and threatens to do much more.” A century later, the Japanese beetle is still a major gardening headache. As the newspaper account put it, “whatever green thing that comes in its way is grist for its insatiable devouring mill.”

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Visit Your NJ Garden Center to Get Rid of Japanese Beetles

Ah, the Japanese beetle. Nasty little buggers, aren’t they? If you grew up in the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic or just about anywhere along the East Coast of the United States, you probably still have early-summer memories of capturing dozens of the copper-and-green bugs in your backyard with slippery Japanese beetle traps. As an adult with a yard full of lovely foliage, though, or perhaps a backyard garden or a rose bush, these miniature Asian invaders aren’t quite as much fun. Where Do Japanese Beetles Come From? The bugs are believed to have first escaped Japan and entered the U.S. in 1916. It’s thought that they stowed away in a shipment of Japanese flowers. Because of natural predators that are still present in

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