Plum beetle - Ask Extension
There are beetles eating my plums. They are black and irredescent and they fly. I’ve tried been oil, but that hasn’t been effective. Any ideas?
Knowledgebase
Plum beetle #805981
Asked August 12, 2022, 3:41 PM EDT
There are beetles eating my plums. They are black and irredescent and they fly. I’ve tried been oil, but that hasn’t been effective. Any ideas?
Scott County Minnesota
Expert Response
Hi Maggie, The insects look like Japanese beetles when I enlarged the picture. Their head and thorax are metallic green, and the wing covers are coppery-brown bordered with green or coppery-purple wing covers. The antennae form a club at each end. Five
patches of white hairs protrude from each side of the abdomen, and one white patch is present on each side of the last abdominal segment. Adult beetles feed between the veins, giving the plum leaves a skeletonized appearance. They lay their eggs in the lawn grass. You will need to spray your tree with an insecticide like Carbaryl (i.e. Sevin) or Pyrethroids (i.e. Mustang Maxx, Danitol, Baythroid, Warrior)
https://blog-fruit-vegetable-ipm.extension.umn.edu/2020/07/japanese-beetle-management-and-choosing.html
patches of white hairs protrude from each side of the abdomen, and one white patch is present on each side of the last abdominal segment. Adult beetles feed between the veins, giving the plum leaves a skeletonized appearance. They lay their eggs in the lawn grass. You will need to spray your tree with an insecticide like Carbaryl (i.e. Sevin) or Pyrethroids (i.e. Mustang Maxx, Danitol, Baythroid, Warrior)
https://blog-fruit-vegetable-ipm.extension.umn.edu/2020/07/japanese-beetle-management-and-choosing.html
Thanks for your quick reply! Is there a more natural or organic spray I can use? I don’t use chemicals on my gardens.
You could push them off the leaves into a bucket of soapy water.
https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/japanese-beetle/
https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/japanese-beetle/
