After successful fight against Oriental fruit fly, Sacramento County now battles Japanese beetles
Japanese beetles are small – half the size of a penny – but very hungry. Courtesy of CDFA
State and Sacramento County officials conquered one invasive pest, but another appears to be on the rise.
First, the good news: The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has lifted the Oriental Fruit Fly (OFF) quarantine it had in place in Sacramento County. Officially over on May 31, the quarantine had been active for almost eight months and impacted parts of Rancho Cordova, Fair Oaks, Carmichael, Gold River and La Riviera.
Those restrictions were removed just in time for summer harvest season. During the quarantine, produce and plants could not be moved out of the restricted area, impacting commercial nurseries and farm stands. Residents also were urged not to take any fruit, vegetables or plants off their property.
Now the bad news: Japanese beetles – considered among the worst invasive pest – were detected in Carmichael.
On Thursday, Sacramento County posted the news on its official Facebook page:
“An invasive insect pest called the Japanese Beetle has been found in the Carmichael area of Sacramento County,” said the post. “Japanese Beetles can damage over 300 species of ornamental, horticultural, agricultural and native plants, posing a serious threat to our state’s agriculture, environment, and your backyard. Agricultural officials need your cooperation to eliminate this non-native pest.”
State and county ag officials have been actively battling Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica) around Sacramento for almost four years. Between June 4, 2020, and July 6, 2022, they trapped a total of 240 Japanese beetles in the Arden Arcade area and Rancho Cordova. Since then, a 49-square-mile detection area centered around the original findings has been monitored for more beetles and to determine if eradication efforts have been effective.
The beetle’s larvae overwinter in turf grasses, then adult beetles come out in summer to consumer just about everything in sight. These bad bugs can destroy vineyards and orchards. They go crazy over roses.
In 2023, ag officials treated a large area surrounding Del Paso Country Club and its nearby neighborhoods with such pesticides as Acelepryn and beetleGONE! (which uses Bacillus thuringiensis galleriae or BTG). (Japanese beetles love turf grass and golf courses in particular.)
This summer, officials plan to treat a neighborhood roughly bordered by Watt Avenue on the west, Montclaire Street to the east, Lynne Way to the south and French Avenue to the north.
Now, trapping and monitoring efforts will extend to other parts of the county.
“You may see State and County officials in the area setting and checking traps, conducting visual surveys, and performing treatments for Japanese Beetle,” added the county. “Please be on the lookout for these beetles in your neighborhood, in particular in rose bushes as that is a preferred host.”
Looking like little bronze scarabs, Japanese beetles are small – half the size of a penny. Other common bugs such as fig beetles and June bugs have similar green and metallic coloring but are much larger.
“Have you seen the Japanese Beetle in your area?” the county added. “If you do, please call the California Department of Food and Agriculture Exotic Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899.”
Also, photos of suspect bugs may be emailed to pesthotline@cdfa.ca.gov.
Learn more: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/jb/
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 19
Dress warmly in layers – and get to work:
* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based oil to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback if pruned now. Save those until summer.)
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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