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Yard and Garden: Japanese Beetles

June 22, 2012, 9:42 am | Richard Jauron, Willy Klein

Japanese beetles first emerged around the end of May in some parts of Iowa. As populations increase, gardeners around the state are asking how to deal with these very hungry garden pests.The good news, in eight weeks they will be gone.

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Looking Ahead to White Grubs in the Lawn

The white grubs that routinely damage lawns in Iowa are called annual white grubs. These root-eating, underground June beetle larvae have one generation per year and take one year to complete their life cycle of egg, larva, pupa and adult. The adult beetles of our annual white grubs are specific kinds of June beetles called masked chafers. They are tan or straw brown in color and as the name implies, they have a black stripe across the eyes and face. The masked chafers begin flying in late June and lay eggs in the turf during July.

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Tiger Beetle Tales

Tiger beetles are predators in adult and larval stages, eating other beetles, flies, caterpillars, ants, grasshoppers, spiders and additional invertebrates. Adults are active hunters, while larvae feed on any unsuspecting insect passing nearby. Tiger beetles are fed upon by spiders, robber flies, dragonflies, toads, lizards, moles, ground squirrels, shorebirds, waterfowl and songbirds, to name a few

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