Phillip Alberti is a crop science educator with the University of Illinois Extension. He says the bugs continue to threaten crops across the state.
“So with Japanese beetles, they’re different than a lot of other insects in the sense that they live longer but that period of when they’re hatching and active is a little bit longer than other insects,” Alberti said.
Alberti suggests that farmers keep an eye on their crops and treat them if it appears the bugs are significantly damaging the plants.
The green and copper colored pests eat everything from vegetables to row crops.
“It’s just this time of year, it’s been a kind of a unique growing season with the heat that we’ve had, so they’re activity’s starting to pick up quite a bit right now,” Alberti said.