This is the most disgusting fruit pest in our orchard. They fest on ripe fruit. They fly in your face when your picking. They taint fruit with a horrible musky smell. I see more every year and they are very resistant to insecticides. I soaked them down with Carbaryl and they laughed.
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I agree! It’s difficult enough to have a Honeycrisp Apple tree that looks deep green and healthy in hot mid-Summer here, but this year these Beetles have chewed both of mine down to nubs, leaving only the laced out leaves behind. For the first time here, I’ve found them eating green Tomatoes in groups, leaving the ripe fruit and Tomato leaves alone. They are among the worst pests, and come by the thousands! And talented as well, they’ve learned to procreate not only while eating but also flying to the next tree.
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Nope, you all are confusing June bugs and Japanese beetles. The Jap. beetles eat the leaves.
(And the June bugs eat overripe fruit, or fruit that has been injured by birds, hornets, rot of other causes.)
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They are the worst I have ever seen them this year. Big green clusters of them anywhere there is fruit. I had a cluster of about 30 on one of my hummingbird feeders. The bagworms are terrible this year too, even in places not anywhere close to cedars.
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Japanese Beetles will eat leaves and over-ripe fruit, so the ID cannot be made on the basis of eating habit.
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Japanese Beetles feed right along side June Beetles. Sorry if if the photo which shows both is confusing. June beetles are not the most damaging pest but, they are loathed. The only thing worse to see on a ripe piece of fruit you are picking is a European hornet, which are rare here.
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They seem to be making common cause with the JBs!
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