Small but with a big appetite: Japanese beetle looms large for Northwest agriculture

These clumsy-flying guys and gals especially love roses, hops, wine and juice grapes – they even like cherries. The invasive Japanese beetles – smaller than a penny – have been found munching their way across western Oregon’s Washington County. And there’s a hotspot in the Yakima Valley in Grandview.

The beetles are voracious and can quickly eat crops and roses to nubs – leaving just a leaf skeleton behind. Agriculture officials worry they could eventually do millions of dollars in damage to valuable Northwest crops if not stopped.

“The ability to reside and feed upon many plants within our cities and towns is very difficult,” said Cody Holthouse, the program manager of insect pest prevention and management with Oregon’s Department of Agriculture. “It is kind of intense. It speaks to how voracious they are as pests. I’ve heard of people in the east [coast] say that there will be so many adults [beetles] that you can almost hardly see the flower petals, there are so many of them there feeding and making a mess of things.”