UDAF Seeks Public Help to Prevent Japanese Beetle Infestation

Public asked to contact stores for treatment of possibly infested trees

Utah Department of Agriculture and Food has taken action to prevent the possible infestation of Japanese beetle after numerous truck loads of fruit and shade trees arrived in Utah without proper authorization. An unknown number of trees have been sold to the public.

The UDAF recently discovered that wholesale nursery suppliers in Oklahoma and other states have shipped material to Utah in violation of Utah's Japanese Beetle Quarantine (R68-15). The department is currently working with the nursery industry, both in Utah and out of state, to stop further unauthorized shipments. The department is also working to identify suspected infested products in Utah to have them treated or returned to the shipper. The department is requiring Utah stores that have sold such material to the public to locate and treat any products that may have been planted.

The UDAF is asking the public who may have purchased fruit or shade trees from January 1, 1998 to April 15, 1998 to contact the store where they purchased the trees. The store should have information on how to treat the tree without harming it. Any treatment would be focused on the ball of soil attached to the tree's roots. The trees in question would have been sold in small to medium sized containers.

Consumers may treat suspect trees on their own with a timely application of Ortho's Dursban Lawn and Insect Control. Follow label directions.

The action comes following a special meeting April 15 between the UDAF and members of the nursery industry to outline a strategy to address the possible presence of Japanese beetle larva in Utah. Following the meeting, the Director of the Division of Plant Industry, Dick Wilson, issued a Japanese Beetle Quarantine and Release Policies and Procedures.

The policy and procedures require the following:

• Prevent further shipments into Utah of suspected contaminated material from quarantined states
• Treatment or return of material to shipper
• Requires shippers to submit written treatment plans to the UDAF for approval

The policy includes civil penalties up to $5,000 per violation and/or revocation of nursery license.

The Japanese beetle (Popillia Japonica) is a destructive plant pest whose losses attributed to the larval stage alone are put at $234 million a year nationwide. Adults feed on the foliage and fruits of several hundreds species of fruit trees, ornamental trees, shrubs and vines, and field and vegetable crops. In its grub, or worm-like, stage the beetle feeds on the roots of plants and grasses and lawn turf.

Utah is one of 24 states that is free from the presence of the Japanese beetle. Its presence could impact the state's $20 million fruit industry.

The following is a list of states that cannot ship nursery stock to Utah without proper certification that they comply with Utah's Japanese beetle quarantine: Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

The UDAF action means that no shipments of nursery stock will be allowed into Utah from the 27 states with the beetle without prior approval.

Posted April 24, 1998