Field Identification
Big metallic green scarabs that show up when fruit gets soft—figs, grapes, stone fruit, even tomatoes with a split. Adults are the visible stage; they do not skeletonize leaves like Japanese beetles, they drill into ripe flesh and invite rot and wasp parties.
Chunky, shiny green-bronze beetles roughly 3/4 inch long with faint lateral stripes; larvae are C-shaped white grubs in compost and soil. Flight is loud and clumsy—easy to spot at dusk on ripening clusters.
How to Deal With It
Organic Control Methods
Kaolin clay on fruit clusters before ripening reduces landing; neem or pyrethrin only as spot treatments—avoid blanketing flowering plants. Nothing beats picking fruit on time.
Birds, toads, and robber flies pick off adults; skunks and moles dig grubs—accept some lawn archaeology as the price of free beetle control.
Harvest daily during peak ripeness; remove windfalls and split fruit; keep compost piles away from fruiting zones so grubs are not under your best trees.
Floating row cover over small plantings until harvest; hand-collect adults into soapy water during evening feeding binges.
Sanitation breaks the party—no forgotten fruit, no fermentation perfume calling in every scarab in the zip code.
Let Nature Handle It
Natural Enemies
- Birds
- Toads
- Robber Flies
Threat Map