Your Yearly Explainer of Japanese Beetle Requirements: Get Those Treatments on Before May 15!
For those of you planning on shipping ornamental products out of Ontario anytime between May 15 and June 15, this is your yearly reminder to get your curative application of Acelepryn on BEFORE May 15! Recall that no pesticides are allowed when Japanese beetle (JB) pupae are present (generally, May 15-June 15 in Ontario). So, if you haven’t already curatively treated your plants that are about to go out the door (either after Aug 15 in 2024 or before May 15 2025) they may not meet shipping requirements.
For more details, check our our updated infographic for JB control products and timing to know what to apply when. Not sure if you need to treat for JB or not? This post also contains a decision tree and a quick reference table for applicable JB programs when shipping outside Ontario.
Infographic developed by S. Jandricic in collaboration with the CFIA. Only applicable to Ontario crops.
STEP 1: Which JB Program Do I Fall Under?
If you’re shipping plants out of Ontario (a Category 3, or REGULATED AREA), and your plants have EVER been outside (or you are accepting ANY product that has been grown outside) your first step is to check the chart below. This is a summary table of which conditions/programs you must fall under to make your product eligible for domestic shipment out of Ontario. The program/requirements you need to follow depend on WHERE you are shipping (see the left-hand column). This table also includes any additional requirements/exceptions (e.g root ball size).
You’ll also want to call your local CFIA inspector, and confirm which program you need to be part of, and the benefits of that. The application form for facilities seeking approval to participate in one or more of these programs is available in here. As indicated in the table, you may not have to join a program a if certain requirements are met, i.e. plants are grown entirely outside the flight period of JB, or treated as in the pesticide timing chart, below (Figure 3). However, these options may involve needing to schedule regular inspections from CFIA to ensure compliance for each shipment.
If you want more info, D-96-15 is the regulation that governs movement of plants from JB infested areas to non-JB areas – use the link above to go to particular reference sections.
If you’re shipping exclusively within Ontario, you won’t need to worry about these programs, but might still want to control for JB (so go to Step 3!).
Further information on shipping requirements to the U.S. can be found under Section 6.1 of the D-96-15 Phytosanitary Requirements.
Step 2: How Do I Know If I Need to Treat for JB?
Thinking you need may need treat your plants to be JB-compliant? Your next step is to look at the decision tree pictured below. This will help you decide if you need to apply chemical treatments for JB control before shipping in order to be compliant with CFIA or USDA regulations. (Otherwise you risk having your shipment stopped or destroyed!)
If your plants have been grown indoors during critical periods, or you’re not shipping to areas that restrict Japanese beetle (i.e. Category 1 and 2 provinces/states), then you might not have to apply any treatments.
Step 3: Pesticide Choice and Timing
If you’ve figured out that you DO need to use chemical controls for JB, the next question is WHAT do I apply and WHEN? As there are only 2 products registered for JB certification programs in Ontario, the “what” part is easy (see the infographic, below).
Make sure you’re aware of some important changes that were made as of 2023/2024:
- 1. Intercept (imidacloprid) is now only allowed for JB control on NON-FLOWERING plants. Therefore, most tree and shrub products can still use imidacloprid as a preventative treatment before shipping. However, growers shipping a crop like potted garden mums Category 1 or 2 provinces / states will have to use Acelepryn (chlorantraniliprole) instead.
- 2. Products containing chlorpyrifos (Lorsban, Dursban) are no longer allowed. Although these products were allowed under the program as a curative treatment for many years, this active ingredient was phased out for most crops by the PMRA in 2023.
(Note – a clearer image of this infographic can be obtained by downloading the PDF file, below).
Important Reminders
There’s always at least 1 grower who misses this each year: please note that there are NO ACCEPTABLE PRODUCTS YOU CAN APPLY FOR JB CONTROL FROM MAY 15-JUNE 15. Why? Refer to this post on the timing of JB pupae and their susceptibility to pesticides.
Because there is a window where you can’t apply products, we strongly suggest growers shipping in late spring/early summer (i.e. May 1-July 15) make sure they get a curative application of Acelepryn on BEFORE MAY 15TH to avoid any issues with shipping to non-JB areas (both domestically and to the U.S.)
However, if you treated the plants CURATIVELY after Aug 15 2024 with Acelepryn (which has a long residual, and should have killed all larvae that hatched in 2024), you won’t need to treat them again this spring. As long as you are shipping these plants BEFORE the new JB flight period starts, you should be good. Note, the flight period USUALLY starts June 15 in Ontario, but can be early or late, depending on weather.
You can download a PDF of the entire 2024 JB infographic here:
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