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Rose Chafer

Rose Chafer

Macrodactylus subspinosus

Insectalso: Rose chafer beetle

A tan, long-legged beetle that swarms in early summer, especially on sandy soils, to feed on flowers, leaves, and fruit. Rose chafers love roses and peonies but also riddle grapes, raspberries, and strawberries and skeletonize the leaves of many plants, often appearing suddenly in numbers for a few weeks in June and then gone.

🔎 How to spot it

Adults are slender, about a third of an inch, tan to greenish with a reddish-brown head and conspicuous long, spiny, reddish-orange legs. They appear from late May through June, often many at once. Look for large irregular holes eaten in blossoms, especially roses and peonies, leaves skeletonized between the veins, and feeding on grapes, raspberries, and strawberries. They favor areas of light, sandy soil.

🥀 Damage it causes

Rose chafers chew ragged holes in flowers, especially roses and peonies, skeletonize leaves by eating the tissue between the veins, and feed on grape, raspberry, and strawberry fruit. A swarm can disfigure blossoms and foliage and damage a fruit crop over their few weeks of activity. Their grubs feed on grass and weed roots in the soil but do little notable harm.

🛡️ Prevent it

Where rose chafers are a yearly problem on sandy ground, protect prized roses, small fruit, and vegetables with floating row cover or cheesecloth during the few weeks of adult activity in June, removing it for pollination as needed. There is little to do about the soil-dwelling grubs, so the focus is shielding plants during the brief adult swarm.

🧯 If it is already here

Handpick the beetles into soapy water, which is practical since they are large, slow, and cluster on favored plants. Row cover keeps them off valued plants during the swarm. For heavy infestations, labeled insecticides give control, but spot-treat to spare pollinators on blooming plants. The swarm is short-lived, so protecting plants for those few weeks is often enough.

💡 Good to know

Rose chafers are tied to light, sandy soils, where their grubs develop, so gardens on sandy ground see them year after year while those on heavy clay rarely do. They are also toxic to birds and poultry if eaten in quantity. Their season is short, just a few weeks in early summer, so the goal is simply to get prized plants through the swarm.

🌱 Plants it attacks

88 plants in the library can be attacked by this pest

🍓Albion StrawberryAnjou PearAroniaAsian PearAunt Molly's Ground CherryBartlett PearBeach PlumBilberryBing CherryBlack CrowberryBlack CurrantBlack RaspberryBlack Tartarian CherryBluecrop BlueberryBosc PearBoysenberryBraeburn AppleCafe au Lait DahliaCatawba GrapeChampagne LoquatChokecherryClimbing Prairie RoseConcord GrapeContender PeachCoral Drift Groundcover RoseCornelian CherryCortland AppleCosmic Crisp AppleCranberryDamson PlumElberta PeachElderberryEvergreen HuckleberryFantasia NectarineFuji AppleGala AppleGoji BerryGooseberryGraham Thomas English RoseGranny Smith AppleHansa Rugosa RoseHawthornHeritage RaspberryHollyhockHoneoye StrawberryHoneyberryHoneycrisp AppleIceberg Floribunda RoseIndian HawthornJune-Bearing StrawberryKarma Choc DahliaKnock Out RoseMcIntosh AppleMethley PlumMister Lincoln Hybrid Tea RoseMontmorency CherryMoorpark ApricotMoss RoseMulberryMuscadine GrapeNanking CherryNew Dawn Climbing RoseNiagara GrapeOregon Grape🍓Ozark Beauty StrawberryPatriot BlueberryPeace Hybrid Tea RosePink Lady ApplePrickly PearQueen Elizabeth Grandiflora RoseQuinceRainier CherryRed CurrantRed Delicious AppleRedhaven PeachRegent SaskatoonRoyal Heritage Lenten RoseSarah Bernhardt Peony🍓Seascape StrawberryStanley PlumSugar AppleSuperstition Bearded IrisSweet Chariot Miniature RoseTexas Scarlet Flowering QuinceThompson Seedless GrapeTifblue BlueberryTriple Crown BlackberryWhite Currant

For educational and informational purposes only. Pest control advice is general guidance drawn from university cooperative extension sources; always identify a pest positively and read and follow the label on any product before use, especially around food crops, children, and pets.