Watch out Big Apple and northern New Jersey. It looks like the viburnum leaf beetles (VLBs) are headed your way, if they’re not already in your neighborhood. Here’s what you can expect when larvae hatch in spring:
John Jordan, Natural Resources Supervisor at Prospect Park Alliance has found evidence of the beetle there, and says that there was a confirmed report on North Brother Island (between Manhattan and Queens) last year. VLBs are suspected to be in some of the larger parks in the Bronx, northern Manhattan and northern Queens. Native plant enthusiast William Wyman has recorded damage in Delaware Township Hunterdon County, N.J., 70 miles west, and they’ve also been spotted in Putnam County, N.Y., 60 miles north.
The viburnum leaf beetle, Pyrrhalta viburni (Paykull), is an invasive, non-native beetle that first appeared in New York along Lake Ontario in 1996, and has steadily spread across the state and down the Hudson Valley. It is a voracious eater that can defoliate viburnum shrubs entirely. Plants may die after two or three years of heavy infestation, particularly when larvae strip plants after hatching out in spring followed by heavy adult feeding later in summer.
For more information on identifying VLBs at all life stages, steps you can take to manage them and choosing resistant viburnums, visit the Cornell’s Viburnum Leaf Beetle website.
Metro area and New Jersey readers: If you spot VLBs in your area, please tell us where in the comments.
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Viburnum leaf beetle larvae on Viburnum trilobum (American cranberry bush) in Durham, NH 03824 as of May 2009. Local garden center/nursery confirms that this has become a problem in the last year or so. (Co-existant with aphids.)
i have found the larva of this beetle on arrowwood viburnum at 3 locations in cleveland, ohio. the suburbs are cleveland heights, south euclid and euclid. i found your site to be very helpful and thought this imformation may aid your study. cheers mark
I have 2 Highbush Cranberries (Viburnum trilobum) in my Saratoga Springs, NY, backyard that have been almost completely skeletonized by these larvae this spring. Tiny dark ones at first, now larger yellowish ones with black spots. Also aphids at twig tips. I purchased these shrubs last year at Faddegon’s Nursery in Schenectady NY and they appeared healthy through last summer and fall. Should I remove and burn all affected leaves? Will new leaves form this year? Or should I just pull these out and plant something else?
Ilive in Southampton Town near Riverhead, eastern part of Long Island, NY. My Judd viburnam has curled leaves and when I uncurled them I could see what looks like the larvae of those beetles. I will take a sample and get confirmation. I do not want to destroy my shrub and will try other methods. It’s bad enough the deer eat it, too!
Jackie:
See the Managing VLBs page on our Viburnum Leaf Beetle website for actions you can take: http://www.hort.cornell.edu/vlb/manage.html
I don’t think burning leaves will help. Healthy plants usually leaf out after defoliation, just in time to be hit by the adults when they emerge.
There are resistant viburnum species should you replant. Find info here: http://www.hort.cornell.edu/vlb/suscept.html
Craig Cramer
Communications Specialist, Department of Horticulture
They have arrived in Jacksonville, right outside Ithaca. I just noticed them on my Snowball bushes. I don’t think I had them last year.
Found in West Sand Lake – the larvae will have completely finished off my Viburnum acerifolium within a week.
I live in Middletown,N.Y.My Viburnum triloba had its leaves turned to lace in a few days this past week. I have had it for four or five years with no problem.
This is the first year I’ve seen the skeletonizing of my Cranberry Viburnum here in Western Orange County, NY. Haven’t seen the pest yet but will keep looking.
The beetles have arrived in Richmond,Mass. I
have several bushes and are having them sprayed this week.
I have three Viburnum dentatum bushes with sections of skeletonized leaves and plenty of visible VLB larvae here in West Boylston, Massachusetts (Worcester County).
Bummer.
I have photos if you need them.
Best,
Loree Burns
Austinburg OH. 44010-9707
I have a dozen Viburnum in my yard that have been completely and thoroughly defoliated at the end of May.. just a week prior those plants were all completely covered in leaves with some needing to be trimmed back from the yard.
It was rather a shock when I mowed the yard a week later and realized all of the vibrunum around my yard had been reduced to nothing more than large clusters of 10-12 foot high twigs sticking out of the ground.. and when I say bare I mean not a single leaf on any of the plants is left.. none of these were small plants.
My neighbors are seeing similar results in their yards.
I did not see any of this activity for the past 5 years living in this home.
wow… I just don’t know what else to say. could someone please send me a large colony of lady bugs and stink bugs. STAT
I am the IPM manager at the New York Botanical Gardens in Bronx, NY. We have found signs of Viburnum Leaf Beetle infestation all over the grounds and are bginning to monitor and control the beetles. We suspect that the infestation is about three seasons old.
I noticed some skeletonized leaves on my Viburnum dentatum several days ago in lower Westchester. No major damage yet, but…
After joining the effort to control VLB in the New York Botanical Gardens, I decided to check out my local nature preserve in Putnam County, NY. There are three separate preserves around Ice Pond in Brewster, NY and I have found evidence of damage in two of them; The Clough Preserve and the Twin Hills Preserve. I have not thoroughly checked the third preserve yet (Ice Pond Preserve) but it’s probably there as well. I also found, photographed, and collected 2nd instar larvae feeding on Viburnum dentatum in the Clough Preserve.
Hi,
I recently visited the amazing gardens at Wave Hill just north of Manhattan … I am very familiar with VLB from Delaware county upstate and wish to report that I save beetles on their viburnum’s. I did not report as I assume they know, but perhaps they don’t!
Richard
Whoops,
The adult beetles are back on my one Viburnum triloba that they skeletonized at the end of May. They are rapidly working away at destroying all the leaves again. Now I either need help or I will have it cut down and hauled away.
We have about 30 “Onondaga” Viburnum across our front hillside. About 25% have been skeletonized, another 30% half way and the rest showing early signs of beetle damage. We knocked off several hundred adult beetles tonight- is there any hope for these bushes? They are about six years old and 6-8 feet tall. Do we just keep knocking them off all summer long and then prune them all back in the fall? Thanks.
By the way, we are near Middlebury, Vermont.
Kim:
VLBs are hard to control as adults, as you’ve discovered.
See this page for suggestions on what you can do: http://www.hort.cornell.edu/vlb/manage.html
Repeated defoliation can kill viburnums. But it usually takes a few years, depending on conditions and intensity of the infestation.
One of the best things you can do is remove egg-laying sites on your viburnums, which is easiest in fall, winter and early spring when there are no leaves on the plants — any time up until they start leafing out, which is when the eggs hatch.
Craig
I live in Kirtland, Ohio (suburb outside of Cleveland). I purchased my first Eastern Snowball Viburnum (Opulus Roseum) last Fall. It has looked healthy all Summer long….I looked out my kitchen window a couple of hours ago and realized there were no leaves on shrub. Got a closer look to find probably a hundred beetles devouring leaves (this is a very young and small plant). Not feeling hopeful about the survival of this shrub!
I have lost acres of arrowwood viburnum on my wetland in Ashtabula county Ohio. My nannyberry are now under attack by adult beetles. My strategy is to focus on saving selected plants using a combination of fall pruning of egg infested growth and then tanglefoot and systemic pesticide in the spring/summer. Planting resistant viburnums is not an option on this soil, and in general, I think it is better to try to save a few plants rather than replanting resistant viburnums. Is anyone working on a trap similar to that for jap. beetles?
I work in Northeast PA and I have discovered the viburnum leaf beetle on a job site in Swiftwater, PA. The plants were shipped from the Philly area about 2 years before.
I live in Austinburg, OH (Ashtabula County) along the Grand River next to a nature preserve (1 hr west of PA line). I have two 7 year old korean spice vibernums that in the space of 4 days have been attacked by this beetle. Leaves are damaged, turning black and dropping. Adult beetles are devouring the leaves. Will be surfing the net to determine what to do next. This area is prime nursery land, and the infestation could be devastating to local growers.
Don’t know how interested you are in the progression into Ohio, but we are infested in Summit County (Akron), with beginning damage noted to the counties south and west of us (Stark and Wayne). I’m trying to keep track of the progression through our OSU Phenology Garden network.
Denise Ellsworth
OSU Extension, Summit County
I discovered the beetles on my snowball virburnums last week here in Rexford, NY. In June I had all of the leaves eaten off my bushes, must have been the larva? Now it must be the adult ones that are once again stripping the leaves?
I believe that I’ve had these pests in the garden since late july.
Luzerne county PA
I just gave a live adult female beetle with egg casings from a V. Dentatum branch to the Agriculture extension service of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, to confirm the beetle has infiltrated here. The state is now on alert.
I just found the first viburnum beetle that I have noticed on the NJ Audubon, Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary, Bernardsville, Somerset Co, NJ, 07924. It was on a planted V. dentatum in a restoration area on the property where we have been planting natives for 5 years. I am the restoration specialist on the property and have been watching carefully for several years. I will be surveying for more, photographing, and documenting the extent of damage over the next few days.
In June,for the first time, I found beetle larvae on my Cranberry Highbush and Arrowwood Viburnum. I painstakinging picked the worms off each leaf,then used Safer’s Soap, so the beetle damage doesn’t seem as bad as it could be. I live inside the city limits of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
When is the best time to use suffocating oil on the eggs…in the fall or spring????
This past spring/summer I discovered viburnum leaf beetles on 7 Arrowwood Viburnum bushes and 3 American Cranberrybush Viburnums in my backyard in Montclair, NJ. I has amazed at how quickly they devoured large portions of the shrubs. They also fed on Joe Pye Weed, though not as aggressively.
Also have these rotten pests in Portage county Ohio. Garrettsville. I have American cranberry, and dentatum. The bushes have been attacked twice.
I saw this pest in many locations in Northern NJ (Franklin Lakes, Old Tappan in Bergen County) during the 2009 season.
This is not entirely on topic but relevant to the Viburnum leaf beetle invasion.
This beetle has been observed on in Newfoundland, Canada for the past several years on the Avalon Penninsula. All of our native species are affected (V. edule, V.opulus var. americanum, and V. nudum var. cassinoides).
Just in case anyone is interested in Viburnum beetle spread into your Northern Neighbour, Canada…
Port Jervis, NJ area – 2009 season – V. trilobum “Wentworth” got hit the worst. V. sargentii “Onondaga” is next to worst. V. dentatum “Blue Muffin” and “Morton” had some damage. This season I will be trying pruning and dormant oil, and safer soap on larva. Pyrethrin on adult beetles didn’t work – viburnums didn’t like it and dropped leaves, even though the concentration wasn’t high. Didn’t do much to beetles.
NYS OPRHP found VLB at Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, NY. It was also found by Richard Kelly and Mike Feder (NYC Parks) at Shu Swamp (Mill Neck, NY), Bailey Arboretum (Lattingtown, NY) and Coffin Woods Preserve (Oyster Bay, NY).
I live in Erie, PA. Found my Viburnum trilobum (American cranberry bush)decimated in the spring of 2007 and fought for two years. Last summer, 2009, I gave up and removed the shrub. I am watching for the same damage in the wild and other public lands.
The VLB destroyed my grape vines last year in Akron, OH (about a quarter mile south of the Cuyahoga river). I see that others in my area have reported the same infestation.
I live along Lake Erie in Lake Co – Ohio. I had these pests all over a bush last summer. I didn’t know what they were until I saw your website. In fact, did not know my Snowball Bush is actually a viburnum. Thankfully I now know how to combat them and will report any significant information I obtain this season.
Mike: VLBs are not known to attack grapevines, as far as I know. Are you sure it wasn’t Japanese beetles or something else?
Craig Cramer
Communications Specialist
Dept. of Horticulture
Cornell University
This pest has shown up in Stamford Ct for the past two or three years
I live in Glen Ridge, NJ (northeast NJ) I spotted the larvae on my arrowood viburnum and it has almost totally defoliated it. I now have some larvae beginning to eat my 2 cranberrybush viburnum.
I live near Carmel, N.Y. and on May 9th I spotted the larvae on my Vibunum triloba and on another viburnum. They had not yet totally defoliated the plants. This is the first year I have had them.
They’re on my v. trilobums in Newton, NJ. Over the wintertime I harvested hundreds of twigs with eggs on them and burned them in the fire, but there were still hundreds of larvae in the springtime. The eggs were usually laid on dead twigs, so removing them does not lead to a loss of spring foliage. From observations the local catbird seems to enjoy eating them, as do ladybugs when the larvae are smaller. Unfortunately ants seem to be protecting them, and keeping the ladybugs away.
Here in the NW corner of Washington State we are seeing the Viburnum Leaf beetle progressing northwards on Viburnum opulus v. trilobum and Viburnum edule. They arrived here at our native plant nursery this spring.
I have about 20 viburnums in my backyard which is in Northern NJ(Bergen County) – I planted a variety of types; the Viburnmum leaf beetle has denuded all 5 of my Mapleleaf V’s and my 3 dentatums ; it’s starting to eat my prunifoliums; has not eating my nannyberry’s yet. How can I salvage those that have been denuded, when they leaf out again? Should I apply something now to the remaining beetles or to my prunifoliums to keep them from being completely eaten?-I didn’t realize the beetle was in our area, so I hadn’t paid close enough attention. This is the first year I’ve had this beetle.
Total infestation on 5 viburnam of the same cultivar. Viburnam dentatum
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Millbrook NY 12545
Dutchess County
Total infestation on 5 viburnam of the same cultivar. Viburnam dentatum
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Millbrook NY 12545
Dutchess County
New City, NY (Rockland County)
Confirmed infestation last year on a store purchased plant about 3 feet tall. Plant removed.
No infestation on 3 other 3 foot tall store purchased plants (all arrowood), or six ten foot tall viburnums.
This year, the three 3 foot plants are totally infested. The ten footers are OK.
I am considering simply getting rid of the 3 bad plants.
What can be done so I can purchase new plants and plant them in the same spot?
Viburnums work very well on my shady property, so I am very interested in having them planted and getting into a pattern to protect them.
Thank you.