(WKBN) — These warm, sunny summer months are a great time for growing plants and being outside. But they also tend to bring out some pesky friends: Japanese beetles!

If you’ve gone outside at all this summer, chances are you’ve seen the little guys.

“Typically we recommend people and homeowners, to start looking for Japenese beetle populations like late June, early July,” said Egg and Natural Resources educator Haley Shoemaker.

Shoemaker with Ohio State University Extension said typically around this time is when the beetles start to come into that adult stage and we start noticing them feeding on our plants or fruit trees.

There are a few management options to try to prevent them from eating at your plants. The first is physical removal which Shoemaker recommends if you have time and don’t have a huge infestation.

“You can knock the beetles into like a soapy bucket or a bucket of soapy water, that keeps them from flying right back out and having more snacks on your plants,” said Shoemaker.

If you have a large infestation in your yard or garden, another easy fix besides pesticides is by changing the plants in your landscape.

“We typically don’t see Japanese beetles go too heavy after boxwood, clematis, chrysanthemum, our conifer, furwood pine,” said Shoemaker.

While Japanese beetles may be small, they can be pesky and cause trouble down the line for your plants.

“They’re actually called skeletonizers so when you see them eat at the leaves, they’re eating the fleshy part in between the veins of those leaves and plants so then that leaf is then most likely going to die,” said Shoemaker.

Shoemaker said the beetles typically finish feeding on plants by mid-Aug. and anyone with questions about prevention options can contact OSU Extension.