Man finds invasive larvae inside Miracle-Gro

HONOLULU (KHNL/Gray News) - A Hawaiian man said he found 50 coconut rhinoceros beetle larvae inside a bag of Miracle-Gro garden soil.

Coconut rhinoceros beetles are invasive to Hawaii and several other Pacific Islands.

The man, who asked to be identified as Joe, said he bought the soil from the Naval Exchange in April.

“This is the first time I’ve seen them,” he said.

The larvae like mulch, compost and green waste and in four to six months, they turn into tree-killing pests.

“I’ve heard about it. I’ve seen the damage it’s done,” Joe said.

Hawaii News Now contacted Miracle-Gro and a spokesperson said the bag was shipped from either California or Illinois.

Joe said Hawaii’s Department of Agriculture told him the beetles have not been detected on the mainland.

Joe said the department said the larvae could have gotten into the bag once he took it home because all they need is a “pencil-sized hole” but he said the air holes in his bag are smaller than that.

Department of Agriculture officials inspected the Naval Exchange’s Garden Center on Monday and did not find an infestation.

“It could have been worse because had the bags at the retail location been infested and spread all over, even further into the state, that’s the biggest fear we have,” Hawaii’s Department of Agriculture Chairwoman Sharon Hurd said.

The invasive beetles first turned up in Hawaii in 2013.

Coconut rhinoceros beetles have become so widespread in Hawaii that the federal government is now shifting its resources to keep them from reaching the mainland.

Meanwhile, Hawaii officials are working to keep the infestation from getting worse on the islands.

“The whole message about ‘See something, say something’ was really internalized by this gentleman because by him seeing something and saying something, it got our quarantine staff out to the site this morning,” Hurd said.

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