Green June beetles are most common in older lawns and pastures with high organic content soils or manure fertilizers. Green June beetle grubs are unusual also in that they are susceptible to Sevin insecticide applied as a dust or spray to the surface of the soil or infested turf (other white grubs are not).
Natural predators of June bugs include frogs, snakes, and lizards.
Bacillus thuringiensis, usually abbreviated as Bt, is bacteria that infects and kills many garden pests, including June bug grubs, yet is harmless to humans and pets. You'll usually find Bt sold as a liquid concentrate or a powder to spray or sprinkle directly onto affected plants and turf.
The name June bug actually refers to around 300 different species of beetle within the genus Phyllophaga. Their life cycle is as follows: egg » larva » pupa » adult. Adults lay eggs in May and June, which hatch two and a half weeks later into small white larva, also known as grubs.
Many people confuse June bugs as being blind because they constantly bump into things when flying/ walking. They are just naturally clumsy organisms. Coincidentally, while June bugs are attracted to projecting lights, if exposed to light for too long they can die as their bodies aren't made to be in light constantly.
Lawn Grubs, often called White Grubs, are the immature form of different Scarab Beetles, such as Japanese Beetles, June "bugs" (beetles) or the European Chafers. Grubs eventually turn into adult Beetles and emerge from soil to mate and lay eggs.
Apply the insecticide preferably around June or July. If you observe June Beetles depositing eggs in the soil, you can gauge the timing of insecticide application. June beetle grubs emerge from their eggs about 3 weeks after eggs are deposited into the soil around shrubs and in lawns.
The June bugs, have just weeks to reproduce. Then they die. Given their manic attraction to light June bugs quickly exhaust themselves.
While the adult June bugs can be a pain with their constant swarming around lights, it is their larvae that pose a threat to the landscape. June bugs' larvae are whitish, C-shaped grubs that live underground. These white grubs are laid in midsummer in sunny areas of the lawn.
They are primarily active at night and hide under leaves or in the bark of trees during the day. In late summer, female June bugs burrow into the dirt to lay their eggs, and by the beginning of fall, the June bugs' life cycle comes to an end and they die off.
Here are our top suggestions to get rid of June Bugs hanging around your porch with natural home remedies.
- Set up an Electric Bug Zapper. Like most insects, June Bugs are attracted to a source of light.
- Vacuum Them in with a Shop Vac.
- DIY Light Bottle Trap.
- Attract Natural Predators.
To treat the grubs that cause lawn damage, you can apply an insecticide, like Sevin, to the lawn and then water the lawn to get the insecticide into the soil, or you can apply Bacillus thuringiensis or milky spore to the soil to kill the June bug grubs.
June Bugs Can be A Slight Concern for DogsJune bugs are common in Oklahoma, and while they aren't toxic or harmful to dogs, consuming several may upset a dog's gastrointestinal tract and lead to vomiting or diarrhea.
To keep the bugs away, try and avoid installing lights in the cooler light spectrum. Trying switching to a warmer, yellower light. Insects don't see nearly as well in the yellow to infra-red spectrum. Since they can't see yellow lights as much, they won't be as drawn to them.
The beetles seek turfgrass with high levels of organic matter (e.g. thatch) in which to lay eggs. It has been speculated that this attraction to decomposing organic matter explains why large numbers of adults will cruise above certain lawns while ignoring neighboring lawns.
Birds, armadillos, and skunks dig grubs out of turf and pastures, often causing even greater damage in the process. A large, dark-colored wasp, Scolia dubia, is often seen flying low over grassy areas infested with green June beetle grubs. The wasp larvae hatch and consume the green June beetle grub.
Fig beetles (Cotinis mutabilis), also known as figeater beetles or green fruit beetles, are a Southwestern species of beetle that careen through the air with the grace of a charging rhinoceros. They are loud, they are big (often around an inch long), and they are everywhere right now.
If you see a beetle of a green color, it is the symbol of good health and prosperity, while the red color of a beetle always indicates love, energy and strong passion.
His June bug is an invasive species while mine is a native. They have the same name, but they're not the same species. You can see where the common name confusion comes into play! Geographic differences make a huge difference when it comes to assigning common names to species.
