June bugs or June beetles are brown or dark green measure around 2.5cm long and 1.5cm wide. Their undersides have a metallic green or gold colour.
Brown june beetle (left), Brown June beetle grub (right)-photos Later’s Canada
Description
June bugs are ugly suckers! They have spiny legs and that feels strange when they land on you. One night while we were outside they were landing all over us (A few years ago). These were the Brown June Bug. Green June Bugs are a little later in the spring and appear in May or June. Green June Beetles fly around in the day and the brown ones fly at night.
Green June beetle on a peach (left), Green June beetle larva (left)-photos Clemson University
Habitat & Lifecycle
June bugs are found everywhere in North America and many other parts of the world. The larvae is a white to yellow grub. They have rows of stiff short hair to aid them in movement. They overwinter as grubs deep in the soil (lawn) and move to the surface in the spring to feed. Green June Beetles mature in June and become adults in early July. One generation per year. Females lay eggs in late summer. Adults of the Brown June Bug emerge in the spring. They are nocturnal. Lifecycle is three years. (See photo below diet and damage)
June Bug grub damage on grass” (left)-University of Nebraska, June Bug grub damage on potatoes (right)-Michigan State University
Diet & Damage
When they are adults June Bugs do little damage, however get rid of them since after they lay their eggs in the soil and your lawn the grubs do a lot of damage! Adult june bugs eat leaves of walnut, oak, and foilage from many plants. The grubs feed on organic matter in the soil and damage grass in your lawn as they eat the roots. They will eat roots of your ornamentals, weed roots and other seedling roots, corn, roses and potatoes. Lawn grasses wilt and turn brown and will eventually die from root loss.
June Bug Lifecycle-Utah State University
How To Control June Bugs
- Milky Spore Disease
Milky Spore is a naturally occurring bacterium (Bacillus popillae-Dutky) that will get rid of June bugs organically. It works on many common lawn grubs including June Bug & Japanese Beetle larvae and doesn’t harm earthworms. You sprinkle it on your lawn like grass seeds just before a rain or water it well into the soil for 15 minutes or longer right after you put it down. Don’t mow your grass until the Spore has been watered into the soil. Milky Spore has been known to last 15 years or more with only one treatment! - Grub-Away® Nematodes – are beneficial nematodes applied to lawns and gardens. They control numerous soil dwelling pests, including borers, cutworms, flea larvae, weevils and maggots.
- Small Mammals & Birds
Skunks, armadillos and other small mammals will often be seen pulling back the turf in search of grubs. Bears have been know to do this as well but not usually in your gardens as a rule. Birds are great control on lawns….attract them with bird baths. Your chickens will also eat them but they’ll eat the grass too so it would be wise to only have them eating away in your orchards. - Hand Pick
If you see any damage, dig around in the soil or lift pieces of turf and destroy the grubs when you find them. Collect the beetles in the morning when they are not very active and destroy. You will find them on many plants and they are easy to shake them off. A flashlight in the evening will attract them and you can destroy them using stomp method or drop in hot soapy water. - Ensure a Healthy Lawn
Cut your grass higher in the summer as beetles prefer to lay their eggs in short grass. Keep your lawns well-drained and aerated. In the spring don’t water your lawns too often to ensure deep root growth.
I have also used the plastic milk container method. It is not necessary, however, to use molasses. I just use a little fruit from my fig tree and place it in the container with water (i suppose you can use whatever fruit to which the june bugs are attracted). It eventually forms some sort of vinegar smell (fermenting, maybe?). The june bugs make their way into container, get all sticky and can’t get out! So save your money by not having to use molasses. The june bugs in the container do smell after a while, so the container should be dumped after about a week and fresh batch made.
What do brown baby June Beatles eat
I have a june bug infestation about every 2 years.
These are the hard-shell, shiney brown ones about a half inch around. Its not even the end of March and last night there were at least 400 or 500 maybe more swarming my shop porch light in a narrow breezeway, attached to the walls, and laying in the walkway
My walls are rough sawn wood so their spikey legs are like Velcro on the wood.
I have a glass door facing the shop light and there were many all around the door on the stoop. My house is old & ‘loose’ . I need to do a lot of work to it. I live way out of town too, so the glass door & many windows do not have curtains.
These beetles are totally attracted to light.
It was like a plague.
I had to turn off every light in the house and ‘rake’ them off the walls and knock them all off the stoop. They were getting on my shirt and in my hair!
A lot of them got in anyway – about 15.
I had to keep turning the light on to pick them up, then turn it off again to prevent attracting more.
I turned on a light further out in my yard and turned every light off in the house, the porch & in my garage. My big house has a sort of open floor plan – about 10 of the bugs followed me towards the other end of my house – I kept trying to scoop them up by flipping a light on to see where they were then flipping the light off again. Every time I turned a light on for even half a minute, a couple of more beetles would appear . I finally got them all up and went to bed.
This morning I found about 30 inside spread out across my floor from the glass door towards the other end of the house.
At least another hundred laying around on the sidewalk spread out about 20 feet, and inside my garage all over the floor.
It looked like a war zone.
I got them all swept up and even then some were still trying to move a little.
They are really clumsy, pathetic little things.
But en masse they seem ‘bold’.
So now, I have to be inside, and in bed with all the lights off at dusk. Otherwise I will have this same plague every night for about a month.
Then the beetles will sort of disappear. I may see only 3 or 4 a night for a couple of months, then no more the entire summer.
?
I actually have a somewhat similar problem, I suggest light a stick or branch on fire and swinging it at them. I have a grass yard and cement porch though…
hahaha, while everyone wants to get rid of the I actually trying to breed some, hope I success
I love All Bugs . I hate when my Father gets these 5 Star Guys too spray I hate those Men soo much they need too jump. Any way I’m a bug Lover I’ve been one ever since my Older Brother got me in when I was only 6 I stell love them Spiders are my most prize???.when the Green June Beetles fly around my small dog thinks there after her when there flying.
Hi, I am studying on June Beatles, and i was wondering if you could give me some tips like which one are boys in which one are girls
Hard to tell but the boys will always be attracted to light. girls not so much
Hi. We have three old oaks and these bugs beetles big and brown eating all leaves of the tree. So many we can hear them buzz so loud.
How can we get rid of them they will kill the trees.
Hi. We have three old oaks and thes? bugs Beatles big and brown eating all leaves of the tree. So many we can hear them buzz so loud.
How can we get rid of them they will kill the trees.
I live in Minnesota and have found three June bugs in my house in the past two weeks (yes, in October!). I have no idea how that is possible. I found two on the floor of our bedrooms and one actually on the skirt of my box spring. How can they even get in?
donna, are you sure they’re not stink bugs. See pic below
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1389382/images/n-STINK-BUG-large570.jpg
June bugs are much bigger with a hard shell over wings and are green.
Hi I’m 14 and I have to watch my sibling and today I noticed swarms or June bugs I believe all over or yard why are there and how to get rid of them I love outside but I’m definitely not going outside with them everywhere so what can y’all tell me about them
They won’t hurt you. They’re harmless.
Does anyone know why they are attracted to my pool? Our lawn is perfectly fine, damage free. I’m only 16, and quite interested in their background. When I was little I used to play with them, like all the other bugs. Occasionally I save them from drowning and they almost always go back into the chlorine water. I live in south Florida by the way.
Mariah, I don’t have any idea why they keep on coming back to your pool or lawn, but I guess they go there for a drink (maybe they don’t know that the water has a chlorine), anyway, save them from it. I’m not sure if they can swim though.
Fighting my own battles as we speak on my front porch. They are everywhere. Anyway just a thought but could it be because of lights at the bottom of the pool? If not maybe they’re attracted to the reflection of light off the surface of the water. Not an expert but I hope this helps
What’s the most important snake, I want to know for homework?
Some of those so-called “June” bugs might actually be Japanese beetles, especially those with the iridescent green on them.
They are voracious eaters of all sorts of vegetables, fruits, roses, rhubarb, and they even get into my lemon balm.
I treat ’em to milky spore in the spring, let the skunks dig and eat the grubs, and hand-pick the little beasties off my fruits, baby trees and veggies, drop them into a jar of soapy water and take them for a “spin” — FLUUUUSH!!
Gotta wonder what the town thinks of them at the treatment plant, though, given that I get rid of several quarts a day…”Geez, Lou, what ARE those people EATING??”
I had a ton of June bugs last year as they ravaged the leaves of my cherry trees, but I think the milky spores are doing thier job this year.. And I have lots of birds that might be getting to the rest of them
Good riddance !! Not sure how you like them Eva, they are a mess!
I love June bugs but have noticed in the last 10 years, there are fewer and fewer adult ones. I see alot of baby ones but dying and not making it to adulthood. I fact, it’s the end of June and just yesterday I saw my first adult June Bug, all other have been babies but all dying or dead.
I don’t use pesticides or poisons. do you or anyone know of any studies to find out if or why June bugs are not making it to adult hood?
Who in the world cares about june bugs,all they do is infest your pool with dead bodies.
I live on the 16th floor of an apt in a concrete high rise in Vancouver bc and I think these are the brown beetles flying into my apt each night. They freak me out but fly in through any window or door. Every night! How do I make them stay out. I flushed 3 down the toilet tonight alone! Where are they coming from ???
Dee, please don’t kill June bugs that enter your apartment. They might be seen as pests by many especially by the farmers, gardeners and the others, but they are really a kind insect if you compare them to a mosquito. They don’t bite, but it hurts a little when they land on your skin, but that’s natural, for it’s the part of their bodies. They are actually friendly if you try to take care of one. But since what you’re asking here if how do you make them stay out, I’ll give a piece of advice, don’t leave your door or window open or if you don’t want it, just open it a little, enough for some air to enter and not them. Or maybe who knows? They just want to have a warm shelter to stay temporarily. It’s not good flushing them into toilets, just iimagine, what if you’re one of them? You’re being hate by others, they will even kill you and that’s really harsh. You know, they usually come from trees, so they can fly up to the 16th floor of your apartment. You might.be bothered by them most of the time, but actually, they’re not. Try playing with those little June bugs and it’s fun although they don’t have that nature to be a pet (still, they can be a companion).
woah, you are hilarious.
I like them too. The big green ones making a habitat in a jar with net for my grandkids to look at what do I put in there and what/ how do we feed them. If we get to catch another one????
Every “thing” has a place in this ecosystem or they wouldn’t have been created. We may not appreciate where they land, but just like animals, crustaceans, etc., they all have a right to be here. Working with them towards a compromise is a fair settlement.
Kill them by constructing a solar landscape light a large Tupperware container filled with vegetable oil. They are attracted to light at night and will drown. The ones that are not attracted use a shop vac connected to a long extension cord, generator, or if you lucky your vehicle has a 110 volt outlet.
B cause everyone else is using pesticides
Does anyone know if Junebug larvaue eat mortar? Each June/July for the last thee years, I’ve had an infestation of what appear to be June bugs (just looked at pix online) in the front entryway to my house. I zap them with Raid, but they seem to be getting worse each year — must have been 30-40 today in my 3’x3′ entryway.
I realized this morning that the bugs are emerging from little holes in the mortar between the bricks in the floor. I’d thought the holes were from salt that I’d put on my driveway and tracked into the entryway — but I’m pretty certain that the bugs have bored into the mortar, laid their eggs , and then the larvae turn into bugs again a year later. Is this possible?
Does anyone know how to get rid of them permanantly and if they could be causing damage in other parts of my brick house?
Josie – what was the ratio you used for the amount of molasses and water? Thanks!
was wondering how do you keep the good bugs including ms spidee a wonderful predator control.. from also drowning.. do you check the jug often? I like the idea almost as much as using a sprouting jar that has the screened lid for air push down leaves with the june bugs attached in and just add them as the day goes by .. i have taken probably 50 in the last 2 days down by the lake and released them in the woods where they eat what some call ‘weeds’ to their stinky ol hearts content .. not much beats allowing the wonderful huge garden spiders from building their webs, they do so much good.
I dont know why folks are claiming the junebugs are noctural tho. These green ones are busy all day, they are also called piggyback and you can see them doing this often, nothing i’ve read says this is mating, but it sho looks like it.. and i used to let grubs stay because i love the armadillo that eats them.. somebody’s probably run over the armadillo that used to take care of them .. geez they also run over the wonderful prey controlling snakes. Educate yourselves.ok?
please be aware people of everything that lives in your environment and be kind and live sustainably.
The green ones are not nocturnal, which is why you see them during the day. The brown ones are the nocturnal ones. They fly around all night and are attracted to light like moths.
Oops almost forgot the black widows and
brown recluse spiders!
We do have lots of June bugs but don’t let that stop ya from moving here
We moved from minnesota where the Mosquitos are the
Size of a Boeing 747! I live 30 miles west of Fort Worth and
even as much as I hate them I’d never move back north.
If you want a reason not to move here here are some better
ones: scorpions, red ants, copperhead snakes and
water moccasins. All can be controlled by organic measures or
if your really out in the country (or have understanding
neighbors) use guinnea hens (they love copperheads!)
That solves it, I am not moving to Texas. I would not see the sun or moon (if you have the night variety) for the whole summer! June bugs are ugly, nasty and noisy. Yikes!
Cindy,
I also live in TX and I’m looking out my back door and watching about 100 of them “frolic” around on my back porch alone! Our cat loves to play with them… personally, I’m totally creeped out by them.
Unfortunately here in my area they come in March and don’t leave until September/October… UGH!
Well it’s march in tx and we’re covered in June bugs
This may just be my imagination, but has anyone in the Central Valley area of California noticed that Junebugs are showing up later this year? It is almost September, and I barely saw a few just a week ago or so. I know our world is going all out of whack, but would our insect side of the world be affected so? Just curious…
We kept hearing bumping sounds from the back window of our apartment for the last week. Thought nothing of it really until yesterday when it got loud and repeated. I opened the blinds (We keep closed for medical reasons) only to see about 100 huge June bugs feeding and swarming over the tree outside our window. If they are supposed to mature earlier, then yes.. these are late bloomers. Not a sign of them 2 weeks earlier.
I am not in the Central Valley, I am in San Jose, and I have not noticed a June bug time shift here. In fact, I am amazed at the consistency of these creatures over the past ten years. We never see them before Memorial Day, nor after Fourth of July. Ours are definitely JUNE bugs, and stick to it religiously.
I have a big problem with June Bugs, I hate them with a passion, they eat all my fruit! I found a wonderful way to get rid of them, I cut milk bottles, leaving the handle and the bottom up to the handle, I make a solution of molasses and water and hang the milk bottle with the solution off my fruit trees, the june bugs love it and have a wonderful death drowning in their favorite food, every year I kill thousands of them!