The responsibilities of an outdoor gardener keep growing as summer approaches. It is a known fact that pests and disease infestations occur around the growing season. Therefore, if your plants are infected, eliminating pests is the first thing you want to do. June bugs are common to grow around your plant's growing season; therefore, eliminating June bugs from your plants is one of many crucial jobs in taking care of plants.

June bugs are one of the most common garden pests a home grower faces. Although the majority of the plague growers face these bugs, they are still significantly less discussed. They are known to be very irritating and stubborn pests such as scale insects, aphids, mealybugs, etc.

As a member of the scarab family, the June bugs can be very harmful to your garden or plants. They love munching on your favorite tree shrubs and trees and leave behind ripped holes and a lot of damage in the plants of your garden.

But the good news is that eliminating these toxic and detrimental June bugs from your garden is relatively easy. You need some precautions steps and insect protection strategies. Therefore, if in case you end up having an infestation in your garden, this blog will be here for your rescue! In the blog, we will dive deep into these bugs, learn about them, and then learn how to tackle them and show them the way out of your garden forever!

Let's begin with what these bugs are, identifying if they have infested your garden and their symbols of damage.

What are June Bugs?

June bugs belong to the Scarab family and are large, inch-long structured beetles. This bug family is quite vast, and there are plenty of other bugs in a family that you should be aware of, such as the Japanese beetle, the green June beetle, the ten-lined June beetle, and the brown chafer beetle.

All the pests mentioned above are easily found in North America and tend to attack your favorite plants. They love infesting the rose, huge thick trees, and shrubs.

As their name suggests, they are most common in America's warmer areas in the warmest months of the year. The people living in the Southern part may have to deal with it on a larger scale.

These oblong beetles are harmless to humans. They do not bite and have stiff brown wings and a stomach that is green or sometimes yellow. Although they might leave us, humans, alone, you cannot say the same for your home-grown plants.

How Harmful are June Bugs to your Plants?

Although the adult beetle is harmful and is capable of causing a lot of destruction on its own, however, the June bug grub is the one you should watch out for! It is indeed the real villain here.

You can find June bug grubs in the soil as they live there and feed themselves on the roots of your plants, specifically grass. If you spot small clusters of brown dead grass that are dead from the bottom, you can easily pluck them out from the bottom. Further, a cluster of dead grass as well confirms the infestation.

But are the June bugs capable of killing plants? Unfortunately, yes, they can. But here's the catch! June bugs are one of the easiest pests to kill and stop once we get hold of them.

Contradicting their names, June bugs can be active all summer long. But are most active during late or peak summer, which is when the grub is more active in the soil or underground.

If you spot tiny curled-up grubs in your garden's soil or the base of your potted plants, you should know that it is the June bug grub season!

Beware! It's not just grass and small plants that June bugs can destroy. These bugs are known to have good taste in plants, meaning that they always destroy the grower's most prized and valued plants. They can go after the roots of potatoes, carrots, and other root vegetable plants. These notorious feeders can also go after other flowering plants like roses, vegetable seedlings, and other plants in your backyard.

As compared to the grubs, the adult June bugs are not much damaging. Further, you can find them munching on the barks of oak and walnut trees, while the grubs are the ones who destroy the entire plant by feasting on the roots.

June bugs feast on your plants, unlike some other pests that like feeding on these voracious feeders. June bugs can attract moles, box turtles, skunks, gophers, and toads, which can cause additional damage to your garden.

How to Keep my Plants Safe from June Bugs?

You can keep your plants safe from June Bugs by treating them the same way you treat other bugs. Further, if you track the m early, easier it will be to eliminate them.

First of all, consider attracting beneficial predators to your lawn. Some natural predators like toads, snakes, and birds will not harm your garden and pose any threat to your growth. To attract these predators consider keeping a shallow bath for the snakes and toads and a birdbath for the chirpy ones.

You should also bring into consideration the maintenance methods of your garden. Stop mowing your lawn too low. Low mowing attracts female June bugs to lay their eggs as the shorter grass is ideal for that activity. Remember to keep your grass at least two to three inches tall during the early and mid-summer season.

How to Get Rid of June Bugs in the Garden?

Getting rid of June bugs may be a lengthy and yearly task for those living in the area conducive to these insects.

But don't worry; we'll share some handy tips and tricks to help you get rid of these June bugs quickly and safely.

1. Remove June Bugs From Plants (Manually)

Getting ready to hunt down the June bugs may not be an easy or less straining task. Therefore, let's start with a no-cost at all technique.

June bugs are slow movers. Hence, you can spot them on the leaves. Therefore, keep a jar of soapy water handy while you hunt for them. You can pick the June bugs up once you spot them. Put them in the jar, so you can drown them in soapy water. And if you are not fond of going on a one-on-one battle with them, then you can get hold of them by setting up a trap.

Create a mixture of half a cup of molasses and half a cup of hot water in a huge jar and leave it overnight in the garden. Further, ensure you shake the mixture well before placing it in your garden. You can set the trap at night. You need to keep the jar open near an infested plant and check the next morning for any drowned bugs. Changing the mixture every day is necessary.

In addition to getting rid of the June bugs, it also helps to retain your garden's balance without using any external chemicals that could harm your plants.

2. Take the Help of Nematodes

These minute microscopic worms are extremely helpful in combatting and getting rid of these June bugs and all other grub problems.

You can purchase Nematodes from nearby plant nurseries or online stores. Therefore, get hold of these worms, introduce them in your garden, and leave it on them to hunt these bugs down and get rid of them for you.

3. Using Pesticides to Get Rid of June Bugs

There is a reason why insecticides are not preferred. Insecticides contain a chemical that could harm your plants. However, when everything else fails, this is the last help you can resort to.

Hold on! You don’t have to invest in a synthetic insecticide to tackle the June bug infestation in your garden. There are options to use natural insecticides such as neem oil, which is fatal for many larvae (including June Bugs). Further, you won't be harming beneficial insects taking part in pollination. In peak summers, you can apply Neem oil when the June bug grub is on top of the soil.

Additionally, you can use some DIY methods to make natural homemade insecticides. DIYs may not be as fast or effective as the others, so it might take time to show the results depending on the infestation. Combine a few cloves of finely minced garlic and mineral oil to create the mixture.

Allow the solution to rest overnight, drain out the garlic, and add a spoonful of dishwater with a mixture of toa pint of water. Fill in a bottle and spray directly on your plants. It should also work on all June bugs and other kinds of pests.

4. Using a Bacillus Thuringiensis-Based Insecticide

Bacillus Thuringiensis is a special kind of bacteria known to infect and kill all garden pests, including the notorious June Bugs.

It is utterly harmless to humans, beneficial insects like bees and pets. So you can apply it with a free mind as it will only affect the bugs and pests. You can apply it however you like. Whether you want to use it as a powder, a spray, or a concentrated liquid, the choice is entirely yours. Further, apply it all over the plants every week to show good results.

If you have decided to use a pesticide to eliminate June bugs from your garden, we recommend Blacksmith BioScience Armory Beneficial Bacillus. This insecticide has BT as an active ingredient and will show quick and great results.

Getting Rid Of June Bugs in Nutshell

Getting rid of June Bugs is not as easy as it seems. But if you try, nothing is as hard as it may seem at first. Therefore, with the help of GroIndoor.com,, you may enjoy kicking these little monsters out of your garden.

The exciting news is that here at Groindoor.com, we have everything we have discussed in this blog. From neem oil to insect traps and insecticide, we've got it all! We have a plethora of options you can choose your pest prevention method from.

A little bit of planning and using the right techniques will surely help you get rid of these awful little June bugs!