June bugs, also known as the June beetle or May beetle are flying around, can cause damage to many landscape plants and be a pest to the home gardener. June bugs are scarab beetles. These pests appear roughly around late May through June, have roughly the same body shape with the oval back and pincers at the front and feed on the leaves of landscape plants. The grubs of these insects can also cause damage to lawn and turf grass. The damage is normally large brown areas in the grass than can be easily lifted from the ground.
All the beetles that can be called June bugs are treated in the same way. To treat the grubs that cause lawn damage, you can apply an insecticide, like Sevin granules, 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. Grub nematodes can also be applied to the soil to kill June bug grubs.
Sevin or similar insecticides can also be applied to affected plants if the adult June bug is eating your plants. If you are looking for an organic method for how to kill June bugs, you can build a June bug trap. Use a jar or a bucket and place a white light at the top of the container with an inch or two of vegetable oil at the bottom of the jar or bucket. The container should be open so that the June bug can fly in towards the light. They will fall into the oil below and be unable to fly away again. Attracting small snakes, frogs and toads to your yard can also help get rid of June bugs as these are predators of this pest.