June beetles have a 3-year life cycle with white grub damage normally occurring every 3 years. Adults are shiny reddish brown and can be up to 2.5 cm (1 inch) long. They feed on the leaves of many species of trees and shrubs and normally take to the air at dusk to feed and mate on foliage. The females deposit their white eggs in balls of earth 5-10 cm (2-4 inches) deep in the soil. The young grubs hatch 2-3 weeks later.
Grubs feed mostly on decaying vegetation in the soil in their first year. Most damage occurs the following spring when the grubs return to the top soil layer to feed extensively on roots after over-wintering deep in the soil.
Grubs hibernate again in the second fall, and then return the following spring to feed and until June when they pupate to form adults beetles.
Control Options
- Begin control options after larvae hatch.
- Treat only when larvae are feeding just below the surface of the turf.
