Well, the Calendar Says It’s Probably Beetles
This year in the Tennessee Valley has shown a marked increase in the number of and nuisance caused by what we all know as June Bugs. But according to Harvey Cotton of the Huntsville Botanical Gardens, it is likely a number of beetle species, from Japanese Beetles, which are REALLY tough of flowers, but usually are gone by now to what we know as June Bugs, that are especially active this season. Why? The spring was wetter this year than the past several years, giving the grubs more to eat, and continuing their cycle of becoming flying beetles, which are more damaging to fruits and vegetables. The information below was provided to Storm Force 31 from Andrew Williams at Sprays Pest Control.
The good news is that the flying “June Bugs” are nearly gone. They will soon die and be out of our hair… um… so to speak. (I found one crawling on my neck in my darkened car driving down Bankhead Parkway at 11:15pm while listening to Coast to Coast AM with George Noory, and I was a little SPOOKED!) But what you probably DON’T know is that the grubs that can damage or destroy your lawn are the same grubs that emerge as June Bugs in the summer. And those flying June bugs… what are THEY up to? Mating. So they will burrow into the ground, lay ‘egg balls’, and start the 12 month cycle all over again. So what to do?
If you administer insecticide in September and October to kill the pupae and grubs, that will control the number that will emerge from YOUR lawn. While it will have little to NO impact on the numbers that may swarm next season, it will protect your lawn from the damage caused at the root level by the grubs. But after they emerge, according to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, a crunchy June bug is edible, carrying 13.3 grams of protein and 1.4 grams of fat. So eat your way to a nuisance free atmosphere.
Not me. NEVER.
Brad Huffines, Chief Meteorologist / Storm Force 31
Haha . . . we’ve had an infestation of those bugs. We call them “buzzlebugs” – mainly just for fun. I even saw a ton of them in the swimming pool the last couple nights. Funny you posted this because I was just joking with my grandmother that we should write one of the news stations and ask them to do a story on them, they were getting to be so prevalent lately. Haha.
It’s neat to hear an explanation for the infestation . . . and I’m totally with ya’ on . . . eating them away is just a little too extreme a measure for even a crazy guy like me.
Thanks, Matt. If I was on ‘Survivor’ and I was getting paid for it, I might consider adding them to the diet. But not today. I had never known that they lived in my (and others’) lawn until now. That is one thing I find interesting.