May Beetles or June Bugs in March

13 years ago

I feel like I'm in some sort of odd movie where life as you know it turns upside down....

Here in southcentral OK we've had lots of days recently with high temperatures in the mid- to upper-80s and the overnight low temps in the 60s. I know many of you in other parts of the state are experiencing similar weather.

It is odd having May weather in March.

Last night, I saw the first June bug of the season. Apparently it doesn't realize the calendar says "March" since the temperatures do indeed say "May".

My grandmother always called them May beetles, and they usually did appear in May, but my parents called them June bugs and that's what I call them.

Now that they are here in March, maybe I need to call them March bugs or March beetles?

The ones I'm talking about are the little brown scarab beetles that cluster around porch lights at night.

I know some of you in NE OK and eastern OK have issues with Japanese Beetles, which usually appear around the same time we have June bugs here in my county, which usually is in May, but sometimes in April, and this year in March. So, keep your eyes open because the beetles are out early, at least here at our house. Y'all need to get your traps ready in case the Japanese Beetles put in an early appearance too. I only see JB's here in tiny numbers....maybe 2 or 3 a year although I have a sneaking suspicion their numbers will increase over time as more of them work their way west.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: May Beetles/June Bugs

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Comments (8)

biradarcm
13 years ago
Dawn, I too saw one "March Beetle" yesterday in the back patio. I was surprised to see them become active so early! Next day forecast is also showing pretty warm except little dip on 3/27 else looks like May is here :-) -Chandra
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
13 years ago
Chandra,

I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing them. I was wondering if I was seeing things. However, I saw another one today so I know they're really here.

I don't mind May weather in March so much as long as April and May still get to feel like April and May. I am a little concerned that May might feel like July or August. That would be just awful.

Dawn
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George: Your post relieves my mind quite a bit. I wasn't too concerned until the neighbor brought me that bucket of grubs! Ugh...what a sight! With that many collected from such a small area, I was envisioning a horrific explosion of this beetle by next season. Farmerdilla: I got a good laugh picturing kids flying beetles on a thread! Such imagination we had when kids, huh? Anyway, your comment about larva damage to lawns and possibly garden roots addressed my main concern if these little beasties really take off. BTW, thanks for the link. It covers a bit more detail than what I've read to date. to both of you: Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge of these things. As I mentioned, these are new here...never before seen and a bit scary. We have enough trouble with Japanese Beetles, so we don't really need a new headache. I suppose next spring will tell the tale. I'm open to other experiences, if anyone else is so inclined. There's no such thing as too much knowledge. Regards, Hal in PA
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I have seen a few grasshoppers but not a lot. I certainly haven't seen enough of them (yet) to make me dread the summer months. That doesn't mean they won't show up later, and they probably will. I always worry about the summer that follows an El Nino. While we sometimes get neutral ENSO conditions that give us what I'd call a typical summer (which still is hot and dry, but not painfully so), we also sometimes can go into a La Nina fairly quickly following El Nino, and La Nina conditions normally do mean a horrible summer. So, even as I kinda hate that the season seems to be on fast forward already, I am planting as early as possible in order to try to beat the heat. Of course, the early hot days do bring some wonderful things early.....wildflowers here are blooming ahead of schedule, the Purple Martins and hummingbirds both were early this year, and the cool-season crops have grown much faster than usual. It is the cool-season crops that also will suffer most if the early warm-up (not withstanding the forecast low temperatures near or below freezing for early Saturday morning) continues at the current pace. The peas already show signs of misery on hot days, and I want for the lettuce plants to last as long as possible, so my hope is that April weather stays mild and doesn't get too hot too early. Yesterday our youngest cat was playing with a non-venomous snake, and I hate that. I don't want him to think a snake is a plaything because we tend to see more venomous ones here than nonvenomous. I definitely am not amused that we have had snakes out as early as February. That is just so wrong. To be fair to the early heat, our cool-season crops mostly look like it is late April as the heat has made them grow so fast, and I do like that. Still, it seems like an omen of a hot, hot, hot summer.
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susanlynne48
13 years ago
I haven't seen a June bug yet, but saw my first May Fly yesterday. A little early for them, too.

Susan
jcheckers
13 years ago
Last Sunday when I was finally cleaning last years tomato vines from the cages and removing leaves from the 5 gallon buckets, to my great surprise and dismay I found an adult stinkbug alive under the leaves in one of the buckets.

Stinkbugs in March, Give me a Break...

Keith
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
13 years ago
Susan, I saw my first Mayfly about ten days ago, and it was so early that my entire reaction was "Oh, crap." From experience, I know that when we're hot enough for Mayflies in March, the garden dies in July.

Keith, I hope you killed that sucker before it could begin reproducing!

Stink bugs in March? I feel a panic attack coming on.

I need to go take some tranquilizers and lie down. lol

I think we need to scrap all our careful planting plans and just start planting like mad now in an attempt to beat the drought. Between the drought, the heat and the extreme fire danger we're seeing so often, I think we're skipping spring and going straight into summer.

Dawn
Macmex
13 years ago
Saw my first June bug this "morning" at 3:45 AM, when I was coming in from milking. Everything does *feel* like it's time for corn & beans, etc. I think I'm going to plant some squash just to see if it makes it.

George
Tahlequah, OK
susanlynne48
13 years ago
Oh, gosh, Dawn, that's exactly my fear, too. No spring, no water, early bugs. Maybe fall will be our best season this year.

Susam
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
13 years ago
George,

I think I'll do the same with squash just to see if I can do it this early.

Keep your eyes open. Today I saw the first grasshoppers, and they weren't the little tiny 1/4" or 1/"2 early instars we usually see in March or April, they were about 3/4" to 1" long. I can't figure out why I haven't seen the smaller ones but all of a sudden have the bigger ones, unless they rode in on today's very strong winds.

Susan, I'm not liking what I'm seeing weatherwise and bug-wise. For fall to be our best garden season, rain has to fall. Most of the droughts I've experienced here start more in the summer months than in winter or spring. Going into spring with drought is the worst possible situation. At least when drought shows up in summer, the plants have presumably gotten off to a good start in the rainy spring before the drought begins. This year, we're not having that rainy spring.

For all my worrying about the weather, I'm just happy that I'm a gardener and not a farmer or rancher. I can't see how the farmers and ranchers in OK are going to make it through this year financially if rain doesn't fall.

I remember the 2005-2006 drought when ranchers here with decades of effort invested in their livestock bloodlines had to sell off their cattle at auction because they couldn't afford to keep them. It was the worst thing in the world for them to go through that. I'd hate to see similar circumstances occur again.

Dawn

May Beetles or June Bugs in March

Comments (8)

biradarcm

Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author

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susanlynne48

jcheckers

Okiedawn OK Zone 7
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Macmex

susanlynne48

Okiedawn OK Zone 7
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May Beetles or June Bugs in March

Comments (8)

biradarcm

Okiedawn OK Zone 7Original Author

Related Discussions

susanlynne48

jcheckers

Okiedawn OK Zone 7Original Author

Macmex

susanlynne48

Okiedawn OK Zone 7Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author

Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author

Okiedawn OK Zone 7
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