How to Control Lawn Grubs
Lawn grubs are the larvae of different bugs, including June and Japanese beetles, which lay their eggs in the grass at night when the soil is warm. Grub damage appears as brown spots in the lawn because, as the larvae eat the grass roots, it dries out and dies. There's no need to be concerned with small infestations, but if you see 10 or more grubs per square foot of sod, you should take action to protect your lawn. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Water
- Lawn mower
- Fertilizer
- Bacillus popilliae
- Drop spreader
- Parasitic nematodes
- Sprayer
Instructions
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Walk on the grass wearing lawn-aerator sandals. According to Sandra Mason of the University of Illinois Extension Office, the spikes on these sandals pierced an average of two lawn grubs per inch when University of Colorado Researchers walked the lawn three to five times wearing them.
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Keep your lawn healthy. In a Michigan State University Extension Office fact sheet, George Silva explains that watering your lawn regularly, cutting it and removing dry and dead grass strengthens it against grub infestation. If you use pesticide, Silva suggests you apply it only to the areas where you see grubs.
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Apply organic pesticide to your lawn. To kill Japanese beetle grubs, use a drop spreader to add bacillus popilliae, sold as milky spore and bacterial spores, to the lawn. Apply them once in the spring, summer and fall for two years. You can also spray parasitic nematodes to control other beetles' grubs. The manufactured product (Grub Away) comes as a gel that you dissolve in water before spraying on the lawn.
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References
- Photo Credit dead grass image by Edsweb from Fotolia.com
