How to Treat White Grubs With Nematodes in the Lawn
White grubs live just below the surface of a lawn and feed on grass roots. Five or six white grubs per square foot are natural, but more than that can kill the grass, creating brown patches. They also attract moles or skunks that dig up the lawn to eat them and cause more damage. Predatory nematodes, too small to be seen without a microscope, naturally infect white grubs and kill them. Organic garden and lawn supply companies sell live nematodes that you can apply to kill the white grubs in your lawn. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Purchase Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (Hb) nematodes locally or by mail in late summer. Buy enough to apply about 100 million per acre. Order them so you can apply them as soon as they arrive or keep them in the refrigerator for a few days if necessary. They arrive on a sponge-like implement.
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Water the lawn or wait until it's naturally moist from rain. It should be damp but not saturated, with no standing puddles.
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Pour a gallon of room-temperature distilled water or rainwater into a bucket, place the sponge containing the nematodes in it and let it soak half an hour. Wring the sponge out and remove it. For a large lawn, soak several sponges in a larger quantity of water.
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Pour the water with the nematodes into a sprayer and spray it over the lawn in the evening. Water the lawn lightly afterward to help wash the nematodes into the soil. In very dry, hot weather, water the lawn often enough to keep it slightly moist for the next week.
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Check to see if the nematodes are working about ten days later by digging up a patch of turf and seeing if the white grubs are turning reddish brown or yellowish brown, showing they've been infected by the nematodes.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit she"s mowing the lawn image by mavrick from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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How safe is this treatment, were a lot of children live.
