You’ve always had a healthy garden, and your lawn has been your pride and joy for many years. In fact, your neighbors can’t help but admire your well-kept turf and tell you about it every time they happen to pass by.
Lately, though, you’ve noticed some dead spots cropping up in your lawn. Could it be grubs or some other kind of pest?
Reputable lawn care professionals from Powell, Ohio say it’s pretty easy to find out.
A simple check that you can conduct yourself would involve exposing the topsoil layer or scraping back about a square foot of your garden, turf or flower bed. Look closely and turn the soil about to see if you find any grubs.
What are grubs?
You’ve probably heard about some people eating grubs such as the witchetty grubs in Australia. In fact, there are 344 grub species globally that are considered edible.
However, if you have no plans of including insect-sourced protein in your diet, all you need to know is that grubs are the larvae of beetles belonging to the Scarabaeoidea (scarab beetle) superfamily to which 35,000 known species belong (with more being added to the list annually).
They are characteristically white, small, pudgy and C-shaped. They actually look pretty harmless.
Out of the thousands of species of scarab beetles, there are three that are known to wreak the greatest havoc on lawns and even entire gardens: June beetles, Japanese beetles and chafers.
With the exception of June beetles which have a three-year lifecycle, most of these scarab beetles only have a one-year lifespan. At the beginning or around the middle of summer, they lay their eggs in turf grass where the larvae, once hatched, have an adequate and steady food supply.
It only takes about two weeks for the eggs to hatch, and once those grubs are out, you’ll see your turf starting to dry up and die.
Know your beetles!
June Beetles
As their name suggests, June beetles make an appearance during the month of June. They have the longest life cycle of the three pesky scarab beetles that may be damaging your lawn. They’re pretty common and quite prolific.
More bad news: There is a larger variety called the May beetle which can take up to four years in order to reach full adulthood. This type would typically feast on the roots of garden plants and turf grass, so you can imagine the extent of the damage they can cause.
And as if the aforementioned weren’t bad news enough, there’s another subtype called the Green June Beetle which not only eats the roots of grass and ornamental plants. Once it matures into a full-grown beetle, it feeds on fruit trees like apple and pear, and even loves grapes.
You may see them buzzing around your porch or gazebo come evening time. To the untrained eye, they may seem like your average friendly insects which pose no real risk.
Japanese Beetles
These pesky little buggers, like the other two destructive scarab beetle types, not only prefer to lay their eggs on lawns but also enjoy feeding on foliage and rose blooms.
If there are only a few of them, you can actually just try shaking them out of the tree branches and trap the beetles in a jar of soapy water and keep them there until they drown.
Chafers
Also known as “Masked Chafers,” chafers are actually a type of June Beetle but they deserve special mention as they are the more common subtype, are smaller in size but even more destructive because of their sheer numbers.
The fact that they stay grubs for the better part of two years means long-term damage to your lawn and garden.
Grubs away!
Can you take care of your grub and beetle problem on your own?
If it’s not a full-blown infestation, you can try hunting them down yourself.
Thing is, when there are already beetles in your patch of green, you can bet your bottom dollar other beetles will soon follow suit.
According to a trusted lawn care company from Delaware, Ohio, the best thing to do is to get a professional garden pest control treatment from your lawn care service provider.
On top of this, once the experts have done their job, ensure you keep your lawn healthy by implementing a lawn care and management plan.
This way, your pride and joy will remain healthy and lush in the years to come.
