Do You Need To Remove Grubs To Eliminate The Moles In Your Lawn
Gardeners may try to remove grubs that are feeding on their turf in order to determine how to get rid of moles in their garden and yard. Moles consume grubs and they help manage oriental and Japanese beetle populations. However, removing grubs will not necessarily eliminate moles.
If you get rid of the grubs, the moles might be forced to dig more tunnels to search for food. Moles may also consume more soil-dwelling insects and earthworms. This might cause more harm than good. Grub management is not really an effective solution for mole control.
Soapy Water Lawn Grubs
You can eliminate lawn grubs efficiently with the help of soapy water. Dawn dish soap is popularly used to eliminate grubs on the lawn.
Here are instructions on how to make the solution.
- Add 3 teaspoons of liquid soap to a gallon of water. Stir thoroughly to make a fine mixture.
- Spray this solution on the patches where the grass turned brown. Check to see if you eliminated them successfully.
- If they persist, treat the brown patches once more.
This works best when theres a small infestation in parts of the lawn. If grubs are devouring a large part of your lawn, this method might not be as efficient.
Tip: Add some lemon and mouthwash to make the solution more efficient.
Grub Treatment Killing Grubs & Moles
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- Spreader. You need this to apply the Merit or whatever grub killer you buy. If you go the cheap route . Get the Merit and do it right the first time.
- Add grass seed in bare spots after prepping first.
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Are The Few Mounds Of Soil In The Lawn Worth It
Controlling moles in your lawn takes a lot of effort. However, it is possible if you are willing to spend the money and time to do so. Some gardeners choose to ignore the problem and do their best to remember that these critters help control various turf grass pests and aerate the lawn.
For them, moles are only an occasional nuisance. You have to decide whether moles are foes you need to get rid of or friends you should tolerate.
Here Are Some Chemical
Chemical or product-based methods are more effective and quicker when it comes to killing the Lawn Grubs. Unlike the natural and organic ways, they begin showing immediate results within a week or so.
However, some chemicals can be harsh and damage your plantation as well as other beneficiary pests.
Chemical treatment for Lawn Grubs can be followed in two ways:
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Grub Worm Type : May/june Beetles
Though there are several hundred different species of May/June beetles, only about two dozen of them are considered pests. Adult May/June beetles are brown or black and 1/2- to 1-inch in length. Often found around lights on summer evenings, the adult beetles are nocturnal, and they are active for only a few weeks each year. The adult beetles dont cause much damage.
The lifecycle of May/June beetles ranges from one to three years depending on the species, and most of their lives are spent underground as larvae. A bit larger than Japanese beetle grub worms, May/June beetles can also be distinguished by two parallel rows of thick, stubby, dark hairs on the underside of their last abdominal segment .
Enlist The Help Of Birds
Though they might not be the most reliable ally, birds will happily snack on grub worms, providing a natural way to keep their populations down. Yardener recommends luring insect-hungry songbirds by providing food, water, and shelter near your lawn’s problem areas. Along with a bird bath or two and a sizable bird house that might be attractive for nesting, a tip to make those grub worms even more appetizing is to stock a feeder nearby with seed year-round, but reduce the amount of seed in the summertime. That will prompt the birds to hunt for the grub worms in your yard.
The Spruce notes that an added bonus of birds snacking on grub worms is that they will aerate your soil by poking holes to find them. But if you have a sizeable infestation, large birds and small animals might go to town, further damaging and tearing up your lawn.
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How I Noticed Signs Of Grubs In The Lawn
It was an early October morning, and I was up early just after sunrise. I opened the back door to let the dog outside and was shocked at what I saw.
The grass was all torn up. Kind of like a “grass massacre” . I shook my head and looked again wondering what happened overnight. My first guess was that a deer got into the yard and dug up the lawn. That’s what it looked like. But it didn’t make sense because the yard is entirely fenced in.
My next thought was some other kind of animal, yet why? I mean this mess was pretty bad.
How To Use Dawn Dish Soap For Grubs
Dish soap or any other household soap will work well for this natural formulation. Some people mix in some lemon, but it is not necessary. If you dont have dawn dish soap, you can use an insecticidal soap.
Heres how to use dawn dish soap to kill grubs in your lawn:
Pro tip: If you want to make the DIY solution more potent, you can mix liquid dish soap with lemon and mouthwash and then spray it all over the lawn. It will act as a grub worm deterrent and killer without causing any damage to your grass.
The right time to treat for grubs in the lawn is between spring and summer. This is the time when the Japanese beetle larvae are very active feeding and developing into adult beetles.
Controlling them at this time means you will stop the damage come the next season.
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How To Repair Grass Damaged By Lawn Grubs
Lawn grubs can cause extensive damage to what would otherwise be a healthy lawn full of grass, as the grubs destroy the grass by feeding on the grass roots. If your lawn has suffered from a moderate to severe lawn grub infestation, you will likely need to take some reparative measures in order to revive it back to health.
As some basic guidance towards repairing your lawn, you should follow these steps:
1. Rake over affected areas of lawn removing the loose and dead patches of grass
How To Get Rid Of Lawn Grubs With Chemicals
Note: It is highly recommended that you attempt to get rid of lawn grubs using a natural method before turning to a chemical solution. Chemical insecticides can be highly harmful to populations of other lawn-friendly creatures and the surrounding environment, so they should only be used for severe lawn grub infestations that dont respond to natural methods of elimination.
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The Professional Approach With Gecko Green
For preventative and curative treatments to have any effect on grub worms, timing and product choice are critical. Effectively treating grub worms is difficult! Let Gecko Green remove that guesswork from the equation for you and remove the grub worms simultaneously!
The professionals with Gecko Green will identify any grub worms and expertly select and time treatments. For pest control and treatment made easy call Gecko Green for a free quote today!
Bonus Info: A Little Prevention
Sometimes the best way to get rid of lawn grubs is to keep them out of your soil in the first place. That means targeting the adult beetles before they have a chance to lay their eggs. When they are in their adult beetle form, they are dealt with just like any other above-ground garden bugs.
Usually, a standard insecticide will work. Even a natural repellent with pyrethrins can be enough to deter the beetles from spending time in your yard and laying their eggs. You can even go old-school and use the pick-and-crush method to kill off any of the large beetles you see in your yard.
If you cant get a handle on your grubs this way, there are also commercial preventative products you can buy that contain many of the same chemicals as the grub-killers. These are intended to either kill/repel the adult beetles or kill the eggs before they hatch, and are labelled as preventative control products . A popular choice of grub preventer is Grubex
So next time you have to deal with lawn pests, now you know how to get rid of grubs.
About The Author
Aaron is the founder of and Essential Home and Garden. He likes to spend his spare time with his family, and doing DIY projects in the home and garden.
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Signs You Have Lawn Grubs
There are certain signs to watch for to know if youre faced with a grub problem. First of all, you may have noticed other wildlife being attracted to your lawn. This wildlife activity in your yard likely indicates you have a grub worm problem. Animals, such as raccoons, skunks and birds, enjoy grubs as a main part of their diet. If youre serving up an assortment of tasty lawn grubs, then these creatures are going to get digging which can also cause damage to your grass.
Secondly, you will notice dying patches of grass in your yard that are easy to pull up by hand. This is a clear indicator the roots of the grass have been destroyed as these patches are no longer thriving in the soil. You may have previously attributed dry, dying patches of grass to under-watering or environmental conditions. However, it is likely a grub problem, which is very common in North America.
Your natural inclination when you notice lawn damage caused by grubs might be to rip up the patches of grass that are browning and replace them with new lawn turf. This is, however, not the correct or sustainable solution. You can instead simply treat this area of lawn with a pest control treatment and begin your lawn care regime again. Once the grubs have been killed by the pest control solution, this will promote root growth in the grass, and it will begin to heal and regrow.
How To Get Rid Of Grubs In Your Lawn Or Garden: Additional Resources
If getting rid of grubs naturally is not working or you simply want to start with stronger pesticides, it is important to understand the potential effects on groundwater, bees, other wildlife, your pets and your family.
To better understand how the use of grub control products can affect bees and other pollinators, we recommend reading Grub Control in Lawns: Neonicotinoids and Bees published by the Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment at University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
For best practices in effectively using pesticides that target grubs, we recommend reading How to Choose and When to Apply Grub Control Products to Your Lawn published by Michigan State University Extension. This article also includes a section on protecting bees and other pollinators when using potentially harmful pesticides.
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Animals Digging Up Yard
An increased presence of animals such as raccoons, moles, skunks, armadillos, and birds digging up the turf in your yard can be an indication that you have a lawn grub infestation even certain types of wasps flying low to the ground can be an indication of this. Take note that these animals enjoy eating earthworms and a number of other insects that live in soil, so an increase in animal activity doesnt always necessarily indicate that you have an infestation of grubs. Use the method outlined in the following section to determine whether you do actually have a grub problem before taking any preventative measures.
How Do I Know If I Have A Grub Problem
Most homeowners discover they have grubs in their flowerbeds or vegetable garden when they are digging the soil for spring planting or fall garden cleanup. For folks who find grubs in their lawns, most discover the issue while investigating oddly shaped, brown patches of grass in one or more areas of their lawn.
These patches are most often found in spring or in late-summer and early-fall, which are the seasons when grubs are most active. During the winter, grubs burrow deeper into the ground, and then move back to the top few inches of soil in the spring to eat and become pupae to emerge as beetles in early summer.
Alternatively, homeowners may discover their grub problem after they notice that racoons or birds are tearing up their lawn and that what they are uncovering are not run-of-the-mill earthworms.
In some cases, you may notice sections of your lawn that feel spongy. This can be an early sign of a grub infestation that may appear before brown patches develop.
If you suspect that you may have a grub problem in your lawn, the easiest way to investigate is to try to pull up the brown patches of lawn. If they easily lift or peel away from the soil, this means that the root system has been damaged, and you likely have grubs.
If you have visible damage and a population of 10 or more grubs per square foot, you will need to treat your lawn to avoid additional damage.
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Replace Your Lawn With Artificial Grass
Artificial grass is not a natural product, but it is worth adding to this list because it is an effective option that requires no toxic pesticides or repeated treatments. Replacing your natural grass lawn with synthetic turf is a sure way to keep a grub population from taking hold in your lawn and destroying it. Plus, you can enjoy a lush, green lawn throughout the year that looks, feels and functions like natural grass without grub problems or the mowing, watering, weeding, aerating, edging, fertilizing and other tasks that are required to maintain a healthy, natural lawn.
Applications Of Milky Spore
Bacillus popilliae spore is one substance you can use on your lawn that will help to eliminate grubs. You can find this at a home or garden center or online .
Milky spore creates a condition in your lawn called milky disease. Milky disease is a bacterial environment that kills grubs but wont cause any damage to your grass.
This is only a good treatment if youre in it for the long haul, though. It will take up to about three years for there to be a sufficient number of the helpful spores to rid your lawn of grubs.
The work and wait are worth it, though, as the milky spore will permanently keep grubs away once its embedded in your lawn.
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Lawn Grubs Life Cycle
While there are variations depending on which species of beetle they come from, the larvae tend to be stout, white-to-grayish with brown heads, about 3/4 of an inch to 2 inches in length. These lawn pests tend to curl up in a C shape at rest.
The grubs get their start when the adult beetles lay eggs in your turf, usually in spring. After the eggs hatch, the grubs evolve in three stages, with grub damage greatest in late summer, when you will see areas of your lawn thinning and yellowing. Later, irregular brown patches appear in your turf.
There are two major white grub species that cause problems in Ohio. Thats the Japanese beetle and the masked chafer, said Shetlar about his home turf.
Japanese beetle grubs are widespread invasive insects, and their white grub larvae are bound to be found in lawns all over the country too, not just Ohio. Other chafer species besides the masked chafer beetles also lead to white grub infestations and can establish in lawns beyond the states borders.
Other types of common lawn grubs around the United States include the larvae of the May and June beetles, green June beetle and the black turfgrass ataenius.
Its irrelevant which species it is, advised Shetlar. They cause the same kind of damage.
Grub Treatments Kill Moles & Grubs
Grub treatments are necessary to kill grubs & moles in your yard and to restore your lawn.
There are several solutions including organic treatments and effective chemicals.
Whatever you choose to treat the grubs, make sure it is combined with a mole elimination strategy as well so you save your lawn from both annoyances which can easily become a plague.
Remember to fix your lawn once you are finished saving it from the grubs and moles.
The treatments we listed here are used by the top garden experts and are time-tested and proven.
Dont wait until it is too late. Protect your lawn now!
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