What Kills Grubs In Lawn

When To Apply Grub Worm Treatment

Once lawn grubs have been detected and treatment is necessary, you need to know when to apply grub worm treatment. The best time for treating grub worms is in late summer or early fall while the grub worms are still small and close to the surface.

Grub worms are less susceptible to treatment in the spring, as they are too large and no longer feeding. For this reason, insecticides are less effective. Spring rains can also make this difficult, as applications may be washed away.

When choosing insecticides for lawn grubs, its important to consider the various types. For fall treatment, Dylox is the most effective and fast acting available. However, two products worth consideration for use early in the season, Merit and Mach-2, can be helpful for prevention. These target the pests before they lay their eggs, killing them and any hatchlings before an infestation occurs. Always read and follow instructions carefully when using these types of products.

Use Neem Oil Or Azadirachtin

Azadirachtin is a component of neem oil. While many people think neem oil and Azadirachtin are the same things, neem oil contains very little Azadirachtin.

As such, people usually buy concentrated Azadirachtin to use on their lawns. According to one study, Azadirachtin application on Kentucky bluegrass killed Japanese beetles at 5x the products label rate.

Neem oil is another pest control option. Pure neem oil deters the grubs from feeding, growing, and laying eggs. For best results, mix neem oil with water and spray the diluted solution on affected areas.

Pros: Both options are affordable Azadirachtin is classified by the EPA as relatively non-toxic , while neem oil is considered non-toxic, which means it wont harm people or non-target organisms.

Cons: Both neem oil and Azadirachtin require regular reapplication despite its efficacy at killing larval Japanese beetles, Azadirachtin wont kill mature beetles or deter them from laying eggs.

Encourage Birds To Hang Out In Your Yard

Birds love to dine on grubs, so if you do not mind birds digging around in your flowerbeds or lawn, invite more of them to hang out in your yard. You can attract birds with bird feeders, bird baths and bird houses. To learn more about attracting birds to your yard, read Learn the Secrets of Attracting Birds to Your Backyard.

If you dig up grubs, you can also scatter them on top of the ground to encourage birds to eat them. Just know that any that are not snatched up by hungry birds will burrow back into the soil.

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How To Kill Grub Worms If Theyre Already Present

You will want to fertilize your lawn with Safer® Brand Lawn Restore® Fertilizer to keep it thick and healthy, and also be sure youre mowing your grass down to a minimum of two inches in height beetles prefer to lay their eggs in thin, sparse grass. It will be necessary to implement an infrequent watering schedule, too. When you do water your lawn, though, make sure to water it deeply to promote deeper and stronger growth of grass roots.

Will Diluted Dish Soap Kill Grass

Yes, diluted dish soap will kill the grass. Dish soap has a chemical to Borax which is harmful to insects and worms. And too much Borax can be harmful to your plants as well. So, instead of diluted dish soap, consider using dish soap of a smaller quality. One tablespoon mixed with one gallon of water is the right proportion.

A good alternative for dish soap could be Potassium as it will work against bugs and worms but be gentle to grasses.

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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.

Whats The Best Grub Killer

There are a number of ways to deal with these unwelcome pests and, fortunately, theyre very effective.

Applying Amgrow Patrol granulated pesticide during the spring is one of the most effective ways to kill the grass grubs before they enter the destructive stage of their lifecycle.

Pesticides such as Amgrow Patrol or Acelepryn GR kill all types of grass grubs including African Black Beetle, Argentinian Scarab, Sod Webworm and Lawn Armyworm.

Its best to apply pesticide early in the evening when the adults are active.

Water these products into the lawn to take the chemical away from children or pets and human contact.

Please adhere to the safety directions on the product label.

And then there are some natural methods of control.

Removing the adult beetles and egg sacs by hand is a laborious but very effective method if you only have a minor infestation.

Its inevitable that youll miss some and youll have to repeat the process.

Placing carpet or sacking over the lawn at night will bring the grubs to the surface where you can pick them off and destroy them.

Neem oil is another natural option that works by interrupting the adults mating and feeding patterns leading to their deaths.

Keeping your lawn healthy is also essential to limit the damage grass grubs can do.

The regrowth rate of healthy grass will enable your lawn to outgrow the appetites of the invaders.

Keeping your lawn well-fertilised, watered and lush will help it survive.

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How To Check For Grubs In Lawn

Before you start treating, it is important to check to make sure that indeed there are grubs damaging your lawn. Irregular brown patches of dying grass are the first sign. If you see the patches, lift the turf to check for the grub worms.

Take a shovel and dig a square foot about 3 inches deep and lift the turf to check for grub worms. If you find one or two grubs is normal and healthy, but if you find 5 or more grubs, you have a grub worm infestation that needs treatment to prevent further damage to your turfgrass.

Recommended Practices As You Use Pesticides

• If you decide to use a pesticide to kill the grubs, it will probably be toxic to good insects like bees and other pollinators as well.

• To protect them from harm, mow your lawn before you apply the chemical to get rid of flowers that may attract them.

• Water your lawn after you apply the pesticide to avoid burning your plants and to enable the soil to absorb it.

• Dont apply too much pesticides as it will run off your lawn and into the environment. Use only the recommended usage on the back of the bottle.

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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.

How To Prevent Grubs From Coming Back

Grubs can happen to any lawn and appear numerous times during the year. Here are a few helpful tips to make sure you wont see grub worms soon.

• Dont mow your lawn often
• Overseed your lawn in spring and early fall
• Fertilize your lawn

When left untreated, grubs will continue the destructive process, wrecking the roots of your turf.

Having a professional lawn care company can help you get rid of active grubs for good, and make sure you have a beautiful and healthy lawn for years to come.

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Kill Lawn Grubs With Milky Spore Powder/granules

Milky spore is an environmentally friendly way to kill lawn grubs without harming other insects. Milky spore is a bacterial disease that infects white grubs as they munch on turfgrass roots. This biological grub control ends up killing scarab beetle larvae, preventing them from doing more damage to your lawn.

One of the benefits of milky spore is that it stays in the soil for a long time, killing any grubs that happen to live there.

Milky spore was used extensively in the 1940s to kill Japanese beetle larvae. A study found that still 30 years later, soil treated with milky spore disease had fewer grubs than untreated areas. Also, the bacterial disease only targets Japanese beetle grubs, so it doesnt kill earthworms.

Milky spore is easy to apply to lawns to keep them free from grass grubs. Put a teaspoon of milky spore powder 3 to 4 ft. apart on the lawn in a grid shape. Use a gentle spray of water from a hose to water in the powder. Water for 15 minutes.

You only need one application to keep kill grubs and stop them from damaging your lawn.

How To Detect Grub Worms

Knowing how to detect grub worms is key to treating them. Visible lawn grub damage can be seen from late summer to early fall. Look for irregular brown patches of lawn that peel away easily from the soil, like carpet. To determine the extent of infestation or which areas require treatment, dig up small sections of lawn. Typically, more than five grub worms per ¼ square foot warrants treatment and lawn grub control.

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What To Do After Applying Grub Control Pesticide

Once youve applied your pesticide of choice on your lawn, here are several tips to keep in mind shortly after:

• Opt to water your lawn. Most grub killers in the market today are sold in granular formulations, which means youll need to water the lawn immediately after application to at least 1 inch.
• Continue monitoring for grub worm activity. Applying a grub killer doesnt translate to instant, fast-action results. In most cases, you can expect to see results after a few days to an entire week.

Important Note: If the damage continues even after applying the pesticide, it means the grub treatment was insufficient or ineffective to handle the infestation. You may want to consult a local professional for their expert services instead.

The Beetle Life Cycle

The majority of adult beetle species lay eggs in the summer. The grubs hatch and eat the grass roots until cold weather arrives. Then grubs burrow 2 to 8 inches into the soil to overwinter. When spring arrives and the soil warms, the grubs begin feeding on the grass roots again. In late spring and early summer, they pupate, and emerge as adults in midsummer.

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Apply Neem Oil Homemade Grubworm Killer

Neem oil has insecticidal properties and is effective in repelling grub worms in lawns and gardens. This natural pesticide deters grubs from feeding, laying eggs, and growing into adults, thus breaking their cycle and helping in their control and stopping lawn damage.

To use neem oil recipe to get rid of grubs naturally, mix neem oil with water and spray it on a grub-infested lawn using a hose-end sprayer. Apply generously over the areas with dead patches of grass to make sure you target the larvae.

Another common homemade recipe for getting rid of grubs naturally is dawn dish soap. While it is not 100% effective at controlling grubs, it can help control mild infestations in your lawn.

To get rid of grubs naturally using dish soap, mix dawn soap with water and spray it over the infested area. The dish soaps solutions smothers and suffocates grub worms and Japanese beetles, killing them in the process. This DIY solution can also kill adult beetles and prevent them from laying eggs in your lawn.

According to the Clemson University College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, Insecticidal soaps kill by suffocation, they appear to disrupt the cellular membranes of the insect, and they remove protective waxes that cover the insect, resulting in dehydration.

Beneficial Nematodes Can Kill Other Soil Pests Too

By inoculating your garden soil with beneficial nematodes, youre likely killing several birds with one stone! And by birds, I mean pests. The strain of beneficial nematodes we use can effectively control many other pests including: cutworms, fungus gnats, fire ants, weevils, root maggots, flea larvae, crane flies, white grubs, and many more!

One study even showed that the beneficial nematodes also help reduce the population of root-knot nematodes in soil. We previously had an issue with root knot nematodes in our garden soil, and that has seemingly gone away with the grubs too! Other species of nematodes target different pests. For example, Steinernema carpocapsae Is great for organic flea control. As discussed in our introduction to organic pest control series, it is always important to identify your garden pests before acting.

If you have a pet, dont fret! Beneficial nematodes are not harmful to anything except their target pest species. They will not harm mammals, aquatic life, birds, reptiles or amphibians. When applied correctly, beneficial nematodes should not negatively impact beneficial insects such as ladybugs, who have very different above-ground life cycles. They do not harm earthworms either!

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Apply Nematodes To Control Grubs Naturally

You can apply nematodes to get rid of grubs in the lawn naturally and within a few days. Beneficial nematodes are very tiny roundworms that move in the moist soil under your turf and enter into the grubs where they release pathogens that attack the pests and kill them.

Heres how to use beneficial nematodes to eliminate grubs naturally:

• Choose beneficial nematodes that work against grub worms.
• Mix the nematodes with distilled water in a lawn or garden sprayer.
• Water your lawn adequately to keep it moist.
• Spray the nematodes on a grub-infested lawn in the evening.

Pro tip: Apply nematodes only in the evening because they get killed by light and heat. Also, make sure the soil temperature is above 60°F before applying this natural treatment. Water the lawn 15-20 minutes after applying the nematodes for the best results.

Repeat the application after two weeks for the best results in controlling grubs in your lawn.

The beneficial nematodes, also called entomopathogenic nematodes, are very effective and mobile in moist environments. They seek and follow their hosts and infect them. Soon after, the white grub population in the lawn will be destroyed.

Dylox 62 Granular Insecticide

Undoubtedly, the #1 product to quickly kill grubs in your lawn is Dylox 6.2 Granular Insecticide by Bayer. It contains 6.2% Trichlorfon, which targets white grubs , June bugs, Japanese beetles, Sod webworms, Armyworms, and more.

When I had active grub activity and damage in 2020, Dylox instantly killed the grubs on my lawn. Theres also some peace of mind with this product as there are no Dylox restrictions regarding turf species or sites for landscape and recreational-area uses. This chemical also does not stick around very long. Once applied and watered in according to the label, Dylox kills grubs and degrades quickly.

Pros:

• Kills quickly and degrades quickly
• No restrictions on sites and species
• The best and quickest of the lawn grub killers

Cons:

• Slightly more expensive than other options

30 pound bag:

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Tip : Plant Deep Rooted Grasses

The best way I’ve found to prevent Grubs organically, without using any chemicals or products is to plant Turf Type Tall Fescue. This modern grass type works specifically well for individuals living in the Midwest. It has a really deep root system, and can get by with one deep watering every 7 days, even in periods of hot, dry weather. The Turf Type Tall Fescue, as found in our Tuff Turf Grass Seed, is also less likely to show signs of Grub Damage, because its roots are so extensive that a little feeding by Grubs doesn’t usually cause many problems. Shallow rooted grasses, like Creeping Bentgrass, show a lot of damage from Grubs because there are far less roots to help it survive.

How And When To Kill Lawn Grubs

One of the most common ways of killing lawn grubs is to use chemical insecticides. The next option is dethatching your lawn, which will help you eliminate lawn grubs. You can find them in warm areas. You must start acting once you notice them on your lawn, mainly during the warm weather. Once they establish themselves on the lawn, it becomes difficult to get rid of them.

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You may find them attractive, but they are no less than a gross menace in any lawn. They attack the roots and make the plants weak to die. Hence it is essential to regulate them. In this article, we will discuss controlling lawn grubs and understand what we should do. Now, let us begin:

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