Will Grass Grow Back After Sod Webworm Damage
The most severe damage usually shows up in July and August when the temperature is hot and the grass is not growing vigorously. In fact, most sod webworm damage is mistaken for heat and drought stress. Sod webwormdamaged lawns may recover slowly, without irrigation and light fertilizations.
How To Kill Grubs In Your Lawn
During the late summer and early fall, you may begin to notice lawns turning an unattractive shade of brown in certain unsightly, dying patches. The likely explanation is the grass is being destroyed by hungry, thriving grub worms living below the surface of the lawn. If this has happened in your lawn, there is good news. These pests can be controlled, and your lawn can be restored back to its healthy state by getting rid of grub worms.
Better yet, because of a growing preference for natural gardening solutions, there are now some easy and natural ways to kill lawn grubs and stop them from reappearing next year. This means youll be able to get back to enjoying your yard year-round without concern of nasty grubs eating away at it.
Introduce Milky Spore Disease
Introducing milky spore disease in your lawn will help control the Japanese beetle larva and reduce their population naturally. The disease is applied on the turf as a dust and is very effective in controlling Japanese beetle grubs. As the grubs feed on the roots of the grass, they ingest the bacteria and get infected and die.
To get rid of white grubs in your lawn using milky spore bacteria, apply a tablespoon of the dust spacing four feet apart from each deposit. Do not use a spreader or a garden sprayer to spread. Water the treatment lightly for about 15 minutes.
Milky spore is a great natural treatment for grubs that last long usually providing grub control for even more than 15 years.
However, the results may not be immediate since it takes time for the disease to develop to full effectiveness in the turf. In cooler climates, youll start seeing results after a few seasons.
Once it takes effect, this grub worm fix is very effective and lasts very long, making it great for lawns with recurring instances of grub damage.
The disadvantage of using milky spore is that it only gets rid of Japanese beetle grub worms and not other species. If you have June bugs and May beetles, you might want to use other natural ways of removing them in your lawn.
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When Can I Put Down Grub Control
There are two main types of grub control treatments, preventative grub control and corrective grub control. If you are asking this question in Spring or early Summer, youll need to direct your attention to the preventative materials. These materials are applied well before grubs hatch in late Summer and can provide several months of control. Preventative products remain ready to kill grubs after they first hatch and start to feed.
If you are asking this question late in the Summer or Fall when you have found grubs in your lawn, you will need a corrective control. This material provides good control when watered into turf with feeding grubs and has very little residual activity. Its basically a quick-kill product.
How Grubs Affect Your Lawn
Grubs are the larvae of many kinds of beetles, such as Japanese beetles or June bugs. Grubs can be found within your lawn during the late summer months after the beetles have laid their eggs around July. Female beetles lay their eggs about one or two inches deep in the soil. They will spend two to three weeks laying eggs and will each produce as many as 60 eggs in this time. Once the eggs hatch between the two-to-four week mark, these grub worms begin looking for food to fuel their growth.
The lawn grubs youll likely find are small, white, worm-like pests that live in the soil and feast on organic matter in the lawn. They will eat anything within the soil thats in their path, including the roots of grass. By devouring the grass roots, they begin to kill off patches of your lawn, leaving it brown in certain areas. Grubs will continue to expand their destruction as they move under the lawns surface.
When severe destruction occurs from grubs in the lawn, its a result of the lawns health not being adequate enough to outpace the grubs feeding on it. In other words, a healthy lawn will grow faster than the grubs can eat it.
If your grass is unhealthy, youll want to kill these white grubs in the lawn immediately after finding them. Then take appropriate measures the restore your lawns health so it can withstand pests in the future.
The fewer mature female beetles you have in your yard, the less chance you will have of facing a grub problem later in the summer.
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Does Laundry Detergent Kill Lawn Grubs
Yes, Laundry Detergent can kill lawn grubs. Mix some amount of laundry detergent in an ample amount of water to make a solution.
Spray this solution on the affected areas of the lawn. Youll see grubs coming onto the surface, theyll die eventually.
This solution is not harmful to your lawn but is a good way to eliminate pesky lawn grubs.
Roundup 4385404 Pest Control
When most people are about to buy any grub or pest killer, the common worry is whether or not it will harm their plants. Roundup 4385404 Pest Control will kill grubs and other pests that are disturbing your lawn without adversely affecting your lawn.
Also, it is safe to use around your flowers and on your landscapes.
It is very easy to apply, all you need is a spreader. However, make sure you water lightly after applying.
It kills grubs and other insects instantly, and it will remain effective in killing surface and soil insects for up to three months.
Pros
- It may kill beneficial insects
- Not suitable for vegetable gardens
Check it out at Amazon here.
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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.
Consider The Role Of Fertilizer Aeration And Nematodes In Grub Control
Grubs can be minimized in all kinds of ways. Spike shoes hyped for easy lawn aeration arent helpful in improving air flow, but they do a great job of ridding your yard of creepy crawlies. Water your lawn, and then walk across it three or four times to do the most good. Fertilizer is also helpful because it leads to thick grass. Grubs and beetles prefer thin lawns with plenty of space to spread blades of grass out. Finally, organisms called nematodes are harmless to humans and to vegetation, but theyll feast on grubs and clear them out of your yard. You can order them easily online or through your local garden center.
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What To Look For When Buying Grub Killer
- Kills grubs on contact overnight
- Also kills ants, chinch bugs, army crickets, and more
- Granular solution
- All season long prevention of grubs
- Contains Imidacloprid
- Kills grubs on contact overnight
- Also kills ants, chinch bugs, army crickets, and more
- Granular solution
- All season long prevention of grubs
- Contains Imidacloprid
On the other hand, there are ingredients you should be looking for in a preventative grub killer:
- Imidacloprid
- Clothianidin
- and/or Chlorantraniloprole
And just these two ingredients if you need to kill larger, more mature grubs in spring or fall:
- Carbaryl
- trichlorfon
With the latter, it is a popular belief that application in the fall is more successful than in the spring. If you struggle with lawn damage from grubs this year, apply this in the fall and then a preventative treatment early next summer to try and end the breeding cycle.
When Is The Best Time To Apply Grub Control
Although, you should only start treating your lawn after you discover you have a grub problem. You dont have to wait till that time to take precautions.
As you already know, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Its usually better to enter into fall without fear or worries about grub infestation.
Preventative measures are usually best applied during spring and summer. Spring because, at this time, overwintering grubs are just beginning to come out. Summer is also a good time to go for grub control because what youll have to deal with are newly hatched grubs and not mature adults.
During spring, when the weather is a little warm, you can apply chlorantraniliprole products. While in summer, you can use thiamethoxam and imidacloprid to attack emerging grubs.
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How To Get Rid Of Grubs In Lawn: 6 Effective Ways + Natural Control
If there are grubs in your lawn, youll start to notice a change in the shade of your turfgrass. Browning of grass during summer and early fall is a likely sign of white grub worms causing the damage. The key to getting rid of lawn grubs is first identifying their signs, and then applying the best control method as I am going to show you here.
The white grub worms in your lawn are a larval stage of scarab beetles. As soon as winter ends, these worms become active when warmth kicks in. They start to damage your lawn by eating grass roots at a high rate.
If you fail to identify and kill lawn grubs on time, theyll develop into pupae, and later into full-grown beetles. The beetles will later start eating lawn grass and other foliage in your yard, causing even further plant damage.
But how do you know youre dealing with grubs in your lawn and not a disease or other problems?
Does Dawn Dish Soap Kill Grubs
You can control grubs using a commercial grub killer or a homemade recipe such as dawn dish soap. If the infestation is not extensive, you can use some simple natural treatments. But how effective is dawn dish soap for grub control?
Dawn dish soap kills grubs in the lawn by smothering and suffocating them. To get rid of grubs using dish soap, mix 3 tablespoons of soap with 1 gallon of water and spray it on the infested lawn. The soapy liquid will also interfere with the exoskeleton of adult beetles and kill them.
Get the Dawn Liquid Dish Soap for this procedure here.
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Is It Too Late To Apply Grub Control
Preventative measures work best before the fall season. But if perhaps fall meets you unprepared, you could still take your bet at saving your lawn.
For lawn owners, Imidacloprid is one of the most common grub control treatments. Usually, products with Imidacloprid are usually most effective when applied during summer, probably at the end of July or at most early August.
However, there are other newly emerging products that could control the damage of late application. These products still work just fine even right into September.
Even if you couldnt take your shot at grub preventative treatments, you could always go for curative control.
Apply Corrective Grub Control
No matter what your lawn looks like, if you are finding lots of grub activity youll want to apply a corrective grub control application. This is not the same material used earlier in the year for prevention. This granular material is a quick-control material with little to no residual activity. You will need to water it in thoroughly. Remember, those grubs are down a couple inches below the grass, so youll want to dissolve the granular material and get it down there to work. Water it in as soon as possible. Some materials start to lose their effectiveness if not watered in within 24-48 hours.
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Why Late Summer/early Fall Is The Best Time To Treat For White Grubs
White grubs are a common turf and lawn pest, and beneficial nematodes can be a very effective control. However it is important to treat at the right time of year, based on the white grubs life cycle, to ensure good control.
Since almost all scarab beetles have a life cycle of one year, it is important to treat at the right time to ensure the nematodes can kill the larvae and prevent new adults from emerging. Typically the adult beetles lay eggs in the summer which then hatch within a few weeks. The newly hatched larvae feed throughout the summer and fall before overwintering in the soil. The larvae will continue to feed in the early spring before pupating and eventually emerging as new adults. Treating in late summer or early fall is ideal, as that is when the smaller, young grubs are most susceptible to nematodes. There is also usually a short window for application in early spring before the grubs get too big and pupate, but that is a narrower window and can be difficult to time properly.
See the life cycle pictured below:
Below is an image that shows how beneficial nematodes kill white grubs:
Our recommended product for all types of white grubs in Heteromask, although Scanmask is also effective. For more information on how beneficial nematodes kill nematodes and other FAQs, see this blog post.
When To Apply Grub Control
Grub damage starts to become evident in around May when theres increased activity following the feeding program that you started in early spring. It is important to know when to apply grub control in order to prevent damage to your grass.
The best time to apply grub control is between early spring and late summer when theres increased grub worm activity in your lawn. For grub preventers, apply between June and July just before they hatch while for grub killers, apply the treatment from spring when you see signs of grass damage.
June bugs, billbugs, and European chafers usually lay their eggs in lawns and gardens. As soon as they hatch, they develop into grubworms and start eating the grass roots throughout the warm seasons.
Youll notice signs of dead patches of grass any time from early spring to mid summer when the damage stops due to the grubs having developed into pupae and adults.
So, throughout this life cycle of Japanese beetles and European chafers, what is the best time to treat for grubs with a preventer or a killer?
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How To Treat Grubs In Minneapolis Lawns
Here at KG Landscape, we think of the two weeks of the Minnesota State Fair as a great time to apply insecticides for grubs. By that time, the grubs have had enough time to start feeding on the roots and be very close to the soil surface but they are still small and easy to kill. The best treatment for these grubs is a chemical called Imidacloprid. It is safe for mammals and most fish so it has a small impact on the local ecosystem but does kill the grubs damaging the grass. We use a granular treatment that only requires one treatment per year until they are completely eradicated. It may or may not effect some honeybees, but if applied to only grass areas with possible grub damage, the impact on these important creatures will be minimal.
If youre looking for lawn help in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, look no further than KG Landscape. We have the experience and knowledge to help fix any lawn issues. Give us a call at our office 763-568-7251 or fill out a quote request and well get in contact with you. Getting that golf course quality grass shouldnt be impossible we can help make it happen.
Will Controlling Grubs In My Lawn Help Control The Garden Beetles That Eat My Plants
Not necessarily, because the adult stage of grubs are flying beetles that can travel to your garden from outside your property. Learn more about these beetles.
Disclaimer: The use of specific brand or trade names in this article is for educational purposes only. The University of New Hampshire does not support the use of one product over others of similar composition, nor does it guarantee the efficacy or quality of any product. The user is responsible for applying pesticides only as directed on the label and in compliance with the law. Product availability is subject to change depending on registration status in the State of New Hampshire and other factors.
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Recommended Practices As You Use Pesticides
1. 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. 2. Water your lawn after you apply the pesticide to avoid burning your plants and to enable the soil to absorb it.
3. 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.
