Why Does My Lawn Have White Grubs?
Each year, folks across the country complain about damage from white grubs in their home lawns. Or at least they believe it’s grub damage. Many things can turn a lawn brown. Actually, it’s easy to spot grub damage.
It can happen in Spring but is most common in the fall; scattered areas of brown, dead and dying turf, are found in no particular pattern in sunny areas of the lawn. The telltale sign of grub damage is finding browned-out turf that can be pulled up from the soil, like a carpet. The roots have been severed by feeding grubs.
The damage we see is caused by small white larvae, the immature stage of several common beetles, like the Japanese beetle, June beetle, and several chafers. As they grow, they take on a cream color, found in the soil, curled in a “C” shaped configuration.
White Grub Life Cycle
As the life cycle chart shows, overwintering white grubs, those hatched in the previous fall, rise from their winter soil homes and feed on grass roots, soon to emerge as mature beetles.
During the summer, beetles feed on landscape plant leaves. By mid-summer, they begin to lay eggs, which hatch in a few days and make their way down, into the soil, where the new generation feeds, often voraciously, on grass roots, causing what can be major lawn damage.
As fall temperatures drop and winter approaches, these large, tough grubs, which, at maturity, have grown to over ¾ inch in length, remain deep in the soil all winter long. While a large infestation of white grubs can definitely damage or completely kill a home lawn, where just a few grubs are feeding if controlled, lawns typically do recover.
How to Control White Grubs in Your Lawn
The key to avoiding damage is to control the build-up of white grub populations in the mid to late summer. There are natural remedies available for controlling white grubs. Unfortunately, research does not support effective control, where significant populations exist.
Our ExperiGreen professional program does offer guaranteed grub protection. We apply a preventative application to stop hatching grubs from growing and multiplying. Since grub damage can be costly to repair, it makes sense to protect your lawn this year. Again, our ExpeiGreen grub protection program is guaranteed.
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