Grubs are kind of mysterious creatures, showing up out of nowhere, hiding out of sight beneath your lawn, then quickly devouring the roots of grass so fast, your lawn dies practically right before your eyes.
You probably have some questions. Like, what the heck, grubs? Where were you raised -- in the dirt?
If you have more questions about grub lawn damage than that, here are some answers:
Grubs are babies, but unlike most babies, they’re not at all cute. These babies, the larvae of Japanese beetles, June beetles, chafers, and other beetles, are pale and squishy with little legs up near their head. Nobody’s trying to take their picture.
Female beetles lay eggs that hatch between the soil and thatch layer of your lawn, and when their babies — grubs — hatch, the tiny pests eventually begin to devour and kill your grass. If you think you’re hungry when you wake up, you’ve got nothing on hordes of hungry new grubs.
Grubs feed on the grass roots, causing sections of grass in the lawn to die. So your grass will look dead — entire patches will be brown, dry, and wilted. It’s an ugly situation.
There are a few clues that there’s grub damage to your lawn.
Grab a handful of your lawn and tug. If it rolls up like loose carpet, you probably have grubs. They eat the roots holding the turf firmly in place on the soil, making it easy to pull the grass away from the soil.
Walk on your lawn. If it feels spongy, you could have grubs.
Another sign: if you notice small animals like moles, skunks, raccoons, or birds digging around your turf, that can be a sign of grubs. They love to eat the squishy little villains. You might also notice holes in your lawn from the animals digging for grubs.
When should you be on the lookout for grub lawn damage?
Here in Idaho, grubs are a mid to late summer lawn pest, and we typically see a big outbreak of grubs in August, after female beetles lay their eggs in July..
The trick is to kill these summer lawn pests before they hatch and start to chow down, so you need to apply preventive lawn grub control in the spring to nip them in the bud.
Grubs are best controlled by systemic products — insecticides that are absorbed by the grass. When grubs eat the grass roots, they die.
In addition to professional preventive lawn grub control in the spring, you can help prevent grub lawn damage by maintaining a healthy lawn. A well-fed and maintained lawn will have fewer grubs than one that’s hungry and stressed by drought.
Don’t mow your lawn too short. And don’t water every day. Water less often, for longer periods.
Grub control lasts about 4-6 weeks, moving slowly through the lawn to kill grubs. If you still have grubs after the spring treatment wears off, lawn care pros can do a follow-up visit with a different insecticide that moves through the grass quickly to stop any grub lawn damage.
Sorry — if you have areas of dead turf, you’ll need to re-seed them to repair lawn grub damage.
Once grubs devour the roots of grass, it can’t regrow on its own.You’ll need to rake out the damaged areas of grass, spread grass seed and fertilizer, and water daily until the new grass gets established.
The best plan is to keep grubs from showing up in the first place. Then you can avoid the whole unpleasant mess.
Your best line of defense against grub lawn damage is to keep your grass thick, lush, and healthy with a lawn care service annual maintenance program for healthy, strong roots
We’ve got your back — targeted grub control treatment is included in our complete lawn care package, and other summer lawn pest control is available to customers signed up for our 6-step complete lawn care program.
Help prevent insect lawn damage by making sure your lawn is healthy in the first place.
Make it easy on yourself. Choose an Idaho Falls or Boise, ID lawn care service that bundles your yard’s most-needed treatments into one convenient, no-fuss plan.
Fertilizing, weed control, grub control. Done.
Got a few minutes? That’s all you need to get started.
Then kick back and relax in your healthy, thriving yard.