Posted on July 13th, 2018
When you hear the word ‘grub’ it’s safe to say that a pleasant picture doesn’t pop up in your head. If you’re unfamiliar with the animal itself you may only know it by its ugly features and bright white body. If you’ve personally dealt with grubs in the instance of them destroying your lawn, you may think of them as enemies to your real estate and as a huge issue when it comes to keeping your lawn nice.
There’s a lot to know about grubs and what you can do to battle their destructive ways. Let’s start off by describing the white grub that you’ve most likely seen if you’ve ever seen the dirt under your lawn.
White grubs are in fact just the beginning of many different insects life cycles. These baby bugs are larvae that live just below the surface of the topsoil in your yard. White grubs will damage plants and turf grass excessively and it’s not uncommon to have hundreds of these things in a single lawn taking their turns at a free lunch all expenses paid by you.
The most common grubs that you’re going to see are actually the larvae of June bugs, European Chafers, Masked Chafers, Billbugs, Oriental Beetles, and Japanese Beetles. All of these insects start off as white grubs, and you can barely tell the difference of species when they’re in their grub stage. They’re all white and curl up to a C shape, they have tiny legs and a small head and will be between a half inch to two inches long.
You will find grubs just below the surface of your lawn where they feed on the roots of your grass. They tend to emerge occasionally if the soil is moist and will also feed on plants above the soil. When grubs go to town on the roots of your grass the lawn dies and can often be peeled right off the dirt like a carpet.
A common tell-tale sign that you have grubs in your lawn is an increase in birds looking for a meal in your yard. Not only do grubs ruin your lawn themselves, but animals looking to eat grubs do damage as well. Raccoons, opossums, skunks, and moles all feast on grubs while digging up your yard.
Seeing yellow or brown dead spots is also a sign that grubs are eating your lawn. The grubs move around once they’ve eaten an entire area so you’ll see continuous spots popping up around where these things travel.
If you want to know for sure if it really is grubs that are causing you a headache then try this out. Dig up a one-foot cube of dirt from your lawn and throw it in a wheelbarrow. Take some gloves and separate the block while looking for grubs. Typically there are more than 3-5 grubs in your sample when you’re dealing with a serious grub problem.
Grubs travel close to the surface and may not be able to make it to different sections of your property depending on things in the way. If your house, shed, or other man-made obstacle separates parts of your lawn, the grubs may not be able to move around its structure ultimately keeping them in one area to feed. There are also different microclimates in different soil areas of your lawn. One area could have a more positive microclimate that promotes reproduction and growth for the grubs while the other couldn’t even support them.
If you’re trying to get rid of grubs from your yard in Massachusetts, look no farther!
Turf Unlimited will help you take back your lawn from these invaders with our trained professionals.
Contact us today to make the grubs in your yard’s worst nightmare come true.
