Grub Control in the Fall?
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- Joined: October 16th, 2019, 8:52 am
- Location: New York
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Grub Control in the Fall?
My lawn was reseeded this fall and I found this morning that the grasses were dig out by animals during night. Searched online, it may be grub. Also, it is recommended to do grub control during spring season. My gardener said he could do it today since it will rain this afternoon. So any suggestions?
- turf_toes
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Re: Grub Control in the Fall?
That’s not grub damage. Most likely some kind of animal.
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Re: Grub Control in the Fall?
Ha! Your grubs must be huge and walk on all fours! Seriously though, the damage you see is from an animal digging. Digging for what? Yes, it could be for grubs. But grub damage results in dead grass due to lack of roots. The animal(s) could also be digging for any number of things, like earthworms. Grubs have usually retreated deep into the soil by October, at least in the north, in preparation for winter.
You should poke around just like that animal to see if you can find what's so tasty in there. I've never had digging that severe, but I'm constantly finding holes of that size in my lawn closer to the woods this time of year. Something is digging.
You should poke around just like that animal to see if you can find what's so tasty in there. I've never had digging that severe, but I'm constantly finding holes of that size in my lawn closer to the woods this time of year. Something is digging.
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Re: Grub Control in the Fall?
The lawn at that location had brown spots at the end of this summer and we reseeded that area. So it does not look that bad. This area has consistently brown spots for several years. Originally, we thought it because it is close to walkpath and facing south, has full sun in the afternoon, so the grass was burnt. And after reseeding this fall, several nights in a row, the lawn was dig by some animal. I checked the soil, I could not find any living things!
- andy10917
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Re: Grub Control in the Fall?
Hahaha!! That's because the living things were dinner.
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Re: Grub Control in the Fall?
Are they in anyway beneficial to the lawn? Otherwise seem to just be attracting animals to dig them up.
- andy10917
- Posts: 29741
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Re: Grub Control in the Fall?
I haven't spent a ton of time studying slugs, but my experience is that they hide under debris in the daytime, and don't live under the surface. Therefore, that isn't what animals are digging for (which is typically grubs).
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Re: Grub Control in the Fall?
Are ya'll a pre-grub app in the late spring yearly just for good-measure or just more post grub control ?
- Dchall_San_Antonio
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Re: Grub Control in the Fall?
Slugs are easily cured, literally overnight, by applying ammonium sulfate at the bag rate. Ammonium sulfate used to be the only ingredient in the popular slug "baits", but more recently they've gone to iron sulfate. I think ammonium sulfate is still cheaper plus it is a fast acting fertilizer. As soon as a slug crawls over a salty soil, it will foam up and die. Noice.
Grubs are usually a summer problem and certainly not a spring problem...except in very rare cases. They are the larval stage of Japanese beetles and June bugs. If you see the beetles swarming your porch light in the spring, then you can be concerned about them possibly getting into the soil. If you don't see the swarms, then forget about it. Applying an insecticide before there are any insects is a bad practice. Applying an insecticide to insects when there are not enough insects to do any harm is a similarly poor practice. Instead, do this: in July dig up 1 square foot of your turf. If you find fewer than a dozen grubs, replace the soil and forget about it. They won't do enough damage to even notice. If you see an uncountable mass of grubs, then you can get excited about it.
Grubs are usually a summer problem and certainly not a spring problem...except in very rare cases. They are the larval stage of Japanese beetles and June bugs. If you see the beetles swarming your porch light in the spring, then you can be concerned about them possibly getting into the soil. If you don't see the swarms, then forget about it. Applying an insecticide before there are any insects is a bad practice. Applying an insecticide to insects when there are not enough insects to do any harm is a similarly poor practice. Instead, do this: in July dig up 1 square foot of your turf. If you find fewer than a dozen grubs, replace the soil and forget about it. They won't do enough damage to even notice. If you see an uncountable mass of grubs, then you can get excited about it.
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