White Grubs, Lawn Grubs & Grub Control

Posted on May 1, 2012 by spencer



Grubs are difficult to deal with. Often you don’t even know you have a problem with grubs until it is too late. Not all lawns with grubs need grub control.  Once a lawn reaches a critical population, grubs can start to damage you lawn. Lawn Grubs or white grubs come from beetle larvae. You can typically find these grubs in lawn during the late spring and early summer as well as in the fall. The most notorious lawn grub worms of these groups are Japanese beetles, masked chafers, and Asiatic and June beetles. The June beetles do most of their damage during the early summer, but the Japanese beetle damage you lawn in the fall.

In the June and July, these larva turn into adult beetles, they mate, and then lay their eggs back into the soil. In the early fall, the larva lay their eggs in the soil. Before it gets to cold, the grub worms burrow themselves 6 to 8 inches into the soil. They emerge in the early spring as larva and grow very fast as they eat your lawn. If you are going to apply white grub control, it is important to find them as early as possible because often, you don’t know you have them until it is to late. Most of the time you want to apply grub control in the late spring or in the fall. Most of the time, the white grubs do not kill the lawn directly, but they eat they eat the tap roots, than as conditions of lawn stress or mild drought become fatal to a lawn. One or two lawn grubs in your lawn won’t do any damage, but when you have 8-10 larva in a twevel  in space, they can really do a lot of damage. Adult beetles do not damage grass very much, but instead eat ornamental and lay eggs back into the soil.

How do you know if you need white grub control?

A good early indicator that you have a lawn grub problem is you may see a a lot of holes in your lawn from birds or gophers feasting on these insects. Once white lawn grubs have been through an area, the grass turf will be start to look unhealthy and be in patches. Grubs in Lawn can do a lot of damage by eating the grass and the grass roots. As it start to get hotter, you will start to notice that they are doing more and more damage. Grub control is difficult, if they are partially protected by the thatch layer in your lawn and the depth to which they live under the soil. It may be best to use a long lasting pesticide to get rid of lawn grubs. Learn about organic grub control.

What do white lawn grubs in lawn look like?

White grubs are between ½ inch and 3/4 inch, although they may be a little smaller in the early spring. White grubs typically live two inches under the surface of the soil. The damage caused by them will leave you with dry wilted grass with a few green patches. The damage will be most apparent in the areas of the lawn that are the least healthy and the areas of grass with the greatest concentration of these grubs. This website is all about helping you kill, control, and get rid of your white grubs. We have a page dedicated to Japanese Beetle, June beetles and masked chafer. (Sometimes you can cut down on the probability of getting insect infestations by regularly thatching and lawn aeration.)

White Grub Worms and Cutworms: Five FAQs

A. What is the difference between a white grub and a cutworm? Q. Cutworms are moth larvae and white grubs are beetle larvae. Cutworms are usually a little longer (1-2 inches) than these grubs (1/2-1 inch long). White grubs are white (hence the name) while cutworms are brown or tan-colored.

Q. How do grubs in lawn affect the grass? A. Both cutworms and white grubs live in the thatch layer of the lawn during the spring and summer. This spongy layer on the soil’s surface protects them and allows them access food and water. White grubs eat the grass roots, causing the lawn to wilt and then dry out. This leaves the grass more likely to die when stressed, such as during heat spells and droughts. Cutworms eat the actual blades of the grass, killing the top first.

Q. How can I tell if I have an infestation of Grubs in the Lawn? A. A great way to spot it early is to notice if birds are putting a lot of holes into the ground, looking for these grubs to eat. Gophers will also eat them. The grass will start looking worse too, but then the problem is getting pretty bad, and wilted and dry grass can have other causes. You also know if you have white grubs in the lawn if it starts to turn yellow for no apparent reason. Also, if you can pull the grass out of the lawn very easily, it is because the white lawn grubs have eaten through the roots of the grass plant. One great way to test is to dif out a 12 by 12 inch square in your lawn, if you have more then 7 to 10 grubs per square ft, it could be fatal to your lawn and you should definately have your lawn treated. If you only find one or two white grubs, then it is unlikely you will even need to use grub control to get rid of them.

Q. What should I do about white lawn grubs and cutworms? A. The type of lawn grub control you use is very important. A long-lasting pesticide is best for both of these pests. Since cutworms are the most active at night, apply a contact herbicide just before it gets dark. Once they ingest the pesticide with the grass, they will die. Since white grubs burrow deeper into the ground (6” or more) in the fall and stay there through the winter, it is best to use a pesticide for them in the spring and summer months. It may take more than one application to solve the issue.

Q. Can Grub Worms Really Run My Lawn? Yes, Grub worms eat roots of your grass. When there are only a few in your lawn, they don’t do a lot of damage and most of it is self-repaired. When there are a lot of grub worms,the damage can be much more extensive. Miner damage to your lawn can be fixed by power raking and over seeding your lawn, but if the damage is extensive, you may want to rent a sod cutter to tear out your lawn and learn how to lay sod. It is best to treat lawn grubs right away with grub control or by organic means in order to prevent them from destroying your lawn.

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How to Get Rid of Grub Worms in Your Lawn?

Posted on May 11, 2012 by admin21

I have been a landscaper for the last nine years and I have learned a lot about grub worms. Knowing how to get rid of grubs in your lawn is easy, once you know a little bit more about them. Grub worms live underneath the surface of your soil and eat out the roots.

Most of the time when you find damage caused by grub worms, it is the lawns that are unhealthy, or it get too much water. Japanese and Asiatic beetles do most of their damage during the fall. May and June beetles do their damage during the spring and early summer. Once you know you have grubs in your lawn, it is a good idea to determine which kind you have so that you can kill them easier

The type of grass you have in your lawn is awesome because it grows both the roots and shoots from the crown of the grass. This allows your grass to grow back every time you mow it. Likewise, your grass has the ability to repair itself if the roots get eaten by grubs. The roots will simply grow back from the crown. Most of the time, the grubs don’t do enough damage to kill the lawn all on their own. But if it isn’t watered every day, then the lawn can die of drought damage because it doesn’t have very many roots left.

How to Know if You Have Grubs in Your Lawn

A lot of lawns have grubs in them, but a small percentage of lawns have so many grubs that they damage the lawn. Usually, when there are more than 8 to 10 grubs per square foot of lawn, you start to see some permanent damage.

The first test that you can use, you can simply carefully dig out an area of your soil where you think you might have grubs. As you are digging out a 12″ x 12” square, count the number of grubs that you find in the soil. Earthworms don’t count, but any type of white or gray grub does. If you find more than 8 to 10 grubs, then you need to treat your lawn with grub killer right away.

The second way to test your lawn for grubs is to saturate your lawn. Take any area of your lawn that is 3′ x 3′ square and supersaturated with water. You can count the number of grubs that rise to the top of the soil. Once you do, count them by putting them into a plastic container.

How to Get Rid of Grub Worms in Your Lawn: Three Methods

The first method that will help you get rid of lawn grubs is to apply a grub killer. Make sure that the type of grub you have is listed on the label for the pesticide. If you can, it is better to use a selective pesticide than a non-selective one. Pesticides that are also IGR ( insect growth regulators) are safer to use around pets and better for the environment. If you have a layer of fat in your lawn, you probably want to get rid of it before you apply the pesticide.

The second method that will help you get rid of Grubs is the iron maiden approach to grub control. This method is completely organic, or at least chemical free. This method is called the spikes of death. It won’t get rid of all the Grubs in the lawn, but it will get rid of a significant percentage of them. Basically, you need to wear lawn aerator shoes on your feet and walk across the lawn multiple times. Since these shoes have 2 inch spikes on the bottom, spaced every half of an inch, they can be pretty effective at killing the Grubs and turning them into useful plant fertilizer.

I have also heard people say that using beneficial nematodes is a great way to get rid of the Grubs. Nematodes are basically small worms that can be parasitic to a lot of grubs. Nematodes work best when there is a large population of grubs to serve as hosts in your lawn. The nice part is that these nematodes typically don’t affect other animals.

When you’re learning how to get rid of grub worms, the fourth way to do this is to use milky spore disease. The milky spore disease also works best when there is a large population of them in a small area. Milky spores can kill the grubs and can remain in your soil for quite a while. As long as it is in your soil, it will help serve as a deterrent to future grub infestations.

How to Prevent Grub Problem in Future

Don’t leave dog poop on your lawn. Grubs love to eat that stuff. This is one of the most common reasons why people develop grubs in their lawn. Grubs are attracted to this fecal matter and they often lay their eggs in it. Once the eggs hatch, you’ll develop a severe problem with lawn grubs.

One of the best ways to prevent grubs damage from occurring is to make sure that your lawn is really healthy. Most of the time if your lawn is healthy, the grubs are going to do enough damage to destroy it. Make sure that you fertilize your lawn at least once every other month while you are mowing it. Also, make sure that you aerate your lawn every year so that you all have stronger roots. Additionally, you want to make sure that you mow your lawn at least once every 10 days. Doing all these things will help you to have a healthier lawn, and make it a lot harder for grubs to damage it.

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How to Use an Aerator to Kill Grubs

Posted on May 8, 2012 by admin21

My favorite method of killing lawn grubs actually works. It doesn’t involve the use of chemicals, and it is 100% organic. The easiest way to bring down grub populations is to walk across your lawn with a pair of spiked aerating shoes. Now, I am not a big advocate of spiked shoes for aerating your lawn. I think it is far easier and more effective to use a mechanical lawn aerator than to use the shoes to aerate with. However, they do a good job by killing grubs. This is because they usually have 2 inch spikes on the bottom and the spikes that are about a half an inch apart from one another. Most grubs tend to live between 1 inch to 3 inches below the surface of your soil. They feed on the roots of your grass.

You can get rid of grubs in your soil by putting on a pair of lawn aerator shoes and walking across the lawn. Make sure that you walk across the areas where you have grubs three or four times. You really want to make sure to kill as many of them as possible. Even though you won’t kill all the grubs in your lawn, if you can get rid of 30 to 40%, then your lawn should start to look better and repair itself.

Make sure that if you have grubs in lawn that you keep watering your lawn regularly. As long as your grass doesn’t dry out, it will probably stay alive. If your grass dies because of grubs that have eaten all of the deep roots, then you will have to tear out that part of your lawn and replace it. It is much cheaper to spend a little bit of extra money on watering to keep it green until the grubs have left. Then, you want to put down a grub killer that contains an IGR ( insect growth regulator ) to keep grub eggs from hatching, or to keep grubs from molting into adults.

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How Do White Grubs Affect Your Lawn?

Posted on April 7, 2012 by spencer

White grubs can have a very devastating effect on your lawn. If you do not take care of them immediately after you realize that there is a problem, they can attack the roots and ornamental parts of
your lawn, and within a matter of a few months, they can completely destroy it. Lawn grubs typically will hatch their eggs during the spring. These eggs are laid by beetles or crane flies at the end of the fall. During the early spring they hatch and come to the surface of your grass to feed on the tender shoots and to the roots of your lawn. You will know that you have them in your lawn, if you start seeing your grass starting to turn yellow, and eventually become brown dead patches. The easiest way to get rid of grubs in lawn, is to apply a grub control or poison to your lawn in the early summer.
How Long Does It Take Grubs to Destroy Your Lawn?

It does not take a long time for grubs to destroy your lawn. Often, as soon as you realize you have a problem, you should get the problem treated. If you do not, then you could have more serious problems. These problems will include having to do some major repair to your lawn or replacing it in the fall, if you do not treat your lawn for grubs in the spring. If you have a serious problem with lawn grubs, it is also possible that you will have problems with gophers, and moles digging through your soil. You may also even have birds that come down and pick your soil to pieces, while they are looking for grubs to eat. Preemptive action, is the best way to prevent these problems. If you know that your neighborhood has problems with grubs, do not hesitate to put down any grub control during the late spring. This will prevent you from having as many problems with lawn grubs later on.

Why Should I Use Grub Control in My Lawn? 

Lawn grub control is not something you need to do all the time. It’s not like fertilization or watering your lawn, where if you don’t do it on a regular basis, your lawn is practically guaranteed to die. However, it is important to keep your eye out for lawn grubs, because they can quickly ruin your lawn before you know you even have them. Lawn grubs live in your grassroots and as they mature into adults, they live off of eating the roots of the grass. In the early spring you don’t notice this, because first of all they are just barely hatching and beginning to eat the roots, and second of all even with very shallow roots, most places get enough rain in the spring time that grass can still look green and healthy. But as soon as it starts to warm up in late spring and into the summer, the grass will quickly die. You may have several patches throughout your lawn and dead yellow grass. At this point you have to replant the grass in this area, but you have to wait until you first get rid of the grubs. By the time you’ve noticed this problem however, the grubs are gone until the fall when they come back to your lawn to lay their eggs. So now that your lawn is already ruined, you need to decide if you’re willing to spend the money now and have it look good for this summer, or take your chances with trying to do grub control in the fall or waiting a full year to make sure and get rid of the pests before planting again.

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How Can You Tell if You Have Insects in Your Lawn?

Posted on April 7, 2012 by spencer

Before you treat your lawn for insects, you want to make sure that you have grubs and that you know what kind they are, so you will have an easier time getting rid of them. Having grubs in lawn is a real nuisance. They can take a nice looking lawn and in a matter of weeks, they can completely destroy it. It is best to be able to recognize what some of the signs are that you may have insects in your lawn. The first sign, is that your grass will start to turn yellow for no apparent reason. This means that even if your lawn is getting plenty of water and sunlight, as well as fertilizers, your grass still turns yellow in color. This can either be a fungus or insect infestation. One thing that is notable about insects, is that they will destroy the roots first, so if this is the case, the grass should rip out of the lawn easily. Another indication is that fungus usually occurs in the early spring on wet lawns, and grubs usually occur in the late spring or in the summertime. Most of the time insects are pretty easy enough to kill, as long as you catch them early and you put down enough poison when you are trying to kill them.

When is the Best Time to Treat Lawns for Insects?
The best time to treat your lawn for insects depends on which part of the country you live in. For the sake of simplicity, we will refer to these times and seasons, so you should be able to use this information to help you know when to treat your lawn for insects. Most of the damage done by lawn grubs is done in the middle of the summer. If you’re going to treat your lawn, you want to do this earlier. Most people will treat their lawn in the spring, or the late spring, or the early summer. This seems like the most probable and likely time to use grub killer to kill grubs that are in your lawn. What types of lawn grub control are the best? I have always preferred to use the granular applications. This is because it goes directly on the plant and can also be absorbed into the grass plant. As the grubs grow, they eat the grass plants and the roots. The systematic grub killer works well to kill them as they eat these plants.

The Life Cycle of Grubs in Your Lawn

If you are suffering from grubs in your lawn, before you can know how to treat them, it is important to understand their life cycle Most of the time these grubs in lawn are the larva of lawn beetles. They can also be the larva of crane flies. The most common kind of lawn beetles, are called Japanese beetles, June beetles, and Chafer beetles. Lawn beetles will hatch in the early spring. Then they will find a new lawn to lay their eggs in. In a month, their eggs will hatch. They emerge, not as beetles, but they will be small larva. This larva will continue to get bigger throughout the spring and the summer, as they eat your grass and your grass roots. In the fall, the grubs will burrow themselves deep into your lawn. Four or five months later in the spring, they will emerge as beetles and the life cycle will repeat itself. The time in their life cycle, where it is easiest to kill these grubs, is when they are larva and they are actively feeding on your lawn.

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How to Prevent Grub Worms in Your Lawn

Posted on March 11, 2012 by admin21

While there is no way to prevent grubs from coming into your lawn, there are some things you can do to prevent grub worms from damaging your lawn. One of the things that you can do to help prevent grubs is to have a good healthy lawn to begin with. Since grubs live below the surface of the soil and they eat the roots out of your grass, then you need to make sure that your grass and your grassroots are as healthy as possible. This way when you do have grubs, they won’t do a whole lot of damage. Often the damage they do won’t even be noticeable.

If you want to have a healthy lawn, you need to do the four following things. First of all, you need to make sure that you water your lawn regularly. It actually works better if you water it less often, but water deeper every time that you do water. In order to encourage the roots to develop deeper, it is also a good idea to aerate your lawn. By using a lawn aerator, you will have thicker turf that will be more resistant to grub worms. The third thing that you need to do is to make sure to fertilize your lawn on a regular basis. Most lawns thrive when they get fertilized. Try and fertilize your lawn at least four times per year. Usually this means fertilizing it every 6 to 8 weeks during the season where it is growing the fastest. Adding fertilizer in July will also help you develop a thicker turf.

The last thing you need to do is to mow your lawn on a regular basis and never mow up more than 30% of the blade. The reason why is because if you mow your grass too short, then your turf actually shrinks. If you mow your grass too long, then your grass becomes sparse because there’s too much grass competing for sunlight. If you want to keep a dense healthy turf both above the ground and below it, you want to make sure to keep your grass at an optimal height. If you use these four methods, you should have no trouble preventing grubs in lawn from doing major damage to your grass.

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FAQs About Lawn Grubs

Posted on March 7, 2012 by spencer

What are lawn grubs?

Lawn grubs are small, worm-looking larvae growing in soil. They eat the lawn and by so doing destroy healthy grass over time. It is hard to tell right away if you have them in your lawn, it is not until patches of grass start dying and by then its too late. It is important to keep your lawn healthy so it can fight off these kind of intruders and check in the early spring and late fall for any signs of lawn grubs.

What are the most common types of lawn grubs?

The most common types of white grubs are cutworms and white grubs. White grubs are beetle larvae and cutworms are larvae of moths. They are usually longer than white grubs and brown or tan colored, while white grubs are white (hence their name).

How do lawn grubs affect lawns?

During spring and early summer, lawn grubs live in the thatch layer of the soil. This is the layer of dead grass and debris that lays just on top of the soil. This spongy layer protects the grubs and provides adequate food and water. White grubs actually eat the roots of the grass killing it over time, while cutworms eat the blades killing the tops first and then not allowing nutrients from the sun and air to reach the roots. Over time the lawn dies and you will find yourself having to put in a whole new yard.

How can I tell if there are lawn grubs in my yard?

Take note if birds seem to like your lawn. Most likely there is a good reason – lots of good food for them. Gophers also like grubs and you may find an abundance of gopher holes in your lawn because of them. A tell tale sign is when the lawn starts wilting a drying out in different areas (spots throughout the whole lawn and not just a few spots where dogs urinated). The surest way to tell is just to check your soil on a regular basis. Early each spring rake down into your grass and see if you can spot any grubs.

How can I prevent lawn grubs?

Keep up a healthy lawn. If you have very little or no thatch for the white grubs to live in, they will pass by your yard and move to your neighbors (although ideally you want them neighborhoods away not just neighbors away). Although you may have plenty of desirable food in good healthy green grass, grubs can survive in an environment that is perfectly warm and moist. This will not happen without thatch.

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Control White Grubs: How to get rid of Grub problems

Posted on March 5, 2012 by spencer

It can be quite difficult to control white grubs living in your soil. Most often grubs aren’t even noticed until after they have done their worst damage. Birds, pecking holes in your lawn are gophers may be an early sign that grub pest problems exist. There several ways to defend your lawn and control white grub infestations. The first is to have a healthy lawn. Some lawns are healthy enough they can have insect problems and once the insects leave they can recovery in a matter of a few weeks.

Lawns are the ideal place for some grubs to live. They have access to lots of food and water and they don’t even have to travel very far to get it. White grubs are typically beetle larvae living in the soil that eat the roots of your grass lawn. White grubs typically turn into beetles, whereas other forms of grubs, such as cutworms, and army worms turn into moths. The larvae stage is for more damaging then the adult stage. The early larvae stage is the best time to control or get rid of white grubs.

The best time to kill or control larvae is when they are actively growing during the late spring and early summer. During the winter, grubs may have burrowed themselves deep into the soil and be unaffected by pesticide. It is good to use a long lasting pesticide to control white grubs. This kind of pesticide is more effective because it can kill multiple generations during the same time period. I am also currently doing research on nematodes as a more natural way to control lawn grubs. Sometimes multiple pesticide applications may be necessary to kill white grubs.

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Control Cutworm Problems in your Lawn

Posted on March 4, 2012 by spencer

Cutworms are a big problem throughout North America. Cutworms live in the thatch in your lawn and chew any blades of grass they can reach from the surface of the soil. Here in the Northwest, Cutworms are one of the major lawn destroying grubs. If you have a severe problem with cutworms, your grass will die from the top down.

What do Cutworms look like?

Cutworms are usually brown or tan color and they have a few stripes that run down their middle. In the fall they turn into dark months. These insects are mostly nocturnal. They come out at night to eat your lawn. They are 1 to 2 inches in length.

How do I control cutworms?

Fortunately cutworms are very easy to control and get rid of. Most contact herbicides will help kill them. If you just spray the pesticides on the grass blades, the cutworms will it the blades and then die. For best results spray on in just before dark to get them when they are the most active. If damage in not severe, the lawn may recover by itself, other wise you may need to reseed.

Find out more about what damage these white lawn grubs can do to your lawn.

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How to Rid Your Lawn of White Grubs

Posted on March 3, 2012 by spencer

Why White Grubs Are a Lawn Pest

Beetle larvae that are small (1/2-1 inch long) and white are collectively known as “white grubs.” The worse pests include the Asiatic, June and Japanese beetles as well as masked chafers. Starting in spring as newly hatched larvae, they eat the grass roots of the lawn, decreasing the turf’s tolerance to minor drought, heat and other stresses. The grubs do not kill the grass themselves, but create wilted and dry patches that can eventually lead to the plants dying off.

When Grubs Do the Most Damage?

White grubs are actively growing through the spring and summer months, so that is when they do most of the worst damage to the lawn and that is the best time to apply pesticide. As fall arrives, they dig deeper into the ground, spending the winter around 8 inches below the surface. This means that pesticides applied in the fall and winter may not get down to where the grubs are. When spring arrives again, they will be adult beetles that will each lay many eggs of their own, increasing the infestation problem.

How to Spot a White Grub Infestation

Grubs are small and tend to stay in the thatch layer of the lawn. It can be hard to know that they are there. Look for: 1) dry and wilted grass patches,2) shallow turf that easily comes up, and 3) gophers or birds creating lots of holes in the lawn as they try to find the grubs to eat.

How to Treat for Grubs

Apply a long-lasting pesticide as soon as you notice signs of a white grub problem. The earlier you start treating it, the easier it will be to rid the lawn of them. Often the pesticide will need to be applied several times through the spring and summer to thoroughly treat the pest problem.

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