Article in the Lawn Care Professional Magazine
GRUBS
As a lawn care operator in the Mid-West, Andrews says grubs are a major concern with cool-season grasses. “Grubs are an issue because they’re below the surface,” he says. “They can do some significant damage before you catch them.”
He jokes that the “dirty secret” about grubs is that the higher the level of maintenance on a property, the more likely it is to have a grub infestation. “Grubs like healthy turf grass,” he says.
To a female beetle flying above, a well-manicured lawn looks like paradise. “You’re not going to see a grub infestation on the median strip of an interstate highway,” Andrews says. “But you are going to see it on a highly maintained residential lawn.”
Grub infestation is weather related. Andrews says grubs are always present, but how bad a problem they become is a matter of soil moisture and temperature right after the female beetle lays her eggs. “There is definitely a correlation between the amount of moisture and grub infestation,” he says.
Andrews explains that the female beetle burrows down into the ground and lays her eggs in a pod. “The female beetle is a good mother,” he says. “She will try to get her eggs down as far as possible.” If the ground is soft and saturated, she can bury her eggs deep in the thatch layer, he says. If the weather remains wet and humid, the eggs will hatch and the grubs will have easy access to the root system.
But if the ground is hard and dry, the beetle can’t get her eggs down as far, so they’re closer to the surface. “And if the weather continues to be hot and dry, the eggs boil and never hatch,” Andrews says, adding that he is able to control grubs by staying educated on the insect and using Merit insecticide.
