MENULawn grubs have long been a scourge for area property owners. These white, crescent-shaped insects eat turfgrass from the roots upward. Consequently, you don’t know you have a problem until it’s too late, unless you are on the lookout for grubs.The best method for determining if you have grubs, and the method our lawn care professionals use, is to cut one foot square sections of sod at different locations around your lawn. Fold the sod back to expose the underside of your sod, as well as the soil just below the sod. Count the number of grubs in each section. Six or fewer per section are not cause for concern; your lawn should be able to successfully fight them off. Action should be taken if seven or more are present.Big, brown beetles flying around in June, slamming into your house’s doors, windows and siding were the adult grubs. They may have been European chafer beetles, Japanese beetles or even the Bluegrass billbug. The beetles are lawn grub adults. If you saw or heard them flying around your yard, you probably have grubs in your lawn right now.As with many insects, the adults’ lifespan is very short. Their only task is to reproduce. Once they do that, they die. These pests lay their eggs in sod. When the tiny grubs hatch, they immediately burrow into the sod, below the surface, and begin feasting on your tasty turf roots. As the temperatures cool and lawns go into winter dormancy, the grubs burrow further down into the soil to overwinter.This is the best time to treat for grubs. They are young, small and weak, so treatment doesn’t have to be as aggressive as it does in the spring when the two-inch, nearly full-grown grubs return to the surface to begin eating your lawn once again.There is another pest that likes our lawns, but its larvae aren’t grubs. It’s called the sod webworm and its larvae live in the thatch instead of burrowing into the ground.Gray moths flying around just above your lawn earlier in the summers was a good sign that your turfgrass is now hosting the sod webworm. Their flights were reconnaissance flights looking for a suitable place to lay eggs.Like tree and shrub insects, each lawn insect has its own lifecycle and food preference. Treating for them within the window of opportunity can be a challenge. This is why it makes sense to hire a lawn service. For one modest fee, one of our lawn care professionals will visit your home, check for the presence of pests and take appropriate action. He’ll leave a door hanger explaining the action he took. The only other way you’ll know that we’ve been there is by the little yellow signs that the state requires us to post.Even though the growing season is winding down, you can still use our lawn care service. Just call to schedule a meeting with one of our representatives.
