As many of you have already noticed, we are facing another season of “Lawn Enemy #1”, the Grub. However, many of you may not realize that the Japanese Beetle has not been the largest culprit. In fact, it is the European Chafer. In my personal experience traveling the region, I have only come across just a few areas where damage has been from Japanese beetles. It appears to me that the European Chaffer is here to stay.

Please do not be mislead by claims to kill them with products you can purchase at the store. Maine is one of a few states that restrict the use of the “Curative” product called Dylox. Very special permision must be granted to licensed professionals to use the product and there are even more restrictions after use. If anyone claims to have a curative solution there is a good chance that they have been mislead or are simply lying to you. Please don’t be fooled… There are a few options out there now since last year and they have similar modes of action. The most effective solution is a preventative approach with a treatment in late July – early August. The way our product works is by applying it to the lawn, having it watered into the rootzone and then taken up by the grassplant. Once the grassplant absorbs it in by the roots it is now protected. A curitave approch would be to kill the grubs directly with an application. With our method there is protection against attacks. With a curative approach, you’d be killing the grubs after an attack and still have to do reseeding.

The grubs you may see in the neighborhood lawns are from last years egg lay/hatch. Japanese beetles, European Chaffers & the May June Beetle Complex lay their eggs in late July – early August. After the eggs hatch the grubs begin eating the roots in your lawn. By Late August and early November, you may start to see signs of damage to your lawn. Birds will pull clumps of turf out while skunks, raccoons and other animals may use their front paws to dig little holes to expose the yummy dinner and not give it a second thought to replace the divot in your lawn. As soon as cold tempatures arrive the grubs will burrow down around 6 inches or so to overwinter. You can always “HOPE” that the frost will go deep enough to kill the little buggers, but don’t hold your breath. The European Chaffers have proven to withstand the last two winters very well. After winter when the warmer tempatures begin to show up again and the grass starts turning green, they’ll resurface to the rootzone again. There they’ll feed for one last supper before they go back into the soil and pupate into a beetle around early July. The grubs spring feeding causes their bodies to get fat and plump thus making an excellent meal for the same animals mentioned earlier. Springtime is where most folks see the most damage to their lawns from mostly the animals. However, the grubs alone will “mow” your lawn from the roots killing off large oval to circular sections of your turf.

Protect your lawn with a preventative grub control treatment. Sign up now and we’ll ensure your are protected at the proper time. We are constantly monitoring the beetles lifecycles and know each season when the optimal time is to treat.

One more note: If you have been attacked by grubs and you are seeing damage now, you should give the buggers a couple more weeks before you decide to do any reseeding. The birds and animals will continue to feed on the grubs in your soil thus continuing to disturb the grass trying to grow. Treating the turf for grubs now will not be beneficial to your wallet or your turf. To us it seems to make sense to wait until the grubs pupate and fly out of the ground as beetles before you do any reseeding.