One of the biggest detractors from having a nice lawn in Millbury, from my experience anyway, is this little critter - or more accurately, LOTS of these little guys (small numbers are not a problem). Grub worms, the lavae of the Japanese beetle, can accumulate in your lawn and no matter how diligent you are at keeping up with the basics of lawncare, grub damage can take a serious bite out of your efforts (bah-dump, ching!).
There is a difference between killing grubs which are already causing you bigtime headaches and preventing them from getting to the point of causing damage. I'm more concerned with prevention as that has a long-term solution which many people don't seem to know about and which would kind of negate the whole mass-killing thing altogether.
Prevention for the long-term. While there are chemicals (like Scotts' GrubEx) that you can put down on your lawn to prevent grubs from becoming a problem, it requires perfect timing on your part and worse, to be applied every year. Who has the time or money for that? In my opinion, a better solution is to develop a healthy environment (to both people and beneficial organisms in your soil) that is not only incompatible with grub worms, but the mere presence of grubs enhances the grub-prevention mechanism itself.
Huh?
Milky spore. On a recent visit to Worm's Way, the kind lady behind the counter saw my bag of "Milky Spore" and commented that people "in-the-know" buy it all the time, but that not enough people seem to be in-the-know (hence this post). Milky spore is a bacterium which causes a grub-killing disease in the little pests without harming the "good guys" living in your soil (or playing in your yard for that matter). By multiplying inside their soon-to-be-deadski grub host, the bacteria further add to the grub-unfriendly environment in your lawn. The best time to start seems to be mid- to late-summer, so why not do your homework now and give it a go this year?
The best news: After it is established in your lawn (~2 years of twice-a-year application), milky spore maintains itself for many years (up to 20, provided you don't kill the bacteria by using insecticides) to come, all without polluting the water we drink with chemicals year-after-year. Zero effort required - just my style!
