Grubs?

Buck F

NES Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2015
Messages
8,736
Likes
15,701
Location
SE MA
Feedback: 20 / 0 / 0
My law is getting ripped up pretty good, looks like something searching for grubs. Don't remember if I did any grub control earlier in the year (did Scotts 4 steps, including insect control in the Summer). Well, three steps anyway, aerated and overseeded a few weeks ago and put down starter instead of step 4.

Is it worth doing any grub control now or should I wait until Spring?
 
Wow! What a timely thread. Mine has been getting ripped up bad. Found a good section torn up this morning plus a nice upper decker. Racoon? Skunk? Possum? At first I thought it was squirrels burying nuts but they dig little round holes. This grass is just torn up. Any solutions welcome...
 
Wow! What a timely thread. Mine has been getting ripped up bad. Found a good section torn up this morning plus a nice upper decker. Racoon? Skunk? Possum? At first I thought it was squirrels burying nuts but they dig little round holes. This grass is just torn up. Any solutions welcome...

Yeah, I don't think this squirrels either. Yeah, I had some type of scat, looked like maybe raccoon.
 
Ugh. Same here. Also got the obligatory present. Tempted to put out the game camera and see what shows up


wE_yGJhZwj_3JifG4MD68pstlgVIIECYPAJxD8o5RVaeXX00DHv7b9Dw0fYyA7691HqhVCx8DYya_HwKn_DlFZzPdDD_SD8NoKndjnMtTuzJ5hqCrpmF07RKEiz0c3_3TJmi8P5UBMKYEPSkB8guUnG1p42KXSCMY6lQKrtt1-9flXKmUO0EI4fRDM3ptW5epi6Fdk24leHkMa97aEgjCM9K_jO3hFh4obgCFz3iwc-LesXH_lIuQ-doiAETT03V3QsawnifBCiu_FXSHLMHY45vHKOYPyk2RHlWpCDAvRX0V5TvPpemD7PsyAfasMAzLsUTvAIqoPXTIljJjR8A4mKcKEWlkh1Azk0PKU4kgEXn9dPBYl-CpBqBjXAgLqlMi7GwHJ4lVZJWXrobYc125hLm6gw5YTYrnBBI5ulxll32jpAWiBFgCH64lS6Oy5strYXbpWuPUZTaYClwTyG7aj93I9cI3Ct2Se_GgrYprpEM_wz4V7VD9v1Pv4NmIk8nEe6D5mGYD_Rr1ISh_zv7NsAZBYEJIe-RHWul03t2e2Il4Hj1iDcHITsRgg1kFikm6Wsi2rVoFX21920SR1UvJt37u5scWrnsk_k9OlX-pntlck0nZe_p8pwGqq8JTsitzhObVAGx_OYJKaQhERVMQmj27boaO2JBUVkd9epgl4Jf2yw9gL1OhA=w1120-h638-no
 
My lawn is getting destroyed too. I’m just going to gamble through the rest of this fall, properly winterize/fertilize, and then start fresh in the spring.
 
I applied milky spore on my lawn 15 yrs ago and haven’t had a problem yet. I don’t use chemicals since we don’t want runoff into a pond.

We recently had a red fox doing some excavations in our lawn looking for varmints.
 
Lawn wouldn’t be torn up if it did not have grubs. Turkeys and skunks are doing you a favor for next year’s healthy lawn.
 
Lawn wouldn’t be torn up if it did not have grubs. Turkeys and skunks are doing you a favor for next year’s healthy lawn.

That’s a good way of looking at it. Free dethatching & aeration. Guess I’ll leave it alone & deal w it next season. Guessing it’s skunks & raccoons, mostly overnight damage from what I can tell.
 
Thing is, now that you know there’s s grub problem, you can remember to treat the lawn to prevent them in the spring.
 
So...speaking of thatching and aeration, anyone have advice on tools/rollers/etc.? I’m on an acre, so I can just walk around on spikes, but I don’t know if it’s effective. Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
So...speaking of thatching and aeration, anyone have advice on tools/rollers/etc.? I’m on an acre, so I can just walk around on spikes, but I don’t know if it’s effective. Thanks in advance.

1) How thick is the thatch? Some thatch is good, too much, not. Can rent a power dethatcher to pull up thatch, 1 acre is a lot to do by hand.
2) Is the soil compacted? If not, no reason to aerate. Core aeration is more effective than spikes since you are actually pulling a core and giving the compacted soil a place to expand in. Depending on your lawn, may want to overseed in conjunction with aerating. If you have irrigation, can do it in May, otherwise best to do it mid August to early September.
 
1) How thick is the thatch? Some thatch is good, too much, not. Can rent a power dethatcher to pull up thatch, 1 acre is a lot to do by hand.
2) Is the soil compacted? If not, no reason to aerate. Core aeration is more effective than spikes since you are actually pulling a core and giving the compacted soil a place to expand in. Depending on your lawn, may want to overseed in conjunction with aerating. If you have irrigation, can do it in May, otherwise best to do it mid August to early September.

Wow - great questions but I may not have all the answers to them. It’s a new lawn, just put in this spring by hydro-seed. Landscape guys took up first layers of sand-ish stuff and put down fresh soil. As of now, the lawn looks good, but it is a new lawn, so I don’t know if that throws a curveball into the mix.
 
So...speaking of thatching and aeration, anyone have advice on tools/rollers/etc.? I’m on an acre, so I can just walk around on spikes, but I don’t know if it’s effective. Thanks in advance.

I went out and bought the tow behind ones for the riding lawn mower. Paid for themselves after a few years. I aerate 2x per year and dethatch as needed.
 
I went out and bought the tow behind ones for the riding lawn mower. Paid for themselves after a few years. I aerate 2x per year and dethatch as needed.

I have the tow behind aerator, works great. Borrowed the neighbor’s tow behind thatcher, tore everything up - might as well have used a tiller. I only did a small portion then went back to aerating.
 
Robjax is 100% correct. One of the few things that will kill grubs at this point. Make sure to water it in. May need a second application 4-5 days after the first.

Think it’s worth doing now or should I just wait until next year? Thought about doing it today and didn’t, which means it won’t happen for a few days if I decide to. Looks like 40% chance of rain next few days so may have blown my chance (I have a sprinkler system so when I do it I can water in as needed)
 
Grub X needs to be applied fairly early, takes a long time to work into the soil. The Bayer product can be applied a little later. Too late for either.

There are products (as linked above) that will kill actively feeding grubs right now. Unfortunately it’s damage control at this point if you have grubs.

Milky spore and/or nematodes are the organic route. Cost more up-front but provide lasting protection for years.

Getting the grub control and the crabgrass control down on time are so important if you want a nice lawn.
 
Wow - great questions but I may not have all the answers to them. It’s a new lawn, just put in this spring by hydro-seed. Landscape guys took up first layers of sand-ish stuff and put down fresh soil. As of now, the lawn looks good, but it is a new lawn, so I don’t know if that throws a curveball into the mix.

Think you are probably OK based on new lawn and what they did. Don’t think you could have enough thatch to worry about. Would put down some nitrogen fertilizer in a couple weeks and some prodamine in early November and next spring to keep weeds from propagating.
 
Think it’s worth doing now or should I just wait until next year? Thought about doing it today and didn’t, which means it won’t happen for a few days if I decide to. Looks like 40% chance of rain next few days so may have blown my chance (I have a sprinkler system so when I do it I can water in as needed)

Of course it’s your call. Dylox kills the little nasties in a couple days. Killing the little f’ers now gives your lawn time to recover some before going dormant for the winter, depending on the variety’s of grass in your lawn. In my case, only have 10K/ft lawn, so cost only me $40 to treat. Hate the dead spots, so will do whatever need to do to help the lawn now. Next spring GrubEx for sure.
 
Back
Top Bottom