Your lawn is looking fabulous, darling. So, let’s talk about what’s potentially beneath your soil that could destroy it this summer. Yes, we’re going to talk about grub worms.

Grub worms are the larvae of June bugs. June bugs emerge from the depths of your lawn’s soil in the late spring in the adult form of the grub worm. June bugs spend time flying around annoying you. Buzzing around your porch and hitting windows trying to fly into the light are mostly the males as they are more active flyers and attracted to the light than females are.

Once the June bugs have found each other and mated, the female finds her way back into the soil to lay her eggs. She can lay up to 40 eggs which will hatch in roughly 2 weeks as a grub worm.

Grub worms are not a friendly pest for your lawn to have. The first two stages of their life, they don’t do much damage eating at the roots of your grass but the third stage can be devastating to your lawn.

Found in most warm season grasses, grub worms can eat away at the grass’s roots, weakening and killing your lawn in a matter of days if left untreated. St. Augustine, Bermuda, zoysia, and buffalograss are not safe when it comes to a grub infestation.

These cream-colored larvae have 3 sets of legs that help them maneuver through the soil from one grass root to another.

As previously mentioned, stage 3 of their larval state is more damaging. This is due to them growing to ½” long and becoming aggressive eaters. They will continue to actively eat until the weather cools down. What does this mean for your lawn? It means brown patches will begin appearing throughout the lawn and severely damaged areas can be easily plucked out including the root or rolled up like a roll of paper towels.

Damage caused by grub worms leaves dead or weakened areas that allows weeds to take over. Now, you have another issue with your lawn. Weeds. If grub worms are treated early enough and minimal damage has occurred, it is possible to save the damaged areas of grass. With proper treatments and a lot of TLC, your lawn will look fabulous again by the end of fall or next year’s spring.

However, there are some cases that even in the spring the damage has not repaired itself and the grass has not greened up. Oftentimes grass that has patches or in its entirety that has not come back after winter has deeper issues than grub worm damage. Lack of watering, nutrients, fungus, mold and lawn disease can contribute to a lawn dying during the winter. Consulting a professional is recommended with reseeding or resodding the affected area to minimize weeds from taking over.

The best time to treat for grub worms is after they have hatched and before they enter their third larval stage. Grub worm treatment should be applied in July/August for best results. This is approximately 6 weeks after the peak of June bug sightings.

Applying treatment while they are still in their eggs form, pupating into adults, or during the winter and spring will not be effective in killing them. To be effective, treatment needs to be done within their first 2 larval stages.

Grub worms can also damage your lawn in another way other than eating away at the roots and killing off your grass. They attract other species like birds, armadillos, and other animals as a food source. These animals will dig holes in search of grubs to eat. Armadillos usually scrounge for food at night while birds are early risers and peck away in the morning. Rodents, moles, and raccoons can also tear up your lawn digging for grub worms and other insects hiding beneath the soil. These critters are not a solution to controlling your grub worm population. Safe Earth Pest Control is.

Here at Safe Earth Pest Control, we have lawn and home pest control programs to fit all your needs. From general home pest control maintenance, rodent control, lawn weed and feed, to mosquito control we have programs to fit all your needs. So, contact us today so we can help keep your lawn looking fabulous, darling and don’t forget to schedule your grub worm treatment now. Treatments are right around the corner 214-321-2847