by It’s the dog days of summer, and you might notice a lot of birds and other animals hanging around a patch of your lawn.
Plus, there’s a lot of dead grass in that same area. You saw this back in June too, but you didn’t know caused your yard grass to die in that one spot.
It could be grubs eating your AL lawn.
What are Grubs and Why are They Harmful to My AL Lawn?
Grubs are the larval stage of scarab beetles, such as the Japanese beetle, June bugs, and the Southern Masked Chafer.
Grubs destroy lawns by chewing on grass roots. As grubs get closer to becoming adult beetles, they’ll ferociously eat your turf, resulting in brown patches of dead grass.
In Baldwin County, AL, these beetles emerge from the soil in August and start laying eggs from August through October. The small larvae will begin to eat turf roots into October, and then, grubs will hunker down deep into the soil to overwinter.
Come spring, the larvae will move to the soil surface and start to eat your turfgrass roots again. Since these grubs are bigger and soon moving to become beetles, they’ll devour your lawn.
Then, grubs pupate and later emerge into beetles, who lay eggs. The eggs hatch larvae and a new generation of grubs start the cycle again.
Read more: Chinch Bugs in Your AL Lawn
How Grub Prevention and Curative Solutions Work
If you’ve had a problem with grubs in the past, you probably got grub prevention on your lawn in June. So, you’ll need another round of grub control to kill grubs during their second generation in late summer and early fall.
But how do you know if you have grubs?
It’s easy. Go to the part of your lawn that’s brown and dead. If you can pull up your turfgrass like it’s carpet, and you can count more than five grubs per sq. ft., then you have a grub problem.
When Japanese beetles, June bugs and the Southern Masked Chafer emerge as fully-grown insects in August, they quickly mate, and the female will lay up to 60 eggs by October.
Experts agree that grub control in late summer and early fall are more effective at destroying new larvae compared to grub control used in the spring.
Now is the time to get the grub curative on the ground so the larvae, which is close to the top of the soil, will die instantly.
If you found brown, dead patches of grass on your property this spring, you’ll probably have grubs again this fall at the same spot in your yard.
Learn more: Did you know that a lawn sprinkler system could save you money on your water bills?
How You Can Keep Grubs Off Your Lawn
You can keep grubs from eating your lawn by
- Hiring your local lawn care company to broadcast grub control in the spring and late summer
- Properly cut your lawn by only taking the top third off each time you mow
- Only water your lawn 1” to 2” per week unless you get that amount in rain
- Hiring your local lawn care company to apply fertilizer and other nutrients to keep your lawn healthy and for roots to grow deep in the soil.
How Xtreme Turf Lawn Care is Your Answer to Grub Control in Baldwin County, AL
If you live in Baldwin or Mobile County in Alabama, then you need Xtreme Turf Lawn Care to apply both grub preventative and grub control on your yard. Xtreme Turf Lawn Care will also provide fertilizer and other nutrients so those dead patches of grass will grow back healthy and green.
If you have grubs or you want a healthier lawn, call Xtreme Turf Lawn Care today at 251-648-9947 or fill out our estimate form.
Xtreme Turf Lawn Care serves homeowners in Daphne, Fairhope, Foley, Gulf Shore, Loxley, Mobile, Saraland, and Spanish Fort, AL.
Sources:
“How to Deal with Pesky June Bug Invasion.”
