What Are Lawn Grubs? How Do They Damage My Lawn?
Literally, grubs in lawn are pests. Because a lawn grub is typically white-colored, it is also called white grub. Lawn grubs are said to be beetles larvae with 6 small legs found just near their heads.
Before doing any damage control, you need to detect the presence of grubs in your lawn. When you see numerous little holes in your area, such is already a good indication especially when there are birds apparently looking for the grubs. By then, you are sure to find lawn grubs right below the soil surface. Aside from that, when you notice a portion of your lawn that appears very dry with unhealthy and fading grasses, that portion must have high concentration of grubs.
Although the damaging effect of lawn grubs is a little lower, it may become significant however in some cases. In your lawn area, the thatch layer is where you can find white grubs enjoying the protection of the spongy layer of the soil. The grass root level of your lawn is the common feeding source of these beetle larvae. Even the roots of your garden plants are not spared by their harmful effects. The Japanese beetle and the European chafer are the two kinds of white grubs that can greatly damage your lawn. If there are at least 5 grubs living within the thatch layer per square foot of your lawn, they are already capable of destroying the root system of such identified area, and eventually your lawn will die. This damage will likely be aggravated with the presence of many cutworms in your area.
Larger grubs are harder to eradicate hence, repeated application of insecticides is necessary. Apart from manually picking up the grubs during weeding process, regular performance of core aeration is another good option. To effectively avoid beetles larvae, you better keep your lawn a lot healthier.