Seventeen years have passed
since the last swarm of cicadas, and this summer it looks like Montgomery
County will have some old visitors at their doorstep. While they can be a
nuisance, these insects are not your biggest concern this summer.
Each summer, Japanese beetles
emerge from the ground from Elkins Park to Royersford and begin to lay eggs in
the soil. These beetles are notorious for damaging trees and shrubs, especially
fruit trees, but their larva can actually do a substantial amount of harm to
your lawn.
Grubs
are the larva of the Japanese beetle. These subsurface insects enjoy feeding on
the roots of your lawn’s grass roots. Throughout the summer, they mature
and continue their underground cookout which features the grass roots and other
nutrients in the soil. Despite their
abundance, there is a simple way to cutoff their buffet. Applying a preventative is the ideal approach
to neutralizing pests. Most stores carry
a grub preventative product, but the most effective products are only offered to
licensed lawn care technicians. Also,
most lawn care companies guarantee the effectiveness of their products. Those who skip this vital service are often
left with questions once the grubs reach maturity.
Every year around September, we
receive calls about brown patches throughout the lawn. Last September, I
visited a beautiful property in Phoenixville to discover the once pristine turf
turned into a field of dead grass. Grub damage is quite easy to identify;
simply pull up the edges of brown patch, and it should start to roll back like
a rug. It becomes clear quickly that the roots of the grass plants have
turned into the grub’s dietary choice. This disaster could have been
avoided if a preventative grub control was applied to the lawn. While the damage
spread throughout the lawn, there are curative measures that can be applied to
eliminate the grubs once they are active. This typically requires costly
products and it becomes a large process to remove dead grass and seed the
damaged spots.
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| It's best to control grub activity before it starts |
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| Turf pulled back to inspect for grub activity |
To avoid this in the
first place, contact your local lawn care experts and visit our website for helpful
tips to keep the lawn in tip-top shape this summer!
Contributed by Harry Bambi, Sales Supervisor
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