Grubs Have Invaded My Leaf Mold Pile!

13 years ago

I experimented last Fall by making my first leaf mold pile. I checked it for the first time today and it was crawling with the biggest, fattest white grubs! Probably hundreds of them!

Did I do something wrong?

How can I get rid of these grubs so I can add the leaf mold to my garden?

When is the best time of the year to add leaf mold to the garden?

Do I incorporate leaf mold into my garden by scratching it into the soil around each plant? Or do I need dig into my garden to add it?

Thanks!

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Comments (10)

Lloyd
13 years ago
"How can I get rid of these grubs....?"

A good gravy?

;-)

Lloyd
ponderinstuff
Original Author
13 years ago
Ewww! They were disgusting enough to LOOk at.
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Thanks for all the replies.... Everyone- So, what what would be the difference between letting the leaves continue to decompose in their bins and tilling them into the garden next fall, vs putting them on the garden now as a mulch (matted leaves) then tilling them next fall? PT03- It's about 15'x20' (300sqft). I'm hoping to triple that by last frost but it might need to wait until next year. Can you (or anyone else) give me some recommendations as to how much area a volume of 75 cubic feet of leaf mold would cover (assuming my calculation of 4 ft diameter x 2 ft high bins = 25 cubic feet x 3 bins = 75 cubic feet is correct). kqcrna- Yeah, I thought I was making compost too for the reasons you give but I get where Dave is coming from also. annpat- So, even though I don't technically have leaf mold, you'd still put it on the garden. OK. Interesting you mention bags of leaves.... I still have a lot of bags of leaves lying around (from early fall) that I never got around to composting. If I just leave them in the bags, then in a couple of years they'll turn to the leaf mold you describe? Do you add moisture to the bags before/after you store them? Vent them in any way? Sounds a whole lot easier than the bins if you're willing to wait. Dave- So, the alfalfa that I added was only in an effort to speed decomposition? Remind me not to bother with that next fall. Everyone again... So how do you typically deal with leaves so that you can get them into the garden next season.... or some other system other than annual. Also please see my other thread about hay/straw mix that I was planning on using for a mulch. Why would I chose hay/straw over the leaf stuff I already have? Is one any better than the other?
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I live eight (8) miles outside of a small town. In this town of "we refuse to recycle" they employ a man who collects city leaves with a shredder and piles them on a lot. Each year I do this man a favor and go relieve him of some of those pesky leaves he has piled up. In return I give him a 55-gallon drum of year old compost. This year I collected three (3) truckloads of his leaf-mould, which you can see below: Please note how low the truck is to the ground; my friend really knows how to load a truck with his front-end loader. Even though this leaf-mould looks like compost it is not compost at all. I screen all I want to use for mulch; the rest is used in making compost for the following year. This system has worked out these many years since my friend and I started this mutual arrangement, we both are really happy. Life can work in many ways traveling down "wacko" highway, I think somebody up there likes meÂ Blutranes
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Good general advice, and I thank both of you. I build compost and have been doing so since I was a kid, some 30+ years ago. I'm attracted to the leaf mold for a particular purpose: amending the soild under the dripline of my trees and shrubs. I'll continue to use my regular compost for my veggies. In our region, there is a problem with anthracnose (did I spell it right?) in fruit trees. Now I do have my doubts that much if any fruit-tree leaves would be in this huge leaf pile, though you never know. But in an area such as ours where anthracnose is active in fruit trees, I wonder if other broadleaf trees may also carry it. (?) That's what prompted my question, really. Joel
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borderbarb
13 years ago
I've read posts that claim these CREATURES are a valuable part of the decomposing process.HORSETWACKLE! Since I think they are the grubs of Japanese Beetles, I kill them with great glee. If you have a lot, can you spread the compost out on a tarp or cement slab in full sun? They will either bake or be eaten by birds.

Lloyd ... to this day our family calls cooked brown rice "maggots". A name coined by my sons. But you should have responded to his suggestion with "no, dipped in chocolate, of course"
talonstorm
13 years ago
I saw this on the FAQ, maybe what you have (see link).

Here is a link that might be useful: Grubs in compost pile
jean001
13 years ago
No need to fear. They eat dead plant stuff, not live plant stuff. Belong to nature's composting crew.
terrene
13 years ago
Many types of beetles are beneficial insects, so don't be so hasty to kill them without an ID. Birds and other wildlife love both grubs and beetles. Once I dug up a big fat white grub when transplanting a small tree, and put it in the tray feeder. Within a few minutes the female Bluebird took it away to feed nestlings.
bob64
13 years ago
Got any chickens?
GawdinFever
13 years ago
talonstorm: thanks for the info link. Never saw that and never knew there was a difference. Good info!
borderbarb
13 years ago
I forgot to mentio before that another reason to get rid of these grubs [besides the fruit-eating japanese beetles] is that when these grubs are in your soil, skunks and racoons come through the garden at night and dig for them. Dig up newly planted seedlings and anything else in their way. Took me years to get rid of an infestation that I got from some 'free' mulch. Now only see a few a year and very few beetles.
Kimmsr
13 years ago
Those grubs make a very good bird food. Grubs in your compost are not good. Those "C" shaped grubs are the larva of the Scarab Beetles, none that I am aware of being beneficial except those that digest dung, manure.
There is some research out there that indcates a soil that is growing White Dutch Clover will have fewer of these larva then a soil with no WDC growing in it.

Grubs Have Invaded My Leaf Mold Pile!

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Lloyd

ponderinstuff
Original Author

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Grubs Have Invaded My Leaf Mold Pile!

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ponderinstuffOriginal Author

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ponderinstuff
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