The thing is, the grubs that may cause damage this fall haven't hatched yet, that will happen next month. And the grubs that might have caused damage last fall or this spring are now flying around as may or june bugs and japanese beetles, so looking for them in the soil now won't really tell you anything. I'm not saying that you should or shouldn't put anything down to prevent them. I myself did recently, but only because I have had a history of serious grub problems so I felt comfortable anticipating future problems. That said, it is funny you mention the Robins. This year I have had more Robins, Blackbirds and Blue Jays hunting on my lawn than ever before. Whenever I look out my kitchen window it is 10:1 that I'll see some birds, it's really something. I'm sure that's due in part to not using insecticides this year, but I think also to the existence of a much healthier turf, which must be providing shelter for A LOT of insects. I also wonder what they are feeding on, but with no evidence for this at all I like to think that they are eating my pests...

IN the groups of birds, there were some that were similar to the Robins, dark gray, yellow beak and eye, but clearly no reddish orange breast coloring. They quickly moved away from my yard (still covered with a lot of snow and water) to another farther down that had more open grass and soil. The Northern Mockingbirds are too light gray, and I didn't see any white whits markings, though I could have easily missed them due to the distance. The Cedar Waxwings are a wishful possibility, but again, the birds I saw were of a uniformly dark color. Also, there are no berries around here. They were all gobbled up quickly in fall, and any drupes left on some trees were chased down by the squirrels on their high-wire act. The squirrels even go into my yews and eat all the little red berries. The birds I saw were clearly pecking and digging in the ground to find food. Today is colder and windy, and there aren't as many birds around

We have grandfather laws in this country so while new places must conform with new laws, older places do not have to update unless something major is changed. As a farmer we had this in my county. The local lake was polluted and they said farmers were to blame No way. Here only 10% of land is field so we could not farm hard enough to pollute the lake that bad. So we hired divers and they traced septic lines back to houses on the lake. In the 1920,s these were camps, not houses, but over time people converted camps to year a round houses and just kept the old wastelines as proper septic systems would be expensive. After 10 houses the Maine Dept Environmental Protection told us to get the divers out and that it was farmers doing the polluting. It was just too big of a problem to tackle as no one has any money to put in septic systems everywhere and they know it. I would not think a washing machine would be an expensive fix however.

how big are these trees?? it is said the root mass.. in the shape of a flat pancake can be twice as big as the tree you see above the ground ... the feeder roots may not even be in your yard ... which is how big??? .. break down 1800 sq feet ... its too early for me to figure that out ... im presuming.. you did not shave off the lawn.. just killed it and then mulched?? well established trees should not need any water ... so your lawn watering was just a bonus.. of course.. there might be.. in tree time.. some years of adjusting to the new circ's .... but im not sure there is anything you need to worry about .. maybe in severe drought.. give them a decent drink ... cant hurt .. but do keep in mind.. you did mulch ... and that should help retain moisture in the soil ... what did you mulch with ... and i presume no landscape fabric was used?? ken