White Grubs

21 years ago

Hi All

My first post on this forum. We've recently moved up here to the Gold Coast from Sydney (where we lived in a Unit and had no garden) and I'm now starting to find the time to spend on our garden. I am determined to go organic and have been doing a lot of reading into composting, organic gardening and common garden "pests".

It's quite large, and I'm currently doing some prep work before I start planting anything, have started a compost heap and installed a worm tunnel (from Better Homes and Gardens show a while back) on the weekend in our herb garden.

Anyway - while I was digging the hole for the worm tunnel - I noticed a lot of these white grubs in the roots of some of the plants I pulled up - found about 10 and fed them to the Magpies (yum!)

They are about 3cm long, have a white body, brown head with jaws and curl up when you disturb them. I looked them up and I think they are a white curl grubs - and it looks like they are mostly a problem in lawns. Should this be something to worry about? Will they spread to my lawn and cause trouble (lawn looks pretty good at the moment).

Thanks!

Steve

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Comments (7)

User
21 years ago
Many Welcomes Steve, yes we have lots of them on our block too and dont the chooks love them , as well as the butcher birds, maggies, and peewees.

We have a native couch grass of sorts covering our block and they dont seem to be doing any damage to this grass, but that dosn't mean to say that they wont touch your lawn, you see I never water mine so the soil being so dry could make a difference, but I have found them 45-60cm down when we have dug holes to plant trees in very dry hard compacted soil.

There are plenty of things out there if you have to spray, but remember lawns in SE Qld are almost non-existant in the dry season and the wet as well when we dont get rain, and the GC have more water restrictions than Brissie, so very sad as it may seem you may loose your pretty good lawn.

So try not to spray as I dont think it will do that lawn much good, and believe me the Birds will love you for it.

And the best of luck with your Garden......MM.
User
21 years ago
Hi Steve,
Yes I agree wholeheartedly with MM. I have these little critters in my lawn. I have never used anything to get rid of them in over 30 years. I have Magpies and Blackbirds who basically keep them under control for me. I believe that if your garden is as environmentally friendly as possible and wild birds are encouraged with some appropriate planting and bird baths, there will be a balance. Don't get me wrong, I will use things when absolutely necessary, but I don't think a lawn really comes into that category. Any I find while digging in the garden are squashed or passed on to my bird friends. They won't "spread" because they are the larvae form of the Christmas beetle.
Cheers,
Dee.
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sunshine_qld
21 years ago
I have never had any bad effects from them in my gardens but have had trouble with them in pots. They must have come in the potting mix. It doesn't take long for the plants to look sickly as they eat the roots.
ginnybee
21 years ago
Welcome to the garden web it is great, I have got them I think most people have garden experts tell us not to worry about them they don't damage my lawn & it is quite ok when I am gardening my little dog waits for them as she loves them they are all protien I heard, the magies also dig them out(they aerate the soil I think) just enjoy the garden & have fun.
Jan.
Amelie
21 years ago
I agree with Sunshine - they sure do something bad to plants in pots.
conifer_nut
21 years ago
Agree with Sunshine and Amelie.They don't seem to cause a problem in lawns but wreak havoc in pots.I have lost many an expensive and otherwise healthy plant to them and only found out during plant post mortem. They eat all the plants roots.There is probably a chemical available to use against them. C.N.
mishimc
21 years ago
Well I hate to disagree but I have a blue couch lawn and those grubs totally destroy at least half of it every summer. The maggies pull out the tufts of dead grass and eat as many grubs as they can but they cannot keep up with them. I just get so disheartened when I start off Spring with a lovely lawn and by Christmas, half of it is dead.
I have no idea how or when I will ever eradicate them now - this has happened for the last four or five years.
The grubs and the meat ants have beaten me this year!
Cheers, Jean

White Grubs

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