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Pests & Diseases - Australia

Whitchety grubs under lawn

19 years ago

any suggestions for getting rid of thousands of whitchety grubs under layed turf. Ants and birds are having a field day. Continually using ant sand and have tried a multi-use slater/earwig poison - but I'm not winning!! Any ideas specially aimed at getting rid of whitchety grubs would be appreciated.

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Comments (4)

lesley
18 years ago
Idon't know if this is going to help you much - but I just encouraged all the maggies, blackbirds, etc. to come in - put bread etc out whenever they were around. Took about 12 months but we have had a large tribe of maggies and other birdlife for many years now and no grubs, cockchafer grubs to be found!!

I don't think that poisons will help because you kill off everything that might eat the grubs.
alisonoz_gw
18 years ago
I don't know if it will work with witchety grubs it did for me with lawn grubs though time consuming. I laid out some old pieces of cloth - old curtains in fact and moistened it. Found they would rise to feed on the grass and roots overnight and still being in dark under the cloth, be on the ground surface early morning. Pull back the cloth and they will soon be picked up by the birds, or the sun will get them, or you can do it yourself. Old hessian bags, anthing to hand, just try a test see if it helps.
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It's really early in the season for grubs, but if you counted them, then maybe not. Milky spore has a reputation of requiring years of continual usage to build up a sufficient population of the spores that you can control anything. On the other hand, beneficial nematodes seem to work right away. These nematodes carry an insect disease which infects the grubs. The nematodes burrow into the grubs giving them the disease. The disease kills the grubs in 24 to 48 hours. I use the Guardian Lawn Patrol nematodes out of Colorado (Google it). Your soil needs to be very moist when you apply. If you apply them to dry soil then you just killed all your nematodes. They need a film of water to move through the soil and find the grubs. I would apply about 3/4 inch of water first, then apply the nematodes with a hose end sprayer, then apply another 1/4 inch of water.
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There are many white grubs, not all are unfriendly. (One I think is the lavae of the soldier bug). As with any problem, you should try to identify before trying to fix. If the grubs are visible, or found in the compost, they probably are something else, and applying Milky Spore may be a waste of time and money. The organic forum often has discussions about grubs. Sorry I cannot give any hard fast advice, but I assume that if my soil is healthy, the good and bad bugs will even out, and mother nature takes care of things. A few unidentified bugs don't phase me, unless they are detrimental to a plants health.
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You should go to the Lawn Forum or Organic Gardening. Lots of knowledgeable people there, and lots of information about what you want to know.
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Comments (9)
Can you post a picture, preferably taken on a cloudy day? No treatments? That's normal. I've never treated for grubs. Never had grubs to treat. God makes up for it by sending me fungal diseases every year. Did you see grubs? No water? Probably fine for this crazy rain year. I didn't water until about 6 weeks after our rains stopped in June. Zoysia is the wildcard. It might come back full density next April. I would not have the guys over to play football on it this winter, though. It is likely too late this year to do any normal seeding. You could frost seed later on after it cools off much more. That seed will germinate in the early spring and hopefully get a jump on the crabgrass seed, which is also germinating in the spring. In any case, even with crabgrass you'll have some sort of a green lawn. And then next fall you can reseed. If you want to put down sod, you can do that now or in the spring.
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User
18 years ago
What a great idea Alison! I will try and remember that one for others who have the same problem.
Dee.
robyn5760
18 years ago
Whatever grubs they are, they are NOT whitchetty grubs - more likey the grub of a beetle (whichetty grubs are the grub of a moth and they live exclusively on the fibrous matter of trees - mainly accacia and eucalypts.) They burrow into the tree leaving a small hole in the trunk of the tree which they gradually enlarge as they grow. The grub you describe are known as 'curl grubs' and is the larvae of the African black beetle.

http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/business/7327.html

Cheers
Robyn

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