By the clip the 4thof July comes around , your lawn is probably the last shoes you require to be during Virginia ’s blistering summers . Quality lawns in Virginia can be challenging , particularly during the hot , humid summer . Virginia is located in a transition zona for turfgrasses , with mood that can be harsh in both winter and summertime . Cool - season grasses most unremarkably used here , such as Kentucky bluegrass , rye and marvelous fescue , produce strong enough and deep enough to cope with our hot summer and cold-blooded winters . Warm- time of year grass such as Zoysia and Bermuda eatage are Dominicus - tough , plus drouth and humidity tolerant , but they do go dormant in the winter , make for a brown lawn until outpouring . There is actually a green spray key that purportedly conquer this problem , but why bother ?
In recent lawn aid article for The Garden Shed , I have emphasized theimportance of mowing high and watering long and infrequently . As a admonisher , mowing height is 3 - 3.5 inches for Festuca elatior eccentric grass or even 4 inches in the nerve-wracking heat of July and August . The warm season grasses such as Zoysia and Bermuda can be about 1.5 - 2 inches . A lawn prefers 1 - 1.5 column inch of weewee per workweek and maybe more in July and August . It is the natural cycle of cool season grasses to go dormant with the heat , and then to green up in the fall — and that ’s fine if you may stand to look at dark-brown grass for the summertime month .
Grubs
Besides proper mowing and lachrymation , there is in reality very small else to do for your lawn in July . However , make some observations now may lead you to consider whether grubs are a problem in your lawn . The mere presence of grub is not always a trouble and may not require discussion .
Not indisputable you know a chuck when you see one ? When you first turn over the garden dirt in the spring , you may have blemish some of the C - form white grubs . I know I did and instinctively , pull them out of the way when planting , think they would eat my flowers or veg . However , grubs favor feed the roots of your lawn ! Their favourite place is grass in the sunshine with high-pitched wet — such as beautiful green lawns that have an irrigation arrangement . If this lawn is surrounded by dry non - irrigated lawn , it is a prime target for testicle - set grubs . chow ordinarily do not like suspect lawns . Thus , extremely uphold lawn , golf game courses and athletic fields are the most susceptible to grub damage .
Grub Life cps
grub are the larval point of scarab beetle . Nipponese beetles and northern masked chafer grubs are the paramount white grub relate with damaging home lawn . Grubs are dirty white in coloring with a soft body , brown head and 6 wooden leg . The size varies with the species and age , but full grown Nipponese mallet grubs average about an in . Japanese grownup beetles are a brilliant metal special K , 3/8 in to 1/2 inch long , with coppery brown annexe covers , five lateral spots with white hairs on each side of the abdomen and unretentive gray hairs covering the undersurface of the insect . I must say I have never examine a Nipponese mallet this intensely to jazz for certain . What I do hump is that these insects can surely eat their way through an decorative garden , wipe out foliage voraciously . The adults can make more price than the grub themselves in a home landscape .
The lifespan cycle of most of these beetle is 12 months . May or June beetles have a three year life cycle . The grownup beetle place its eggs in the priming during the summer . As soon as they hatch , they start feed on the Mary Jane roots until cold weather drives them down two to eight inches deeper into the dirt where they overwinter . When warm atmospheric condition arrives in the spring , the grubs ( now at their largest sizing ) move up from the lower soil regions and start feed again near the surface until they become fledged and pupate , commonly in June and July . This is when you start to see Nipponese beetle in your chiliad . These adults again lay grand of eggs throughout the summer .
Damage
How do I know if I have grub damage in my lawn?Look for patchy , wilting and browning of irregular shaped arena of the lawn . Also , think back to late last outpouring or fall , when grub harm is easy to spot . If the greensward can be easily pull from the stain , this suggests grub damage because of the lack of a root system of rules . The other sign of grub damage is from smoke and racoon digging up lawns in search of chow to use up . The only elbow room to corroborate that this damage is from the grubs is to actually see them . In midsummer , though , they will be too small to name . Most of the damage done by the skunks and raccoon is far worse than the grub damage itself . Late spring and mid - fall are the easiest sentence to see the hurt rather than midsummer .
So in late August to October , turn the turf back in any damage areas by take a shovel and digging up a straight base of sod samples around the suspicious area , down to a depth of 2 in . Look for the 3/4 inch white grubs . Some experts say if there are more than 6 - 10 grubs / square groundwork , treatment may be justified , but there are many variable and the phone number itself should not always lead to treatment . Be sure to lay the sample back down , throng it firmly and water the area to prevent it from dry out out and completely dying .
Predicting chuck damage
Trying to foretell grub equipment casualty is hard as insect go in bike . They may have been in your lawn antecedently and now they are at your neighbor ’s . But if you see peck of adult beetles , specifically Nipponese beetles , in July , that is an indication they are lay eggs there . The disguise chafers are more active after sunset , so it will be hard to identify them . They are chestnut brown and cover with fine hair and are about 1/2 inch long .
Can I prevent chow damage ?
One option is allowing the lawn to go into quiescency as weather condition dry in July ( assuming there is little rainfall ) , reduce the betting odds of grub damage . Also , monitor the lawn closely as we advance into summertime and fall . Then if you see damaged expanse , you must determine for sure if eats cause it , and whether it is worth regale .
To regale or not to treat
If you ’re sure you have chow damage , but the turf is sensibly tidy and summertime drought and hotness stress are minimal , it is probable that treatment is not necessary , even on cool time of year grasses , which can withstand a fleck of chuck eating . Warm season grasses have an even greater inherent margin to grub since they are actively grow during the summer months . This is an individual decisiveness , but treatment should not be done if the harm is just minimal and uneven . If treatment is necessary , try the least toxic methods first .
Preserve Invertebrate Natural Enemies of grub : In addition to the variousvertebratenatural enemies that unluckily tend to cause turf harm when preying on white grubs , there are numerous more subtleinvertebrate natural enemy . undercoat beetles , emmet , and other good insect prey on bollock and youthful grubs . Various parasitic wasps and rainfly parasitize the sure-enough grubs . Various of course occur pathogens ( insect - epenthetic nematodes , kingdom Fungi , bacterium , protozoa ) defeat or step down the grubs . Preserve these lifelike enemiesas important buffers against grub outbreaks by using insecticides only when and where necessary to avoid unendurable damage .
Nonchemical - Cultural Controls : well turf direction ( proper irrigation , fertilization , mowing ) results in vigorous sod with a deep , extensive root organisation that can tolerate higher chow densities without showing damage . While no grub - resistive turfgrasses exist , metal money with a inscrutable source - system and high-pitched heat / drought tolerance are generally more tolerant of grub feeding . Among the nerveless - time of year grasses , tall fescue is the most tolerant coinage and perennial rye grass the least tolerant .
Yourwatering practicescan also control chow . Watering during peak beetle activity in summertime tends to attract bollock - laying females , peculiarly when the soil in surround areas is teetotal . Watering also increases survival of eggs and young larva . In late summertime and fall , however , irrigation makes the grass more chow - tolerant . Thus , if homeowners can keep their lawns dry during July and other August , beetle testicle may dry out up and pop off . plainly , the down side is your lawn will be dark-brown until water is applied .
Nonchemical - Curative ascendency :
Milky sporecan be use in belated August . However , it is only in effect on the Japanese beetle grub universe and may take 3 - 5 years to become sufficiently established in your lawn to inhibit the Japanese mallet . Also , insect parasitic nematodes can inhibit several white grub species . Nematodes are very small , live nonsegmental worm . They explore out the white grubs and after embark the grub , release a bacterium that kills the grub . This productshould be applied late in the twenty-four hours in moist soil and water in afterwards .
Chemical - Curative Controls :
We boost the cultural drill list above . If the damage is serious and large , adjoin a professional in regards to the enjoyment of any sanative products . Curative chow control has to be done at the appropriate clock time when they are small-scale and actively feed . For Virginia , this is July and August . Treatment in the outflow when the grubs are large is not as in effect . The need for preventative applications can be base on historic monitoring and current season adult Japanese mallet universe . .ALWAYS FOLLOW THE LABEL instruction TO MAXIMIZE CONTROL AND MINIMIZE NON - TARGET upshot . THE LABEL IS THE LAW .
Sources :
“ Beetlemania - White Grub Control in Lawns , ” Virginia Extension Office Publication , http://www.ext.vt.edu / subject / lawn - garden / turfgrass / turfandgardentips / wind / beetlemania.html
“ How to choose when to apply grub control products for your lawn , ” Michigan State University Extension Office Publication , http://msue.anr.msu.edu / news / how_to_choose_and_when_to_apply_grub_control_products_for_your_lawn
“ FAQ ’s on White Grubs in Lawn , ” University of Illinois Extension Office Publication , extension.illinois.edu / lawnfaqs / grubs.cfm
Paul Heller , “ White Grubs in Home Lawns,”Penn State Extension Office Publication , psu.edu / extension / factsheets / blanched - grubs - lawn
