How to Get Rid of Grub Worms Naturally and With Chemicals

Grubs infestation in your lawn will cost you much to eliminate, knowing how to get rid of grub worms yourself will cut the cost of hiring a pest expert.

However, in this article, we are going to enlighten you on how you can identify, inspect your property, and get rid of grub worms.

What are Grub Worms?

Grub worms are the larvae of a variety of beetles that live underground in the soil beneath the grass. Grub worms actually feed off the roots of grass and can cause extensive damage to your launch root system.

This affects your grass’s ability to be able to absorb water and nutrients leaving it too weak to fend off summer heat and turf disease.

Sometimes damage can be so great that you can pull the grass up like a carpet. If you’ve noticed brown patches in the yard.

Then you’ll want to get control immediately. So we’ll start with the first step of our process.

How to Identify Grub Worms

Identification is one of the most important steps in pest control. You need to be certain that what’s killing your lawn is grub worms.

Your grass could be dying from a turf disease or it could be a different pest damaging the grass. If you aren’t sure it’s grub worms and you treat anyways, you can end up wasting time and money.

Below are steps to easily grub worms:

1. Grub worms can vary in size from 3/8 of an inch to two inches in length.
2. It is soft thick and has a wide body.
3. They’re frequently but not always curled like the letter C.
4. The key characteristics of grubs are their well-developed heads and legs. Their brownish heads with large mandibles.
5. They will also have three pairs of legs near their head.
6. The presence of the legs will help you distinguish grubs over other larval pests.

Signs of Grub Worms Infestation

Knowing how to spot the sign of grub worms infestation on your property is a crucial step because you need to recognize the signs.

There is a need to know how and where to look to spot grub worm activity. If you don’t properly treat the right spots, then, you could leave your lawn unable to defend itself.

1. First, check your damaged grass.
2. Pay attention to those scattered irregular patches of dead Turf because the grubs live in the soil.
3. Beneath the grass, we recommend using a shovel to dig a square foot about three inches deep, finding a couple of grubs is normal.
4. If you spot more than five grubs in that square foot patch, then treatment is necessary.

Note: When you’re done pack back down with water to help the grass from drying out.

Grub worms at the larvae stage have different Beatles, such as June bugs, Japanese beetles, and May beetles. What happens is they hatch in late summer, and begin feeding?

A lot of adult beetle activity especially in the summer months. This could be a sign that grubs are nearby, for more inspection tips and our in-depth grub control guide, keep reading.

How to Get Rid of Grub Worms Naturally and With Chemicals

In late, summer, August, and September are the peak times for grub activity. This is the best time to treat your yard.

The newly hatched grub worms will be closer to the ground surface feeding on the grass. So they’ll be more likely to come in contact with the pesticides.

How to Get Rid of Grub Worms Naturally

They are natural ways to get rid of grub worms, below are the steps:

1. Using beneficial nematodes are likewise utilized as normal grub treatment. These little, soil-abiding worms discharge microscopic organisms into the dirt that contaminates and kills grass grub worms. Nematodes are accessible in fluid-structure or blended in with water and showered onto influenced regions.
2. A normally happening pathogen like milky spore disease scientifically known as Bacillus popilliae influences bug hatchlings and will kill grubs without hurting you or your nursery, however it can take one to three years to turn out to be completely successful.
3. Applying plant tone organic fertilizer once every winter and fall will help get rid of grub worms.
4. Using biological pest agents like birds (wren) as grub worms are prey to these birds.

How to Get Rid of Grub Worms with Chemicals

They’ll also be weaker and more susceptible to treatments. You can use either a granular pesticide like Imidacloprid or a liquid pesticide like Dominion 2L insecticide.

You can choose, whichever is easier for you to apply but we recommend Dominion 2L because after being mixed with water, it will penetrate deep down into the soil where the grubs will be hiding.

Dominion 2L is also a systemic insecticide. Meaning, it will work its way through this root system of your lawn will be exposed to the pesticide.

When they’re feeding on the roots, Dominion 2L will also have up to 3 months residual and we’ll treat more than just grubs.

It can be used to control other turf pests, like chinch bugs, ornamental pests, like fit in even wood-destroying insects like termites and carpenter ants.

Use Dominion 2L with the hose end sprayer following label instructions. Using a hose-end sprayer is ideal because you want to make sure there’s enough water to carry the Dominion 2L down, deep into the soil where the grubs will be broadcast the dominion over your entire lawn, making a nice even coat.

We recommend aiming for about a gallon of water, per thousand square feet, and make sure you stay off the treated area until it dries.

You can also use the Imidacloprid granules. This is also a good option because like Dominion 2L all these granules will help control a variety of larval and turf pests.

And is also systemic to load the granules into a spreader following. The label directions broadcast the granules over the entire yard, like the Dominion 2L. The granules need to be soaked into the turf for best results.

So water the lawn thoroughly after application to drive the granules down again. Choose whichever product is easier for you to apply, but for heavy or re-occurring infestations, you might want to apply both products.

How to Prevent Grub Worms from Returning

Preventing grub worms and beetles from returning by regularly maintaining your yard.

1. Mow your grass at the right height properly water your lawn and fertilize your lawn in the fall. This will strengthen the turf’s roots and resist injury from grub worms.
2. Apply Dominion 2L or Imidacloprid granules every 3 months for long-lasting control.

Conclusion

In conclusion, be sure to keep up with reapplications of either natural or chemical methods of grub worms elimination to maintain and control grub worms on your property.

Grub worms are pests that will devour entire lawns, but following these DIY guides on how to get rid of grub worms.

You’ll be able to eliminate an infestation that’s gone out of hand completely. Do well to share!

About The Author

Will David

Hi, I am Will David aka Mr. Pest, research expert and author at Pestclue. With 5+ years of experience surfing pest, pest control and pet, I will assist and provide all solutions related to pests, pest control and pet care, my aim is to ensure your environment is pest-free and your pets are healthy.

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