Grubs Galore in the Garden

[ChanellG]

When I first started toiling about in garden #3 this past fall, I discovered there were grubs throughout the raised beds. I don't just mean one or two here and there, but bunches of them scattered throughout. The last thing I wanted to do is put in a bunch of plants and then have the roots destroyed by those ugly little things.

It turns out there are different kinds of grubs, only I have no idea which these are because I've not seen them emerging as adults. As far as I've always known, grubs have been a bad thing, but as I've been checking around for something to eradicate them, it seems not everyone sees them as that big of a deal.

When spring rolls around I will be purchasing beneficial nematodes because of their effectiveness on other unwanteds besides the grubs. I read somewhere that dish soap could be used to combat them as well, though I'm not sure I have faith in that. There are far too many to hand pick, and excavating and bagging the soil is proving too labor intensive. (It's not all that warm anyway...)

Have you been bothered by grubs or their adult counterparts eating your edibles? Have you successfully gotten rid of them via organic means?

 

[DancingLady]

It depends on what they are. Sprouts are the most vulnerable to things like pill bugs, which we have a lot of here. When the plant gets bigger they aren't a problem. There are bugs that do eat plants like squash bugs. You'll need to figure out what you have so you know if they are problems or not. If there are too many one thing to do is let the chickens forage in that part of the yard now and then to clean it out, if you have chickens that it. They love to eat grubs and it makes the eggs more nutritious.

 

[Chuck]

When I first started toiling about in garden #3 this past fall, I discovered there were grubs throughout the raised beds. I don't just mean one or two here and there, but bunches of them scattered throughout. The last thing I wanted to do is put in a bunch of plants and then have the roots destroyed by those ugly little things.

It turns out there are different kinds of grubs, only I have no idea which these are because I've not seen them emerging as adults. As far as I've always known, grubs have been a bad thing, but as I've been checking around for something to eradicate them, it seems not everyone sees them as that big of a deal.

When spring rolls around I will be purchasing beneficial nematodes because of their effectiveness on other unwanteds besides the grubs. I read somewhere that dish soap could be used to combat them as well, though I'm not sure I have faith in that. There are far too many to hand pick, and excavating and bagging the soil is proving too labor intensive. (It's not all that warm anyway...)

Have you been bothered by grubs or their adult counterparts eating your edibles? Have you successfully gotten rid of them via organic means?

The grubs you are having trouble with are the larval stage of the June Beetle. In our part of the world the beetles are a shiny brown color and we start seeing them in the spring flying around porch lights and such. This is the time to apply the beneficial nematodes, when you first see the beetles. The grubs you saw last fall are now in their pupae stage and will soon emerge as June Beetles and the newly hatched out June Beetles will lay their eggs and hatch out baby grubs which are the ones that do the most damage to our plants. Putting out nematodes now will be a waste of time and money. Wait a month or two. Nematodes will do a fantastic job.

 

[ChanellG]

It depends on what they are. Sprouts are the most vulnerable to things like pill bugs, which we have a lot of here. When the plant gets bigger they aren't a problem. There are bugs that do eat plants like squash bugs. You'll need to figure out what you have so you know if they are problems or not. If there are too many one thing to do is let the chickens forage in that part of the yard now and then to clean it out, if you have chickens that it. They love to eat grubs and it makes the eggs more nutritious.

No chickens, I'm in the city. I'm planning to root around today and see if I see this bug I saw last week that I suspect could be the adult version. I wanted to get them before they mature, but it looks like that may not be an option. It's an all herb garden for now, but I will be adding tomatoes in the spring. Everything is in containers, but once the adults emerge...

 

[ChanellG]

The grubs you are having trouble with are the larval stage of the June Beetle. In our part of the world the beetles are a shiny brown color and we start seeing them in the spring flying around porch lights and such. This is the time to apply the beneficial nematodes, when you first see the beetles. The grubs you saw last fall are now in their pupae stage and will soon emerge as June Beetles and the newly hatched out June Beetles will lay their eggs and hatch out baby grubs which are the ones that do the most damage to our plants. Putting out nematodes now will be a waste of time and money. Wait a month or two. Nematodes will do a fantastic job.

I can't get the nematodes now anyway; I want the live ones you mentioned in another thread. I am going to be redistributing the soil because the walkway between the beds was changed so maybe I'll just go ahead and bag it up anyway for now. There were a lot of weeds in the soil when I first started and there are probably seeds in the top layer anyway.

 

[Pat]

Right now the ground is way to hard to think about doing any type of gardening or looking at what is going on in the soil. After reading the great article on beneficial nematodes I can see why I would want to put it to use once the ground has started to warm up and some plants have sprouted.

 

[ChanellG]

Right now the ground is way to hard to think about doing any type of gardening or looking at what is going on in the soil. After reading the great article on beneficial nematodes I can see why I would want to put it to use once the ground has started to warm up and some plants have sprouted.

I was digging around in the dirt in garden #3 today, Pat. Didn't see as many grubs, but they've all tunneled down deeper in the soil by now. I've decided to ignore them for the moment, though when I come across them I toss them aside for the birds. I got the rest of the arugula up on the second riser and took care of a few other things in the same area.

 

[Radish Geek]

You might want to invest in just a few chickens as pest control and a rooster as a kind of "farmer's alarm clock". The bugs have kind of forced your hand. If you absolutely are not going to get chickens, consider buying some praying mantis egg cases. They're voracious, but you'll have to reapply them every year.