Grass grubs are bronze beetle babies, and as far as pests go, a relatively easy one to balance in the home garden with natural practises such as I champion below. Mostly they reside in lawn – these are grass grubs after all!, but they can also make their way into your vegie patch. No matter where they are, the solutions are the same.
Before we get into it, lets begin with perspective – a few grubs here and there do not a problem make – how many do you actually have? 1 per metre square or 20? A worthy check cos when we hone in and obsess we have the power to make it larger and more dastardly than it actually is! 5 (or there about’s) per square metre is absolutely AOK.
Grass roots are like candy to a soil dwelling grub who once upon a time dined on tussock grass. If you keep your lawns short, you make life sweeter still: short lawns are lacking in soil biology that naturally predate them and easy for mama to lay her eggs on. All in all, home sweet home.
Be the opposite of the bowling green, and all will be well. Long, diverse lawns (or should I say meadows) make it hard for mama and difficult for grubs because long tops make long roots which aren’t such an easy, sweet buffet. Harder still because abiding in long tangled roots are hungry nematodes, voracious predators that proliferate in vibrant soils and go weak at the knees for plump, juicy grubs. As do birds, predatory beetles and parasitic wasps – so many predators! Entice them in. Job tidy.
To reduce grass grubs in your vegie patch:
- Grow a living mulch: which means to cover the soil with a diversity of crops and companions, be sure to include legumes.
- Ditch artificial fertilisers and stop overfeeding in order to bring complexity to the carbs that exude out the roots – no more lollies for you young grub.
- Squash any grubs you come across as you garden.
- Run your chooks through as part of your rotation, or leave the ground uncovered a day or so between crops to let the birds at them – just as a temporary measure until grubs reduce (which they will). Then, whether you used chooks or starlings, follow the bare ground immediately with a mixed greencrop, eventually planting your next crop amongst it.
To reduce grass grubs in your lawn:
- Leave your lawn as long as you dare between mowings
- One weed at a time, relax your grip and allow them to take part so as to get some plant diversity going
- Stop spraying the weeds and the edges
- Stop chasing the birds away
- Bin the artificial ferts and instead feed your lawn with a light sprinkle of compost in spring and my two ingredient biological feed.
If you need a bit extra, turn to Neem oil and use it to excellent effect from mid Jan thru March by following the unique directions on the bottle. When used together with a longer, more diverse, naturally fed, spray free garden/ lawn, grub populations will ease. Given time, that is, none of this is instant, but it does for sure work.
Thanks so much, Peter and Tash, for sending me the grass grub photo and allowing me to use the answer to your question, to help everyone.
