Lawn insects

Almost every gardener has seen grub larvae in the soil while installing new plants or tilling the vegetable garden.  The term "white grub" actually encompasses the larval stage of several scarab beetles, the most common and most damaging, being the June beetle/masked chafer and the Japanese beetle.  Less well-known, are the May/June beetle and green June beetle.  All have a grub larval stage that can cause damage to turfgrass.  The grubs are off white, with six legs located just behind their reddish-brown head and are usually found curled into a "C" shape in the soil.  

Popular plants can be overplanted in the landscape. Two examples of overplanted tree species in most communities includes ornamental pear varieties, such as Bradford pear, and red maple. Planting lots of one specific plant not only gets monotonous, but can lead to problems.

Low diversity plantings, consisting of only a few species, should be avoided for several reasons.

As if 2023 hasn’t thrown gardeners enough curves already - like drought damage in lawns, shrubs, trees and ornamentals – soon it will be Japanese beetle season. Wonderful, that’s all we need!

But we must be realistic and acknowledge the fact – Japanese beetles are here to stay. Once an invasive species like this one comes into an area, there is no good way to eliminate them completely. So, what can gardeners do - especially with an eye toward long-term damage reduction?

One of the most easily recognized insects in the home landscape is the white grub. Almost every gardener has seen white grub larvae in the soil, while installing new plants or tilling the vegetable garden. The term "white grub" actually encompasses the larval stage of several scarab beetles, the most common, and most damaging, being the June beetle or masked chafer, and the Japanese beetle. Less well-known are the May/June beetle and green June beetle. All have a white grub larval stage that can cause damage to turfgrass.

One of the most easily recognized insects in the home landscape is the white grub. Almost every gardener has seen white grub larvae in the soil, while installing new plants or tilling the vegetable garden. The term "white grub" actually encompasses the larval stage of several scarab beetles, the most common, and most damaging, being the June beetle or masked chafer, and the Japanese beetle. Less well-known are the May/June beetle and green June beetle. All have a white grub larval stage that can cause damage to turfgrass.

What are grubs?

Some insects only sporadically cause problems in lawns and landscapes. They are there, every year, but usually in such low numbers they can easily be overlooked. Fall armyworm is one such insect, but it appears they will not go unnoticed this year.

There are actually several species of armyworm, including common and yellowstriped, but the dominant species this year is fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda. Armyworms get their common name from their tendency to move in large groups, or armies, of caterpillars.