Grubby Grubs !!! Milky Spore?

r0GuE · Apr 21, 2006

Is now a good time to start killing grubs. Last year, they destroyed my lawn. The must die..die DIE DIE!!! DIIIIIEEEEE GRUBBY GRUBS!!! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Sorry... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

So I was thinking of trying the milky spore, but I'm not opposed to other methods. I want to hit them hard, and often and forever and kill their kids too and their freinds (do grubs have freinds? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif ).

Sorry again... and ideas?

KentT · Apr 21, 2006

You have the right idea. Milky spore is a permanent solution, but it takes a while for it to spread to cover the entire lawn ...

The only way to speed it up to to buy more of the high-$$ spore...

ToadHill · Apr 22, 2006

Research at Cornell has shown that northern winters kill almost 90% of any milky spore you put down. Use Merit in granular form, it's very effective. Grubs are the larve of beetles, most of the lawn grubs you see are Jap. beetles, so if you can eliminate them you can keep the problem down.

fireshawn · Apr 22, 2006

Milky Spore is awful expensive if you have a large area to cover. You could try benificial nematode's. They aren't cheap either but they last a little longer. Once you get them established they are self populating unless you live in an extremely cold climate.

srs · Apr 23, 2006

( Research at Cornell has shown that northern winters kill almost 90% of any milky spore you put down. )

ToadHill, do you think the winters here in northern Maryland would kill the milky spores?

RichZ · Apr 23, 2006

I used milky spore quite a few years ago, back when I lived in suburbia, on Long Island, New York. It worked great, and was a permanent solution. We had pretty cold winters, and it didn't reduce the effectiveness. If you have a grub population, it spreads pretty fast, and remains in the soil. Even if 90% of the spores were killed by cold winters, there would probably easily be enough left to be effective, and it's non-polluting, unlike pesticides. Go with milky spore.

KentT · Apr 24, 2006

( Even if 90% of the spores were killed by cold winters, there would probably easily be enough left to be effective, and it's non-polluting, unlike pesticides. Go with milky spore. )

A neighbor used Milky Spore here in Central Massachuetts and was quite pleased with the results also... his challenge was skunks digging up his lawn to get the grubs -- by the end of the second summer, his problems were totally gone... and haven't returned.

Organic, non-polluting, permanent solution -- I wish other gardening problems were so easily solved....

ToadHill · Apr 24, 2006

If my menory serves me right Milky Spore will survive if your in zone 6 or more. I think Maryland is 6 or 7 so it should survive there.

forgeblast · Apr 25, 2006

go to gardens alive, and by their grub away neimatodes. i have used that product and have seen quick results. one year they ate all my carrots, the next year i sprayed and i had no damage. My parents used it and they finally are able to grow grass in one part of their yard that they never could because of the grubs. the best part is i use a squirt gun to apply them, and its kind of like shooting the grubs.
ps they have a northern and southern version of the neimatodes.
later
forgeblast