Grubby Grubs !!! Milky Spore?

[KentT]

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]

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]

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]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Research at Cornell has shown that northern winters kill almost 90% of any milky spore you put down. )</font>

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

 

[RichZ]

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]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( 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. )</font>

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]

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]

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