Lawn Grub Types
Armyworm and Sod Webworm
The Armyworm gets its name from the way it gathers in large groups and literally marches through an area eating the leaves in its path which can cause a lot a damage to your prized lawn. They enjoy feeding on young leaves where you can see their munch marks.
White Curl Grubs, Scarab Beetles.
White Curl Lawn grubs are basically the junior form or larvae of Scarab Beetles and they are sometimes called White Curl Grubs. They are related to the famous Dung Beetle. There is over 30,000 different species of Scarab Beetle Worldwide and over 2,000 in Australia.
Lawn grubs can be a real problem if they arrive at your beautiful lawn. They prefer to eat Kikuyu and Couch grass varieties over Zoysia’s and Buffalo’s. However, they can attack the more resistant varieties as well.
Most Scarab beetles have a life cycle of one year.
The Life Cycle Of A Lawn Grub – White Curl / Scarab Beetle Lawn Grub
Spring
They wake up in Spring and start feeding on the grass roots. Once they start they can eat quickly and really cause a lot of damage. Once they have finished eating they will turn into pupae as shown in the middle of the pic below.
Summer
In Summer, the pupae will turn into beetles and will come to the top of the soil to feed on flowers and other foliage. They will mate during early to mid Summer and then lay their eggs in the soil. This all happens over a 3 week period.
Autumn
In Autumn, the new eggs will hatch and start to feed on the lawn roots causing them a lot of damage.
How To Identify Damage Made By Lawn Grubs
During the Spring lawns really start to come back to life and produce much thicker, greener leaves. You may see brown patches that wont grow grass in them. Try to lift the dead brown grass. If it lifts and you can see that the roots are no longer there then you know they have been eaten.
How To Prevent Lawn Grub Damage
Keep on top of your lawn care regime
Firstly, keep on top of your lawn maintenance regime including watering, mowing, edging, fertilising and weed control. This makes for a healthy lawn which is much better at keeping those pesky insect pests at bay in the first place
Acelepryn GR Turf Insecticide
We recommend Acelepryn GR Turf Insecticide because we have found it to be very effective in our paddocks. Acelepryn provides effective protection against insect damage to lawns. It is a selective insecticide designed for maximum effectiveness against lawn pest but also minimises any effect to the environment and is beneficial to earthworms and bees. It is effective in controlling lawn pests including Webworm, Armyworm, Billbugs, Argentinian Scarab, Cutworm, Argentine Stem Weevil, African Black Beetle.
For excellent preemptive results apply in Mid September. When applied from Mid December to deal with exisiting damage, a higher application rate needs to be used as per the instructions.