Methods for Detecting Lawn Grubs

Lawn grubs are larvae of adult moths. A common problem in Southeast Queensland, lawn grubs is the collective term that describes army worms, sod webworms, and cutworms.

Lawn grubs feed on the fresh, young green leaves of your lawn above the ground, which reduces the quality and slows down the growth of the grass. When sections of your lawn turn brown, dry, and brittle, it is most likely that it is infested with lawn grubs. In some cases, a patch of the lawn is slightly shorter and thinner, or it looks like it has been recently mown. To check if your lawn is infested with lawn grubs, you can follow the methods enumerated below.

• Tear out some leaves from your turf and closely inspect them.

• Look for circular patches in your lawn that is turning yellow or brown.

• Peel a part of your lawn. When you try to peel a part of your lawn and the patch lifts so easily it was like lifting a piece of carpet from the floor, then your lawn is damaged with lawn grubs.

• Walk on the lawn. When you feel that the lawn is soft and spongy and you found grass lying loosely on top of your lawn, there is presence of lawn grubs on your lawn.

• Flood the lawn with water. This technique will bring the lawn grubs to the soil surface so that you can easily see them.

• Leave a wet hessian bag on the grass overnight. This is another practice employed so that lawn grubs will surface on the top soil. However, you need to check your lawn by lifting the bag before it gets hot, usually 7 o'clock in the morning.

• Small green pellets of excrement that appear like balls of grass mulch accumulate and found within the thatch or damaged area.

• Wasps or grey moths hover over your lawn.

As soon as you detect lawn grubs on your lawn, start treating them to get rid of the grubs and keep your lawn green and healthy.