What are Chafer Grubs?
Chafer grubs are soil-dwelling larvae of chafer beetles. They feed on plant roots.
A combination of chafer grubs and the larger animals (Badgers & Foxes) that feed on them can quickly turn a neat lawn into something that resembles a ploughed field.
Here are Some Symptoms
Chafer grubs eat the roots of grasses and other plants. Evidence of their activities can be seen in several ways;
- Damage to lawns is most evident between autumn and spring when the grubs are reaching maturity.
- Patches of the lawn may become yellowish.
- Birds, particularly of the crow family (eg, jays, magpies, rooks, and crows), and badgers and foxes feed on the grubs, tearing up the loosened turf in the process.
- Damaging infestations can be highly localised and sporadic in occurrence
- Chafer grubs can be found in the soil under the loose turf. They have stout white bodies curved in a C shape, light brown heads, and three pairs of legs at the head end. They are bigger than the adult beetles and, if straightened out, would be up to 18mm (almost 3/4in) long
- Other less troublesome species of chafer grubs can also occur in turf, and these can have larvae up to 30mm (over an inch)
- Leatherjackets can also cause similar damage in lawns.
Main Symptoms
Scruffy turf with pieces pulled up by birds and animals searching for the grubs.
Most Active Grubs
September – April; Adult beetles: May – June
Leather Jackets
Leatherjackets can be damaging lawn pests and also sometimes kill small plants in flower beds and vegetable plots by eating the roots and stem bases. They are often more numerous after a wet autumn, as damp conditions favour the survival of the eggs and young larvae.
What are Chafer Grubs?
Leatherjackets are the soil-dwelling larvae of flies known as crane flies or daddy-longlegs.
Here are Some Symptoms,
How to tell if leatherjackets are a problem in your garden:
- Lawns develop patches where the grass turns yellowish-brown and dies. This can be distinguished from similar effects caused by lawn diseases or adverse growing conditions by lifting the affected turf and finding leatherjackets in the surface layers of the soil.
- Crows, magpies, rooks, and starlings will search for leatherjackets in turf. These birds leave small round holes in the turf where they have inserted their beaks.
- Leatherjackets have elongated, tubular bodies, up to 30mm long, and are greyish-brown. They have no legs or an obvious head.
- In flower beds or vegetable plots, seedlings and small plants are killed when the stems are damaged at the soil level.
How to Control ?
Chemical Control
The only pesticide for use on lawns is imidacloprid (Bayer Provado Lawn Grub Killer). The best time to apply either treatment is in early autumn when the leatherjackets are relatively small and more vulnerable.
Non-Chemical Control
A biological control is available for controlling leatherjackets in lawns, flower beds, and vegetable plots. This is a pathogenic nematode, Steinernema feltiae, which is watered into the turf or soil. The nematodes enter the bodies of leatherjackets and infect them with a bacterial disease. To be effective, the nematode requires soil that is well-drained but moist, with a minimum temperature of 12°C (54°F).
The nematode can be obtained from mail-order suppliers of biological controls.
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