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Bad Bug Profile: Grubs
 Whenever
I poke around in our soil, I usually come across some big white
grubs. Grubs are the larval form of scarab beetles, a large
family which includes over a thousand species in the U.S. and
Canada. The best known of these is the Japanese Beetle,
which can be identified by looking
at the nearly microscopic hair patterns at the butt end of the grub.
I consider grubs to be bad news, and in many cases they are since they
turn into pest beetles or eat plant roots. On the other hand,
some grubs are useful since they decompose organic matter in the
soil. Regardless, I toss them all into the chicken coop and watch
the hens fight over these fat bundles of protein, along with the worms
Mark adds to sweeten the pot.
Species: Many species in
Scarabaeidae (Scarab family)
Plants Affected: Japanese Beetles (Popillia japonica)
feed on the leaves of grapes, apples, plums, cherries, strawberries,
and various ornamentals. Some grubs feed on plant roots.
Related Species:
Other common white grubs turn
into June Beetles
and several other species.
Natural Enemies:
Parasitic
wasps, diseases including Milky Spore, nematodes.
Organic Control:
Traps may be worse than
useless since they'll lure your neighbor's
Japanese Beetles into your garden. Luckily, both the adults and
grubs are very easy to handpick and the chickens love them.
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Read other posts about Organic Insect Control:
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