Skip to main content

Grub Killing with Milky Spore

Until we started digging up the garden I had never seen a grub up close. I wasn't missing anything. They are slimy white curved bugs with wild looking legs. All I had to do was lift the soil for them to shake loose, dropping back into the bed below.

See that white little friend hiding in the soil?
There he is up close and blurry. (Night photo didn't come out so hot.)

Another one poking his little head out of the soil.
Smile for your close up buddy!

If you don't know much about them: here's the non-scientific overview that I've gotten. They are the larva of the Japanese Beetle and they spend copious amounts of time eating at the root system of your lawn and killing it.

Right about now (March/April) they are making their way to the ground surface right below your lawn after a long winter inches below - and they are gearing up for a feast.

Since I'm planting veggies I didn't want to use chemical based fertilizer to fix the problem - so, as recommended, I bought Milky Spore.

It's a bacteria that inoculates the soil and eats the grubs from the inside out. Fancy. It won't harm you or your pets - and it's safe for the veggie garden.

I was able to find it without any problem at Lowes. However they don't sell the applicator wand recommended for convenient dispersing. I might get one tonight or I might just forge through without.

They recommend applying before a rain or water the lawn for 15 minutes post application.

I am thinking of putting it down tonight - I'll let you know how it goes!

Comments

  1. Look at you! I'm so impressed. I can't wait to see how it all comes along!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Planning The Garden Layout.

I had mentioned last year that there were a couple of things I was going to change in my planting design this year. I decided that I wanted to sketch things out so that my time spent planting was a little more organized. Here is what I'm thinking about doing!  If you are an experienced gardener and see any errors in my plans....please let me know!  All feedback  is welcomed! I've got my vine plants like zucchini and cucumber placed against the outside wire fence so that they can climb....and I'm not going to overcrowd this year. I did some minor rotating of the plants to make sure that there is a difference in the nutrients being leached from the soil (though I will admit that I didn't do enough research on this yet). There will definitely be trial and error on this, but I like that! I'm growing Jalapeno's and Carrots, which I didn't do last year....and then I took eggplant off the garden plot.  I might try it in containers instead.  They didn

Lettuce Begin Again!

A little time. A little Sunshine. A couple of cooler weather crops. And we have begun. Today I spent a good portion of my afternoon out in the garden space, readying it for the planting season. I turned the soil with the hoe.  I pulled out the little patches of grass that seeded themselves in over the course of the winter. And then I decided it was time to put my lettuce and spinach seeds in the ground.  (I haven't purchased my kale yet or that would be seeded in as well.) I'm going to head out later to get what I need to start my seedlings for the rest of the garden.  I'm a little later than I was last year, but I did have a couple of mishaps in round one that I'm going to avoid in round two!!  I love growing season!

Onion Sets

Being that I'm completely new to the back yard gardening box I'm completely fascinated by certain foods and their planting rituals. This week my eyes are SET on the onion. After eating three green onions freshly picked and cleaned from a home garden last weekend my brain has been consumed. When i started my seedlings I did plant onion seeds and I do have about 25 sprouts...but to take my onion adventure even further i decided to take a recommendation and buy onion sets. Since I had never heard of an onion set I began a little research and have learned a lot in just two days. You have three options for planting onions... 1. seeds 2. sets 3. transplants - I need to read more on this one. I think they are just sets that have matured and began to bulb. I've got two of them in action - seeds and sets. My seeds that were planted are about an inch and a half high. Some of them have been transplanted into my garden and I'm hoping they become full sized onions. About 20 or so