ORLANDO, Fla. – Are grubs a new enemy of Florida lawns? “Probably not,” shares Greg Pagano. “But we may have been taking care of grubs while we were controlling something else in the soil, so we didn’t notice them as much.”
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But according to Pagano, lawn and landscape market specialist, Bayer Environmental Science, Research Triangle Park, N.C., a newer grub is proving more difficult to control than the other 54 species that attack Florida lawns – the sugar cane beetle, which has lived through the closing of sugar cane fields. Many of those fields were turned into sod farms and so now the grubs are showing up in customers’ lawns, Pagano said. At the Orlando, Fla. Bayer Environmental Science Annual Summit Series: Healthy Lawns, Healthy Business, Pagano gave more than 70 attendees the details about this tough insect:
- The sugar can beetle has been seen in the Orlando market.
- Damage is specifically severe in coastal areas.
- Damage occurs from August to November and even into January, meaning the insect is a bit more tolerant of cooler weather.
- The sugar cane beetle completely consumes the root system of many turf species.
- At this point, Pagano says researchers still believe this insect has a one-year lifecycle.
- Third instar grubs are more than 2 inches long, much larger than most other grubs.
- Preventive control, so far, is not working well on this grub.
- Adults are active from 1 to 3 a.m.
- Mating occurs in the soil after a maturation period of seven to 10 days.
- Eggs are located 4 inches deep in the soil, most likely below the treatment level, which could explain why they are escaping pesticides.
- Sugar cane beetle grubs are not always curled in a C shape. An average-sized sugar cane beetle grub is larger than a quarter, another reason control may be challenging. The trick is to get control before the grubs get big, but it’s hard to find these smaller grubs on the surface.
- By mid-summer, lawns affected by sugar cane beetle grubs look dried out.
- Populations of these grubs don’t have to be as high as other grubs to cause severe damage.
Think your Florida-based clients’ lawns are infected with the sugar cane beetle? Contact your Bayer Environmental Science sales representative. The company offers a service where if you mail in a grub, they will pay for its identification, a $70 value, points out Pagano.