What Are Grubs and How Do I Control Them?

Have you ever turned up a bunch of plump, white, c-shaped creatures while digging in your yard? Those were grubs, the larvae of Japanese beetles, June beetles, or chafers. You probably interrupted them mid-snack, as they have voracious appetites after hatching and like nothing better than to feast on organic matter in the soil—including your lawn’s roots. Unfortunately, grubs and their notorious below-ground destruction may go unnoticed until late summer, when dead patches of grass suddenly appear in your lawn and begin to spread.

• Raccoons, skunks, armadillos, or birds dig up your yard searching for large, mature grubs to dine on.


• The dead patches of grass in your lawn peel back like pieces of loose carpet because the grubs have eaten the roots that usually hold the turf in place.


• Before dead patches even appear, your lawn feels spongy, like freshly laid sod, when you step on it.

It’s like the scene of a horticultural horror movie: Beetles emerge in early summer, feed on plants in your garden, then lay eggs in the soil in your lawn. Later in the summer, the eggs hatch and the grubs begin to eat. They continue to devour all of the grass roots they can reach, growing big and plump, until mid-fall, when they move deeper in the soil for protection against cold winter temperatures. When the soil warms up again in spring, the large, mature grubs move back into the upper soil levels, transform into adult beetles, and start the whole process over again.