When digging or planting beds, there can always be a surprise waiting. If they are fat, white, maggot-like looking animals, unfortunately it is not a good one. Because these are most likely voracious pests, namely grubs.
What are white maggots in the soil?
White grubs in the soil are often grubs, larvae of beetles such as May beetles, June beetles or garden leaf beetles. They feed on plant roots and can cause damage to the garden. Countermeasures include collection, predatory nematodes, traps or insect protection nets.
What are grubs?
Grubs are the larvae of certain species of beetles, those of the genus Scarabaeoidea. The following species are most likely to occur in our gardens:
- Cockchafer
- June beetle
- Garden leaf beetle
What all of these beetles have in common is that they lay their eggs in the soil, where the hatching larvae then feed on the roots of living plants. They primarily target grasses, which is why an infestation typically manifests itself in dying, easily removable islands in the garden lawn. But they don't stop at many bedding plants either; strawberry, beet or lettuce roots taste good to them.
Clear identification
You can recognize the harmful grubs by the following features:
- about 4-6 cm long, garden chafer grubs about 1 cm long
- caterpillar-like segmentation
- C-shaped curved
- creamy white color, darker head and abdomen area
- 3 bent sternum pairs
Countermeasures
Due to the significantly reduced number of May and June beetles these days and the small size of garden leaf beetles (and their grubs), the damage is actually not dramatic. But to avoid unsightly spots in the lawn and individual crop failures, you can do the following:
Collect
Digging up the affected areas and collecting the bugs manually is a very direct method.
Use nematodes
Grubs can also be contained quite reliably with the help of predatory nematodes (€29.00 on Amazon), which parasitize and kill the grubs.
Trap
A grub trap consists of a bucket filled with horse manure that you bury in the ground and leave there for a year. The grubs crawl in there and can then be removed along with the bucket.
Insect protection nets
As a preventive measure, it is also worth putting up insect protection nets over the ground during the beetle flight times to prevent them from laying their eggs.
