Thanks for your email, Your comments on lawn care are appreciated

I understand your concerns. Yes you are right about the chemicals being banned, up to 5 years ago, we would apply Merit for grubs- it worked -95% effective- was less poisonous than table salt, but because it is a chemical , Mr McGuinty decided it can't be used on home lawns.

 

The only treatment for grubs is what we call nematodes- Testing at the University of Guelph- Turfgrass Institute- show that they are about 50% effective. So that is in their outdoor laboratories. 

In a home lawn- under less than ideal conditions- I feel we are going to be lucky to get 50% control.

 

The problem -even if we do get 50% control, the animals may still come around to dig up a lawn that has grubs- they may say- the buffet here is not as good as before , but I'm still hungry enough to dig around to find my midnight meal.

 

While sodding will give you a new lawn that looks great and will give it to you instantly. This does not solve the problem with grubs. 

Grubs that may be in the lawns right now, will soon mature, pupate, turn into adults. The adult beetles will then fly around, mate, then the females will lay eggs. Because these are flying insects- they may lay their eggs in your lawn or they may go to the neighbour's lawn. Or the adults from a neighbour's lawn may come over and lay their eggs on your lawn. No one can predict which lawn will have eggs laid on it this summer. 

 

The other day, someone said that they had not had grub problems for the last 10 years. Other folks seem to get grubs for the last 3  in a row. Certainly we have seen an increase since Merit is no longer allowed.

 

The best solution is repair the damage - by fertilizing to help the lawn to recover from the damage. And to seed to help the bare or damaged spots to fill in.

 

Of course there are several ways to seed the lawn. The important thing with seeding is to ensure that the seed has good contact with the soil so that it will keep moist and germinate. Often with animals digging, there is enough spaces and enough dirt showing to let the seed fall into the soil.

 

Turf King often does lawn repairs by aerating and overseeding.

 

With seeding, the main thing is to make sure it stays moist. We recommend watering new seed once or twice a day after the seeding.