How Late Can I Put Down Grub Control? | Tomlinson Bomberger

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How Late Can I Put Down Grub Control?

As a professional lawn care service we get a lot of questions about lawn maintenance. One of the most common questions we get from late Spring through Summer is, “How late can I put down grub control?” The answer to this question varies for a number of reasons. These crucial elements impact the answer to that question:

• What is today’s date?
• What material are you using?

When Can I Put Down Grub Control?

There are two main types of grub control treatments, preventative grub control and corrective grub control. If you are asking this question in Spring or early Summer, you’ll need to direct your attention to the preventative materials. These materials are applied well before grubs hatch in late Summer and can provide several months of control. Preventative products remain ready to kill grubs after they first hatch and start to feed.

If you are asking this question late in the Summer or Fall when you have found grubs in your lawn, you will need a corrective control. This material provides good control when watered into turf with feeding grubs and has very little residual activity. It’s basically a “quick-kill” product.

What Material Should I Use for Grub Control?

For the past decade or so, there remain a few consistently well-performing materials used for grub control. Some of our lawn care programs have included preventative grub control treatments of Merit ® (imidacloprid), Allectus ® (combination of imidacloprid and bifenthrin), or Acelepryn ® (cholrantraniliprole). These have consistently been the industry standard materials to prevent grub damage. There are other materials that can be used, but our experience tells us to stick with the tried and true. If a corrective grub control is needed after grubs have been found feeding on a lawn, we have most frequently used Dylox ® (Trichlorfon, Dimethyl) to provide a quick method to kill grubs in lawns.

The Answer? 

Read the label of the material you intend to use. We’d like to say there is an easy answer, but manufacturers have varied in recommended timing of their materials. This has changed over the past decade as continued research has changed their stance.

If you put a preventative grub control treatment down sometime in June through mid-July you’ll be fine. This range slides slightly based on temperatures from the beginning of the year until application time. Each year can slightly vary.

If you’re applying corrective grub control, your answer is “The sooner the better.” This  material won’t work until it reaches the grubs. The quicker you kill grubs, the less damage they can do. Whichever material you go with, the material will need to be watered in soon after applying. The sooner that it can get under the turf to where grubs feed, the faster it will work. Consult with the material’s label for these recommendations.

The Easy Solution? 

Hire a lawn care company to perform a preventative grub control treatment to your lawn EVERY year as part of a proactive lawn care program. We know the best time to apply whichever material is the latest or greatest product to prevent grubs. This material is applied so that it can get watered in and remain in the soil until grubs hatch and start to feed. Most Lawn Care companies will guarantee this treatment. If you find yourself later in the summer and your plans to keep grubs out of your lawn didn’t work, we can also help you with a corrective grub treatment and seeding of areas if your lawn is destroyed by grubs. Previous Article Next Article

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Tomlinson Bomberger

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