Grubs............

The other day when I was at this property, in Wellesley I noticed a brown dead area of lawn. I went to investigate and after pulling up some of the dead turf I found the dreaded grubs. We have not seen any damage caused by grubs on our properties for many years now that we have been using a product from Bayer named Merit.

I notified Rob, who notified the head grounds keeper and it was decided that I would come back and spread Dursban over the entire back yard. Dursban is a quick kill product that needs to be watered in right after the application. We have had great success with it.

After that project I went with Guillerme to the home used by the President of Olin college. The presidents wife really enjoys her flower gardens and wanted to have us transplant and plant some new bushes she had purchased. She also wanted us to pull all of the weeds in her annual and perennial gardens. It is very enjoyable to come here and work because the owner really enjoys her gardens and it makes her happy when we show up. She knows it will look just beautiful after we leave, and that is a good thing.

Spring turf insect activity

The warm temps this week have gotten everyone thinking spring, even the turf insects. With the frost line rising due to the warm temps, the dreaded "white grub" is rising also. I have a Massachusetts Pesticide Applicators license and I am allowed by the state to apply fertilizers and pesticides to our customers properties.

We will not be putting anything down for grubs until summer, in June/July. We have been using MERIT, which is made by Bayer (yup, same people that make bayer aspirin) and it has been extremely effective in controlling white grubs on our customers lawns.

But ocassionally we will get a new customer who has had a grub problem the year before and we are called in to get ride of the grubs and to redo the turf. For that type of problem we use a product called DYLOX. This is a "quick kill" pesticide and needs to watered in after application, and this also has done a very good job of eliminating grubs. Anyone using this product in Massachusetts, needs to be warned that it is not allowed by the state to be used on any school grounds.

Soon, I will be checking our properties for any grub damage from the year before, but I am sure our customers who had the MERIT application last year, will be all set.