Friday, October 17, 2008

Grubby Biscuit Hooks


We have a grub problem.  It is not a problem regarding the health of our lawn (which in the long run is not so important as we plan on having quite a bit of it converted to gardens), but it certainly is a problem when it comes to these same  gardens and the hordes of Japanese Beetles we fed this summer and I expect will for more to come. We have roughly 1/2 acre of property, on average there are about 5-7 grubs per foot (at least where I have been digging; this photo was taken on Monday when I was planting the Cucumber Magnolia we bought to celebrate our first Mother's Day[thanks Grampy for helping get it in the ground]). Simple math tells me there is, as a low estimate, potentially 108, 900 grubs on our little patch of earth.  Nematodes and parasitic wasps are some organic solutions to the problem, as well as continued hand picking of the beetles. Apparently, you can tell the species of grub by examining it's poop shoot and the small hairs surrounding it. Not quit sure how I feel about taking up that little hobby...although, I can imagine some nice Liberty Graphic tees  from this sort of thing.
The good news is our soil is quite healthy and also supports a very large (probably equal to the grubs) colony of earthworms.

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