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June Bugs Don’t Bother Me

June 2006

June bugs don’t bother me anymore. In fact, I’m thrilled that I was besieged by zillions of them this year. They proved I was wise to convert to organics.

We moved into our home over 9 years ago - an acre plus that had been on a high chemical diet. We were determined to convert to organics. Despite our efforts, our first summer was June bug city. While the adults were bothersome, the larvae - grub worms - nearly destroyed my new turf. I was distraught, but inspired to study harder so I’d know what to do.

I learned I’d over-feed and watered - promoted top growth but little root growth. That’s when I concocted Rons Grow Gain. It’s lower in nitrogen and has a growth hormone to stimulate root growth. It worked! I had the best looking landscape on my street.

But how healthy was it? A year ago I decided to stress my turf on purpose. How long could it thrive on rainfall only? I shut off my sprinklers and watched. I had a perfect control for my experiment. I care for my neighbor’s lawn. I watered hers 1 inch per week and deprived mine of any supplemental moisture.

We had some spring rain and a little in July. But, it was a dry summer. In late August I took photos of both lawns. You couldn’t see any difference. My lawn has been organic for almost 10 years and her lawn is just in its second year on the program. I was so proud!

And, I enjoyed the savings. It costs about $2.50 to water 1,000 square feet for 15 minutes. For an average residential lot - about 5,000 sq. ft, that’s $100 a month. I have an acre - over 8 times that.

I gleefully awaited the fall rains. No such luck. Drought-time! By September it was clear that my intentional water misconduct had caused problems. I started watering once a week and went on about my business of saving the world one yard at a time - only now with an ego the size of a blimp. I felt organically invincible.

When spring came my turf didn’t green up like usual. By late March my wife was getting impatient. “Ron, what’s wrong with our yard? It’s the worst looking yard on the block. I’m embarrassed.” My landscape was clearly in distress.

When plants are in distress, pests like June bugs show up to put them out of their misery. By March I was overrun with June bugs - a clear indicator of grubs. Usually you can roll your turf up like a carpet because they’ve devoured the roots. My turf was solidly attached, it just wasn’t growing. So I did what I always do in a landscape crisis. I stopped what I was doing, dropped to the ground and rolled in the dirt.

My first problem: Dry flaky soil 12 inches deep.

Second: Big fat grub worms - 12 or more per sq. ft. - twice what healthy organic turf can tolerate.

Third: My fall application of beneficial nematodes was for naught. They need moisture to survive.

Checking around, I found a faulty valve on sprinkler zone 3. I had over 4,000 sq. ft that hadn’t been watered all winter.

I am strongly opposed to the automatic aspect of sprinkler systems. We should turn the system on when water is needed. I’d hit the button, watch zone 1 start up, hop in my truck and head off. It’s a do as I say not as I do thing. I preach, “Check your sprinklers every month!” But I hadn’t checked mine.

I started to panic. At my cost it would be over $1,000 to resod. If I paid someone it could be $3,000. And, it would be pretty embarrassing. Then I remembered, “Don’t panic. I’m organic!” I stopped, dropped and rolled in the dirt again. I found that the grub worms had eaten only surface roots. Because I’m organic and only water when my lawn really needs it my roots go deeper to chase the water. I was confident that my lawn would recover in time. So, thanks to my practice of feeding the soil, not plants, my organic lawn has prevailed.

Thanks to my organic amendments, my beneficial nematodes came back, too. The June bugs emerged ready to eat foliage, breed and start the cycle again. But those plans were short circuited. As larvae they had been infected by the infected by the nematodes. Thousands of dead and dying June bugs piling up on the ground testified to the effectiveness of these microscopic pest killers.

So June bugs don’t bother me. I’d done everything against my own recommendations and brought on the stress, yet my turf had the reserve strength to survive. And, it is flourishing with watering once a week or less as needed. With proper watering, proper feeding, proper mowing and organics, your turf can flourish, too.