And I’m not talking about food. It will be time to start making those grub control applications before you know it. Most of you are probably thinking about it already. I’ve had several people ask me about recommended rates of imidacloprid because they read or heard about Bayer’s BMP for grub control.
I haven’t experienced a lot of breakthroughs the last several years. When there were grubs present on treated turf, I only saw masked chafers (pictured below). In my opinion, we have been seeing shifts in the main grub occurring in the turf. Back in the mid-2000’s, the main grub species present was the Japanese beetle. Now the masked chafer is the primary species. I haven’t seen a Japanese beetle at my house in two years. I see lots of adult chafers.
The masked chafer is harder to control with imidacloprid than is the Japanese beetle. The recommendation is to use the high imidacloprid rate for grubs or .4 lbs AI/A. This rate will control those pesky chafers. For those of you applying liquid grub control, this is pretty easy. For those of you using a fertilizer combination product, it is a little tougher. The typical fertilizer rate of 3.5 lbs/M puts down the .3 lb AI/A. The 4.5 lb/A fertilizer rate is the .4 lbs AI/A rate. I’d at least try to hit that mid rate (4.0 lb/A) if you are using a fertilizer product.
