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GRUBS!?!?!?!

Cayennemist

Cayennemist

That's right I have GRUBS!

Not in my plants, but in my compost pile. So I have been killing them for months without thinking twice. :flamethrower:

However, today I found like 10 or something. So I decided to look them up to find out exactly what they are.
Turns out they are, Green June Beetle Grubs.
GreenJuneBeetleCycle.jpg


Apparently they they (unlike red wiggler) eat rotting organic matter. Composting worms only eat the bacteria left behind from rotting veggies. So then it hit me, these guys should be faster composters than worms. all I got to do is keep them in a bucket and feed them organic table scraps, and in turn I should get back some sort of .... poop, castings, frass, W/E

So what do you guys think? should I keep killing them, or do a little experiment?
 
They will eat your roots.
i'd go out and a plant would be laying on it's side with no roots left and a big fat grub belching and farting just under the surface.
I think ours are from the metalic blue beetles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_beetle

Grubs look very much alike,Kill them just in case...

June bugs - kill them too.

https://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/bimg139.html

Both grubs eat roots.BAD NEWS!
 
Honestly That's what I was afraid of, but I am thinking of containing them. I will have a lid on the bucket and kill the beetles as they grow.

My only concern is them laying eggs in the castings, so I would use the castings in a AACT instead of in my soil.

I also have determined that they are in fact Green June Beetle Grubs, and not Japanese beetle grubs. They do look simalar, but these have the spots on the sides unlike the Japanese beetle grubs. From what I have been reading, these prefer to eat rotting veggies rather than roots, but they do have a taste for grass.
 
these are the ones that do composting...
as smokemaster has said.. itd be wise to KILL THEM... they are horrible.. they were my arch nemesis last season... did half of my grow in pots and even there they managed to do damage



this was in ONE container but my plant managed to survive...

be mindful as these guys can OW along with your plants... they are HORRIBLE.. KILL on site...
 
So here is what they eat...

Green June Beetle, Cotinis nitida
June Beetles are a quite impressive beetle measuring 3/4 to 1 inch long and around 1/2 inch wide. The June Beetle
June Beetles prefer ripe or overripe fruit of they have a choice. However they also like to eat grapes, corn, kale, peaches, raspberry, blackberry, apple, pear, quince, plum, prune, apricot, and nectarine, and frequently feed as well on the sap of oak, maple, and other trees. June Beetles also like to drink pollen from flowers. June Beetle larva eat roots of grasses, alfalfa, vegetables, tobacco, ornamental plants, and many other plants. The larvae feed on other materials also such as, well rotted manure, compost piles or organic matter in the soil.
Click to expand...
http://ediblesanmarcos.wordpress.com/june-beetle/

So It looks like it would be a good Idea to keep them contained.

If they are in my compost, and I use my compost, they may be in my plants. My plants seem fine, but now you guys got me worried.

These are more commonly know as Fig Beetles and are almost as bad as Japanese Beetles. Time to kill.
 
yup,I use Nematodes.
Mixed results.
They get cooked in pots during the summer but did a good job on grubs and cutworms before the 100 degree days kicked in.
 
To answer your question...yes effective composters for sure, also you will not have to worry about the grubs laying eggs as they are the larvae stage. Only the adult beetles will lay eggs. The only real worries would be them getting out and if they leave behind anything toxic as they digest the plant/fruit material. I think its a worthwhile experiment. Take the enemy and put their asses to work for you. AACT would be the right way to use the material. I would put the material into a sock or similar. Heck...you could also smash them and throw them in your tea! Lemme know how it works!
Shane
 
You don't want those grubs in your compost bins. The ones you are looking for are Black Soldier Fly Larvae. They are disease free, ordorless, and eat waste up pretty fast. I had a 55 gallon Brute trash can that I punched holes up and down the sides in, and it was full of these. They turned about 10 pounds of crawfish shells into soil in a couple days. They will literally eat anything organic. As long as the mature larvae can get out, and the soldier flies can get back in, you'll have a full ecosystem of amazing composters.
 
Dustin said:
You don't want those grubs in your compost bins. The ones you are looking for are Black Soldier Fly Larvae. They are disease free, ordorless, and eat waste up pretty fast. I had a 55 gallon Brute trash can that I punched holes up and down the sides in, and it was full of these. They turned about 10 pounds of crawfish shells into soil in a couple days. They will literally eat anything organic. As long as the mature larvae can get out, and the soldier flies can get back in, you'll have a full ecosystem of amazing composters.
Click to expand...

Yeah I was just checking them out on YouTube, they would eat a full trout in 24 hours. Looking in to that as an option in the future.
 
Those soldier flies look like the way to go.
smokemaster said:
yup,I use Nematodes.
Mixed results.
They get cooked in pots during the summer but did a good job on grubs and cutworms before the 100 degree days kicked in.
Click to expand...

Smokemaster, what brand of nematodes do you use and where do you get them?
 
Local biz for me.Not far away and sold locally.

The nursery I go to sells Tip Top's products also.

You pay for it and it comes the next day delivered in a foam box with blue ice in it.
I get the aphid wasps from them too.(Very cool to watch but they only eat aphids and get rid of them real fast then they starve)

http://www.tiptopbio...bdominalis.html

http://www.tiptopbio.com/

Data sheets:

http://www.tiptopbio..._bulletins.html

I use the combination pack.
I don't know if they still sell it.

http://www.tiptopbio..._nematodes.html

I'd have to check the data sheets but 1 kind eats 200+ different bad guys.

http://www.tiptopbio...teriophora.html

I sent Chris some that were supposed to eat fruit fly/pepper maggots and he said they might have only slowed them down.
Didn't eliminate them but I think that maybe a next door garden might have been where the breeding area was so treating his yard only took care of half the problem if that.
The adults can fly to lay eggs and maybe he didn't have any in his yard but there was or is a close by breeding area that might be causing his problems.
He used nematodes for 2 seasons.

I like to treat my pots in the Fall or early spring - we basically have no winter(except this year).
 
Kill them...kill them with fire

Little bastards are tearing up my lawn. When digging my garden, every shovel full had 2-3 grubs in it. I hit my yard with Dylox, and had beetle traps out (which collected the adults by the score). I may get nematodes for this year - don't they effect root crops, though?

If you do collect them, put them in a bowl for the birds to get.
 
Last Fall I discovered grubs in my raised beds and in many of my pots. I went to Arbico, whose headquarters is just 7 miles from me even though they do the majority of their business online. Arbico carries three different species of nematodes. Other than nematodes, I don't know how to get rid of the grubs.
 
Wasp Video:



The Nematodes that eat roots are different than the ones that eat nasties in your soil.
There actually is a Nematode that eats the root knot (whatever) Nematode.
See the Bulletin/data base links above.

Here it is:

http://www.tiptopbio.com/steinernema_feltiae.html
 
Fig beetles--I've got lots of them! Throughout the summer adults are always in the compost bin laying eggs or in my fig tree eating bird-damaged fruit. My chickens love them, though, and I don't see them doing a lot of damage, since most of them are in the compost bin. I do find them in the soil and in my pots, so maybe they are nibbling on roots and hurting by plants a bit that way.

I'm definitely going to start a black soldier fly culture once it gets warm enough to trap eggs here. Turning fish guts into chicken food--that sounds pretty good to me!
 
Ají hombre said:
Fig beetles--I've got lots of them! Throughout the summer adults are always in the compost bin laying eggs or in my fig tree eating bird-damaged fruit. My chickens love them, though, and I don't see them doing a lot of damage, since most of them are in the compost bin. I do find them in the soil and in my pots, so maybe they are nibbling on roots and hurting by plants a bit that way.

I'm definitely going to start a black soldier fly culture once it gets warm enough to trap eggs here. Turning fish guts into chicken food--that sounds pretty good to me!
Click to expand...

Yeah BSF are on my radar for this summer, Petco sells them as reptile food! I may go buy some around the end of March. We should be sitting in the 80-90s by then. I decided to keep the Grubs in a 5gal with some composting table scraps. I'll just kill them when the are in Pupa/Beetle stage. I have to know if Grub casting are any good, just so I can say "I tried that." :rolleyes:

My Meal worms are finally in Beetle stage, so hopefully they lay eggs so I can get some Frass from them, as well as food for our Bearded Dragon.
 
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