During our “yard work this past weekend”:http://revjim.net/2006/04/10/a-very-landscaping-weekend/ I noticed some more of the same gross looking, red butt-ed, thumb length grubs that I saw in the soil last year. While pondering the vast array of “Weed and Feed” products at Lowes later that day, I figured out what they are: “Japanese Beetle”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_beetle Larvae (which look “very gross”:http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/housing/japanese-beetle/jblarva.gif if you ask me).
These little grubs may be the reason my lawn is brown, and the adults that these things turn into may be responsible for the holes in the leaves of my holly bushes. Apparently, these beetles are such a pest that the USDA created a special variant of Bacteria called “Milky Spore” designed specifically to kill these things. Based on the number of grubs we saw and the holes in our plant leaves, it looks like I’m going to be getting all “Milky Spore”:http://www.epa.gov/oppbppd1/biopesticides/ingredients/factsheets/factsheet_054502.htm on my lawn next weekend. I’ll probably need some pesticides too.
Stupid beetles.