On Sunday afternoon, an irrigation line broke on the 12th fairway. Water eroded a portion of the intermediate rough and edge of the fairway. I will let the area dry a bit before the repair is made.
While on the way to the 12th hole, I heard about some grub damage on Piper Court and wanted to see for myself. It turns out an animal (This is either a raccoon or bear) dug up the yard in search of delicious white grubs. Let me brief you on the life cycle once again because this is so easy to prevent, but many lawn care "good ole boys" aren't up to speed which is unfortunate.
This is the larval stage of the Japanese Beetle. Japanese beetle adults (the stereotypical beetle that occasionally eats plant leaves and many use pheromone bag to trap them which are actually ineffective since you are do just that; attracting them from afar and may be missing those on the plants) lay their eggs during the first 2 weeks of June. These eggs hatch, growing into the larval stage. By late August, the larva, or grub, is just beneath the surface feeding on turfgrass roots. September and October are the months you will see damage. Your lawn my dry out and wilt fast because there are no roots for water uptake. The worst case scenario is what occurred above. A hungry animal with a strong sense of smell may decide to dig for them. Bears and wild hogs are know to do such things but more commonly, raccoons and skunks are usually responsible for the damage. If you do see grubs in your yard this time of year, there is a contact insecticide called, Dylox that kills them. The best way: Use a preventative insecticide on your lawn by June 1st to prevent the egg hatch. No eggs means no larva or grubs. It is an easy, inexpensive application to make that is nearly fail proof. I have never seen grubs in an area that was treated preventatively. At HCC, we treat the golf course, all 75 acres, each and every year because it isn't worth the risk.