Did you know?

It’s the grubs that are the cause of your lawn’s slow death not the adult beetles. The beetles feed at dusk on all the tasty bits of deciduous trees and shrubs and when numerous cause significant damage.

Pest life cycle

The mature grubs are well adapted to cool moist conditions and feed all autumn. During the winter they dig down during periods of freezing conditions, but are usually found within 5 to 60 cm of the surface. Adult Chafer grubs mature into Chafer beetles which emerge from the soil in May onwards and begin laying eggs. The grubs hatch and start feeding on grass roots immediately and moult twice over 8 weeks, the damage caused appears most noticeably the following season from late spring.

To read about Leatherjacket grubs, click on the brown tab on the right