Removed sod to expand my garden, found these guys inside. Friend or foe?
Removed sod to expand my garden, found these guys inside. Friend or foe?
by rsae_majoris
17 Comments
rsae_majoris
For context, I had squash vine borer last year…
chamgireum_
They eat plants but other (beneficial) things eat them so
windycityzow
Put them on display so birds can feed and the circle of life continues
Not_signing_up
Free snacks for birds or your chickens if you have some
Tjoseph415
Things will dig up your garden looking for those. Try using beneficial nematodes to get rid of them
Just_Like_That28
To be or not to be…. Grubs under the grass and I don’t know what they become. I have similar visitors and kind of curse then ignore. We don’t have vine borers that I know of but do have “squash bugs” almost every year and they are vexing by themselves. Cursing alone doesn’t help. I will follow this to see what others offer for suggestions.
RobfromHB
If their population gets too heavy they’ll munch roots of favorable plants. If it starts getting past a half dozen per SF it can be an issue, but if it’s just a few I wouldn’t worry.
Once they get pretty plump, which can be different times of year depending on climate, they stop eating and pupate to become beetles.
Potomacker
fish bait
ipovogel
Beetle grubs pretty much all look basically identical. Differentiating between native and invasive, ones that turn into beetles that eat garden pests and ones that eat your young plant roots, ones that primarily feed on decaying matter and ones that primarily feed on living matter… basically an impossible task for the average gardener. If I run into them while digging, I feed them to my pet lizards or the wild lizards/birds. If I don’t run into them, they don’t exist. My garden has more than enough predators to keep them in check.
aReelProblem
I’ve always let me chickens have free reign of my garden beds a couple times a year. They clear out any creepy crawlies and lizards they see for a few days and they turn and fertilize while they’re at it. I find these in my compost piles every year and about the time one of my birds sees me digging in the pile and they spot one it’s game on. They’ll move a mountain of compost looking for these.
BocaHydro
beetles or moths
generally they eat decaying wood or roots, have a 1y life cycle and fly out
TheMrsH1124
Kill them with fire
[deleted]
[removed]
raziphel
Those grubs will become junebugs
Sh33zl3
Some people eat them
Immediate-Tooth-2174
I usually collect them, put them in a bowl for the birds.
17 Comments
For context, I had squash vine borer last year…
They eat plants but other (beneficial) things eat them so
Put them on display so birds can feed and the circle of life continues
Free snacks for birds or your chickens if you have some
Things will dig up your garden looking for those. Try using beneficial nematodes to get rid of them
To be or not to be…. Grubs under the grass and I don’t know what they become. I have similar visitors and kind of curse then ignore. We don’t have vine borers that I know of but do have “squash bugs” almost every year and they are vexing by themselves. Cursing alone doesn’t help. I will follow this to see what others offer for suggestions.
If their population gets too heavy they’ll munch roots of favorable plants. If it starts getting past a half dozen per SF it can be an issue, but if it’s just a few I wouldn’t worry.
Once they get pretty plump, which can be different times of year depending on climate, they stop eating and pupate to become beetles.
fish bait
Beetle grubs pretty much all look basically identical. Differentiating between native and invasive, ones that turn into beetles that eat garden pests and ones that eat your young plant roots, ones that primarily feed on decaying matter and ones that primarily feed on living matter… basically an impossible task for the average gardener. If I run into them while digging, I feed them to my pet lizards or the wild lizards/birds. If I don’t run into them, they don’t exist. My garden has more than enough predators to keep them in check.
I’ve always let me chickens have free reign of my garden beds a couple times a year. They clear out any creepy crawlies and lizards they see for a few days and they turn and fertilize while they’re at it. I find these in my compost piles every year and about the time one of my birds sees me digging in the pile and they spot one it’s game on. They’ll move a mountain of compost looking for these.
beetles or moths
generally they eat decaying wood or roots, have a 1y life cycle and fly out
Kill them with fire
[removed]
Those grubs will become junebugs
Some people eat them
I usually collect them, put them in a bowl for the birds.
They all go to my flat feeder for the birds.