Grubs in my veggie bed

Hi, I have my SFG planted. Some seeds didn't germinate, so I dug them up to replace with other seeds and found what I believe is a grub. Fat white worm. I know once they become beetles I'll have to deal with them munching on my greens, but is it true that while in their slug form they like to munch on plant roots?

With all the wet weather, this season is starting off exhausting!

There are so many different kinds.  Can you post a photo?
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CapeCoddess wrote:There are so many different kinds.  Can you post a photo?
CC

Yikes. I freaked out, squished him, and threw him outside my garden area.  

Hi & welcome to the forum.  I don't know if you've posted about how long you've had your SFG set up, but just know that if you have grubs those babies were laid last year.  If your SFG is new for this year, those grubs came from somewhere else, maybe in your compost?  Either way, if you're sure you have grubs, then yes, they'll eat your roots.  I'd suggest some beneficial nematodes.  It's not too late for our region.  HTH!

mollyhespra wrote:Hi & welcome to the forum.  I don't know if you've posted about how long you've had your SFG set up, but just know that if you have grubs those babies were laid last year.  If your SFG is new for this year, those grubs came from somewhere else, maybe in your compost?  Either way, if you're sure you have grubs, then yes, they'll eat your roots.  I'd suggest some beneficial nematodes.  It's not too late for our region.  HTH!

 
Thanks mollyhespra! My beds were set up last year, but I didn't use SFG method. I see that BNs come in a spray that I can attach my a hose and spray over soil that's been watered. Do you think it's okay to spray over areas that haven't germinated yet? Best, GardenGroupie

Hi GardenGroupie.  Welcome!

The ones I get come sandwiched between two small, flat sponges.  You take them out and put into a gallon of cool water (they like it cool and not chlorinated; Chlorine I think will kill them).  This becomes your "concentrate" I think is how they call it.  You then take a cup or two of that and add more water into a plain ole watering can or one of those hand-pump sprayer things but make sure you've not used the hand-pump container for any insecticide because it stands to reason that any residue might kill the good nematodes.  You then water your garden with that on a rainy evening, preferably, or if not you'll have to pretend to be the rain and water the garden well.  They need cool, wet conditions in order to travel into the soil & they move slowly. I don't know how the chlorine from the tap would affect them at that point, being much more diluted, so personally I wait until it's raining and just apply them then. They're great against all kinds of garden pests and will not hurt your tender seedlings at all. 

One last word of caution: be careful about applying them when there's bees around.  Usually the bees stay home when it's raining but all the same, I've read that the beneficial nematodes are hungry little guys and may not be all that discriminating about what they eat (infect).  Some bees have their hives in the ground, so just in case, apply with caution where there may be bees.  I can't substantiate what I just wrote with any more data than my hunch.  It just makes sense to be cautious and use care when applying any kind of biological or chemical controls be they labelled as "organic" or "beneficial" or "green", etc.

Good luck!