Hello there
I was over at my mum's the other at the weekend strimming her garden and went back on Sunday to rake up the clippings and there were hundreds of beetles everywhere!!
They look as if they are in every garden too... They were there last year too. I think that they are Chafer beetles, they have a greenish look to their shells. Just looking at a way of controlling them, my mum's garden is not a lawn as you think of one more lots of grass.
My brother was thinking of scorching the grass to at least kill the beetles but I think it will damage the grass/lawn too much? HELP!!!
Any help would be great...
Dave
Have a look here Dave;
http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Chafer%20beetle/Chafer%20beetle.htm
Click on pics to enlarge!
Link to ..... Nemasys for Chafer Beetles (http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nemasysinfo.com/images/chafers_damage.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nemasysinfo.com/chafers.shtml&usg=__UH1E13qzUTMDoYOqHROxI0smJSc=&h=188&w=260&sz=14&hl=en&start=7&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=udyNIjdcfCp-iM:&tbnh=81&tbnw=112&prev=/search%3Fq%3DChafer%2Bbeetles%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_en-GB%26tbm%3Disch&ei=77zmTeLxHYu28QPJ15iRCg)
David..there is several types of chafer beetles that are active now..with all of them it is the grub that feed and live underground that causes the possible trouble.
The beetle it self does very little damage as its main purpose is sex..during its short life above the ground it tries to mate and lay its eggs on ground amongst grass roots to start the new generation again after which the beetle die as its fullfilled its task. Beetle may nibble some flower petals but thats about all damage they cause...lot of birds feeds with the beetles though..so not all is lost.. ;)
You cannot get rid of the things, you can only control the numbers but it aint cheap.
Like darkbrowneggs already posted the link for..nematodes are good option..but they only work if you follow intructions carefully..with living things, there is not short cuts..!
There is chemical alternatives..but they will tackle all kind of things in soil..not only the bad ones.
Scorching only kills the grass..the grubs are that deep in the ground the bit of surface heating doesn't do anything..and for beetles..I've mowed in past great numbers in mower bag ..put all in black sack and composted them away in heating grass clippings..doubt it really made much difference to numbers.. ::)
You often see great numbers of chafers in areas with light sandy soils..in such case and when there is same thing going on with neighbourhood..you controlling just a little patch your 'own' ground is just waste of money..