I knew we had grubs in our soil because I would dig them up as we renovated the beds around the property.  This year, the Japanese beetles seemed to be worse than usual. I had our back light on one night and later found at least a dozen of them clinging to the screen door! Eeek!

Then I noticed tunnels in the lawn and finally in my garden beds:

I don’t mind the moles eating the grubs, but I don’t want them disturbing the soil around my plants and pushing them out of the ground. That’s where I draw the line 😀

I have no interest in killing the moles, but I would like to see less of them. I know they also eat earthworms, but if I reduce the grubs, that should reduce the moles with less food for them to eat.

Anyway, I wanted to find the least toxic way to do this and decided on nematodes. They are little microscopic organisms that seek out the grubs and other beetles and such, but they don’t target earthworms (which I don’t want to lose).  Some nematodes stay in place in the ground and others travel to find food.  I decided I wanted a mix of the different kinds of nematodes and ended up getting the Grub Buster (my Amazon link).

20 million was supposed to cover 1500 square feet, which is pretty much what I needed. This came with a spray spreader as well:

I probably could have used an old Miracle Grow sprayer, but I wanted to make sure I was spreading evenly. This sprayer has a straw in it rather than the water flowing through the whole thing.

I opened the globe and there were 2 sort of tea bags in it. It kind of reminds of those stockings that used to come in plastic eggs. L’eggs? Is that right?

I followed the directions to put the bags into the applicator and filling it with water then shaking well.  The applicator attaches to the garden hose like any other hose nozzle does.

Not sure if you can see the cafe au lait colored liquid in this or not. Then you turn the nozzle to the feed setting and start spraying.

I went out after a rainstorm to apply. It was suggested to water the lawn first and I figured rain was just as good! It went pretty quickly and I did both the front and back. The lawn and the garden beds.  I could see the level of the liquid going down in the applicator, so I knew that the nematodes were being dispersed. That was really handy.  I use a little over half for the back and then the rest in the front. When the jar was empty that was it.

Now we wait and see what happens. I will probably apply more next year. I don’t know if I will bother again this year or not. It’s a little pricey at $35, but if it works – it’s worth it to save my plants from the Japanese beetles.