Milky spore in flowerbeds?

18 years ago

Digging up a small established flower bed here to replace some groundcover roses and found at least 10 immature grubs, possibly JBs...?

I spread Milky Spore on the lawn for the first time earlier this spring. What do you think about spreading it on flower beds? Do those grubs ONLY live in the lawn and these are some other sort of white c-shaped grub?

Anyone with any experience with this, comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

I've never looked a JB in the face before. This will be my first time dealing with it. (eek, ick, ack, yuck) I really really really want to avoid having to go to GrubEx land like my neighbors (who've told me horror stories about letting it go a year and having to replace huge sections of lawn at massive expense).

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Comments (4)

michaelg
18 years ago
It certainly wouldn't hurt to put it in the beds. All those C-shaped white grubs are beetle larvae that feed on roots. Some of them are JBs. Milky Spore can affect other beetle species than JBs, but not anything else.
smom40
Original Author
18 years ago
Okey-dokey, I'll go ahead and do it.

Thanks!
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tinamcg
18 years ago
If you're going to put Milky Spore in flower beds or lawns, it's best to know how it works and what it kills. It is a disease that needs a host and takes about three years to become established in the soil. In other words, if you do not have grubs in your soil to start with, the Milky Spore disease can't become established, so you're wasting time and money. The grubs ingest the Milky Spore, develop the disease, die and shed the disease into the soil. Since a grub can only move a few inches from where it's hatched, it takes quite a few grubs and quite a long time for the soil to become thoroughly inoculated with the milky spore disease. So Milky Spore is not a grub killer like Grubex.

It kills ONLY the Japanese beetle grub. It does not kill other types of grubs that do the same kind of damage and look exactly identical to the naked and untrained eye. If you have grubs in your lawn, you need to inspect their hind ends (rasters) and look for a pattern of little hairs. Each type of grub has a different raster pattern, and if you Goggle "white grub" and "rastern", I think you'll find a diagram somewhere online.

I think it's misrepresented in advertising and on the package, and I feel like I was conned. We learned this the hard way. We spent three years and hundreds of dollars treating the entire lawn and garden with Milky Spore, only to learn that our last grub infestation was masked chafer grubs, not JB grubs.

Even if the MS in our garden is killing any JB grubs, that doesn't stop the adult beetles from flying in from surrounding areas. So we end up with grubs and Japanese beetles anyway. Spend your money on more roses -- not Milky Spore. It won't help keep grubs or beetles from your rose garden.
HU-906362598
last year
In my opinion JB grubs are the most common in most areas of the country. use powder not granules. powder is less expensive and only one or two applications can last potentally up to 20 years. i belive the powder kills a variety of grubs not just JB but do some research to make sure. in my opinion spreading milky spore powder is an environmentally freindly choice with great results