Well, I finally did it again. 2 years ago, I spread Milky Spore across all the lawn. This time, I did it through the woods and field areas. Milky spore is a bacteria that targets white grubs like Japanese Beetles in the soil. It is not harmful to beneficial insects or worms. The bacteria infects the grub, multiplies, kills it, and sends billions of new bacteria into the surrounding soil. If/when there are no more grubs the spores go dormant until new grubs appear.
It is very effective stuff. It isn't easy to use though. The dust can be harmful to people and animals if inhaled. So you need to wear a respirator (N-95, R-95, P-95, or HE filter). I had one. Plus disposable rubber gloves. Local home store stuff...
You basically have to put down a teaspoon of this microbial powder every 4' in a grid. The first time, I did it with an actual teaspoon. That was hard because you can't just drop the stuff onto the ground from a standing position. So I had to squat and stand up every 4' (that's about 900 times). Fortunately, this time I found a spreader available cheap.
I used that this time. It was SO EASY! Its a 3' tube with a shaker at the bottom. You tap it on the ground every 4' and it deposits the teaspoon. I chose a calm day with a rainy day to follow. You don't want exposure to these microbes but rain or watering sends them safely into the soil. I kept the cats inside today.
Milky Spore should keep down the soil grub population for 20 years. Grubs attract moles, voles use mole tunnels, and voles eat plant roots. Getting rid of the grubs means fewer moles means fewer voles, means fewer plants killed by voles! It takes a couple of years to really take effect.
The application from 2 years ago is working, because this year I only saw one single mole tunnel in the lawn. But I still saw a lot of them in the wood and field so that's where this application went
So here is the stuff!
The shaker bottom...
The 3' tube of the shaker...
The N-95 respirator...
The N-95 box that had 20 respirators I thought only had one!
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