Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Milky Spore Disease

We are having a problem with Japanese Beatles. And it is not crummy translations of such hits as Eight days a week...Couldn't resist.
So anyway I was investigating what to do organically to stop these pests from eating every plant on our property. And the answer I have come up with and am totally intriqued by is MILKY SPORE DISEASE. I have heard this term tossed around before by garden and lawn people, but never really knew what exactly it is, but now I know. So basically you inject this disease into your lawn and the grubs (larvae of the Japanese Beatle) ingest the spores. In 7-21 days the disease causes the grubs to start to decay and thus releasing thousands of new spores into the ground for other grubs to eat and continue the cycle. Supposedly after a treatment three times a year for two years your lawn will be grub free for 15-20 years. The most effective method is to get a community to commit to Milky Spore disease. But even after a while the spores will start moving into other lawns as well. I don't how well that would go out here in the woods...but... Interestingly enough, at the Parks and Rec meeting the other night we were saying that we need to stop using pesticides on our playing fields and one member recommended Milky Spore Disease.
Check out milkysporedisease.com.
Very interesting stuff.

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