- 1 day ago
A healthy garden bed can wilt in days when white grubs chew through roots and potatoes from beneath the soil. This practical gardening guide explains how to recognize damaging beetle larvae, distinguish them from helpful grubs found in compost or rotting wood, and understand why location matters before taking action.
Explore natural ways to manage garden grubs, including hand-picking, garlic plantings, lettuce trap borders, beneficial nematodes, and a winter manure pit. The guide also shows how collected grubs can become feed for chickens or wild birds, while healthy soil supports natural pest control. A useful listen for gardeners seeking organic grub control, vegetable garden pest solutions, soil health advice, and traditional, pesticide-free gardening methods.
Explore natural ways to manage garden grubs, including hand-picking, garlic plantings, lettuce trap borders, beneficial nematodes, and a winter manure pit. The guide also shows how collected grubs can become feed for chickens or wild birds, while healthy soil supports natural pest control. A useful listen for gardeners seeking organic grub control, vegetable garden pest solutions, soil health advice, and traditional, pesticide-free gardening methods.
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00:00You go out one morning to a bed that stood healthy and green as anything on Friday,
00:04and by Monday it has collapsed, wilted, and soft and dying, for no reason you can see above the
00:13ground. You water it, you fret over it, you wonder what blight or sickness took it so fast,
00:20but there is no sickness. If you dig down beneath that ruined plant and turn the soil,
00:27you will likely find the true culprit curled there in the dirt, fat and white and smug. A grub.
00:36And I am going to tell you today exactly what it is, how to know the one that is ruining
00:42you
00:42from the one that is helping you, for they look near identical and most folk kill the wrong one,
00:49and how to be rid of the bad kind the old way, with never a drop of poison.
00:56Stay to the end, for the finest trick of all turns your enemy into feed for your hens.
01:03Let me first tell you plainly what you are dealing with, so you can know it when you see it.
01:09When you dig up a dying plant and find a thick grub curled in the shape of the letter C,
01:15milky white and soft, with a hard brown head and three little pairs of legs up near that head,
01:22that is the larva of a beetle, what the old folk called the may beetle or the june bug,
01:30and the young of it is the white grub.
01:33And here is the thing that makes it such a quiet thief.
01:37It lives down in your soil for three or four years before it ever becomes a beetle,
01:43hidden the whole time, and in its last year underground, its hunger grows enormous,
01:49and that is when it turns from nibbling to devouring, chewing great hollows into your potatoes,
01:57severing the roots of your lettuces and young plants clean through,
02:01destroying a bed from below while all looks well above.
02:06A single hidden generation can quietly rob you of several seasons running if you never catch on.
02:14And here is where they come from, so you understand the thing whole.
02:19The grown beetle, that clumsy brown june bug that blunders against your window screen on a warm summer night,
02:27lays her eggs down in the soil, and most of all she loves to lay in a thick grassy lawn,
02:34for the grass roots feed her young.
02:37So if you have a lawn hard by your garden, that is often the nursery.
02:42And a patch of lawn that goes brown and peels up like a loose carpet in late summer is grubs
02:49at the roots of it.
02:51The beetle you swat at the porch light in June is the parent of the grub that hollows your potato
02:57three years on.
03:00Knowing that, you know why they come, and where.
03:04I gathered the whole of it into a book at EliasYoder.com.
03:09The book is the long version.
03:12If you want it, it is there.
03:14I will not mention it again.
03:17Now before I tell you how to fight it,
03:19I must give you the single most important thing in this whole video,
03:23and it is this.
03:25You must not go killing every fat white grub you turn up,
03:30for there is a good grub near identical to the bad one,
03:35and the careless gardener slaughters his own helpers by mistake.
03:39Here is how you tell them apart, and it comes down to where you find them.
03:44If you dig up a C-shaped grub right there among the living roots of your vegetables,
03:50attached to the damage, feeding on what is alive,
03:54that is your enemy, the root eater.
03:58But if you find that same fat white C-shaped grub down in your compost heap,
04:04or in a pile of rotting leaves,
04:06or in old rotten wood,
04:08feeding on dead and decaying matter,
04:11that is a friend,
04:13the larva of a harmless beetle
04:15whose whole work is breaking down dead stuff
04:19into rich black compost for you.
04:22It is doing you a great service.
04:25So the rule is simple.
04:27A grub in the living roots,
04:29that is the thief.
04:31Deal with it.
04:32A grub in the compost,
04:34or the rotten wood,
04:36that is the helper.
04:38Leave it be,
04:39and bless it.
04:41Where you find it tells you which it is.
04:44Learn that before you kill a single one.
04:48Now, why does the poison fail against the bad kind?
04:52For folk pour on the sprays and drenches year on year,
04:56and the grubs come back worse than ever.
05:00Here is the plain truth of it,
05:02and it is a lesson that runs through all of nature.
05:05That white grub has natural enemies down in healthy living soil,
05:10little hunting creatures and birds,
05:12and beneficial life that keep its numbers in check.
05:15When you drench your soil with a harsh poison to kill the grubs,
05:20you do kill some,
05:22but you also kill off all those natural enemies,
05:25all the good life in the soil that was holding the grub down.
05:29And the good life is slower to come back than the pest.
05:33So once the poison washes away,
05:36the grub returns to a soil swept clean of everything that used to eat it,
05:41and it breeds up worse than before.
05:44You did not solve the problem.
05:47You destroyed the very thing that was solving it for you.
05:51The poison makes the grub's world safer.
05:55That is the whole sorry trap of it,
05:57and it is why we go another way.
06:01So here is the old way,
06:03and it is several things working together,
06:06none of them a poison.
06:07The first is to use plants themselves,
06:10for the grub has strong likes and dislikes.
06:14It cannot abide garlic and the onion kin,
06:18for the sharp sulfur in them repels it.
06:20So a row of garlic planted in among your tender vegetables
06:24makes a kind of living fence the grub is loath to cross.
06:29And at the same time,
06:31you can use its appetites against it.
06:33The grub loves soft lettuce roots above most things,
06:38so a border of lettuce sown round the edge of your good beds
06:42works as a trap, a sacrifice,
06:45drawing the grubs to the lettuce and away from your potatoes,
06:49and better still,
06:51gathering them all in one known spot
06:53where you can dig them up and be rid of them.
06:57Garlic to push them off your good crops,
07:00lettuce to pull them to a spot of your choosing.
07:04The plants do half the work.
07:07The second is the plainest of all,
07:09and the old people never scorned it.
07:12You hand-pick them.
07:14Whenever you dig or turn a bed,
07:16you keep your eye out,
07:18and every white grub you turn up in the living roots,
07:21you pluck it and drop it in a pail.
07:24It is humble work,
07:26but it is honest and it is free.
07:28And in a small garden,
07:30a diligent hand-picking through the season
07:32keeps the numbers right down.
07:35And those you pick do not go to waste,
07:38as I will come to.
07:40The third,
07:41for when the trouble is bad
07:43and the hand cannot keep up,
07:45is a living helper you can bring in,
07:48and this one is a wonder.
07:49There are certain tiny creatures,
07:53so small you cannot see them,
07:55beneficial ones,
07:57that hunt the grub down in the soil
07:59and kill it from the inside
08:01and harm nothing else,
08:03not your plants,
08:05not your good worms,
08:06not you.
08:07They are sold for exactly this purpose,
08:11to be watered into moist soil,
08:13where they go seeking the grubs
08:15and destroy them within a couple of days.
08:18It is the one bought thing
08:20I will point you to in this whole video,
08:23for it is a living remedy,
08:25not a poison,
08:26and it leaves your soil the healthier for it
08:29rather than the poorer.
08:31Water them in on a warm, damp evening,
08:34for they want moisture
08:36and dislike the harsh sun,
08:37and let them go to their work.
08:40Some folk will also tell you
08:42to drench the planting trench
08:44with this or that mild solution
08:47to disinfect the ground
08:49before setting seed potatoes,
08:51and there is something to it,
08:53but I will not send you reaching
08:55for powders and measurings
08:57when the plainer ways serve you as well,
08:59so I leave that to those who care for it
09:02and keep us to the simple road.
09:05Now here is my favorite of all,
09:08the winter trap,
09:09which is free and clever
09:11and turns the whole thing to your profit.
09:14The grub, as the cold comes on,
09:17seeks warmth
09:18and burrows down deep
09:20seeking rotting matter
09:22that gives off a little heat
09:24as it breaks down.
09:25So you give it exactly what it seeks,
09:28but on your terms.
09:30In the late fall,
09:32you dig a pit
09:33near your worst troubled bed,
09:35a good two feet deep
09:37and a yard or so across,
09:39and you fill it to the top
09:41with fresh manure
09:42or rich rotting matter
09:44and cap it
09:45with a thin layer of soil.
09:48As the cold deepens,
09:50that decaying manure
09:51gives off its gentle warmth,
09:54and the grubs,
09:55for yards around,
09:56smell it
09:57and crawl to it
09:58and gather down in it
10:00to pass the winter,
10:01thinking they have found
10:03the finest shelter
10:04in the garden.
10:05And then,
10:06on a good cold day
10:08in the dead of winter,
10:09you dig the pit open,
10:11and there they are,
10:12gathered by the hundred
10:14in one spot,
10:15torpid with the cold,
10:17and you gather them up
10:18by the handful.
10:19You have drawn
10:20every grub
10:21in the neighborhood
10:22into one pit
10:24of your own making
10:25and caught them
10:26all at once.
10:28And here is what you do
10:29with that pail of grubs,
10:31from the picking
10:32and the trap both,
10:34and it is the thing
10:35that makes me smile.
10:37You carry them
10:39to your chickens,
10:40for a fat white grub
10:42is near pure protein,
10:44the very richest feed
10:46a laying hen could want,
10:48and the hens go wild
10:49for them,
10:50and they will pay you
10:51back in eggs
10:52for the pest
10:53that was robbing your garden.
10:55The thief becomes the feed,
10:58becomes the egg
10:59on your plate.
11:00Or,
11:01if you keep no hens,
11:03you scatter the grubs
11:04out on a board
11:05or a bear patch
11:06for the wild birds,
11:08the robins
11:09and the starlings
11:10and the thrushes,
11:11and they will come
11:12and feast,
11:13and,
11:14having found your garden
11:15a good hunting ground,
11:17they will stay
11:18and hunt the grubs
11:19you did not catch
11:20as well.
11:22Either way,
11:23nothing is wasted,
11:24and the pest
11:25feeds something useful.
11:28Waste is a thing
11:29we invented.
11:31Nature does not know
11:32the word.
11:34And the last piece
11:35is simply to keep
11:36your soil
11:37in good heart,
11:38for a healthy,
11:39living soil
11:40fights the grub
11:42for you
11:42better than you
11:43ever could.
11:44Every fall,
11:46as the bed's empty,
11:47you turn the top
11:48of the soil
11:49gently with a fork,
11:50which breaks up
11:52the little feeding
11:52tunnels of the
11:53young grubs
11:54and exposes some
11:56to the frost
11:57and the birds,
11:58but do it gently
11:59and shallow,
12:00for you do not
12:01want to tear up
12:02all the good
12:03fungal threads
12:04and worm runs
12:05that are your friends.
12:07You work in
12:08your well-rotted manure
12:10and your compost
12:11and a bit of wood ash,
12:13and you keep
12:14that soil rich
12:15and alive
12:16and full of
12:17the very creatures
12:18that hold
12:19the grub
12:19in check.
12:20A poor,
12:21dead soil
12:22is a paradise
12:23for the pest.
12:25A rich,
12:26living one
12:26is a battlefield
12:28where he has
12:29a hundred enemies.
12:31Feed your soil,
12:32and the soil
12:33fights your battle.
12:35And there is
12:35one more plant
12:37worth a word here,
12:38the white clover,
12:40which some gardeners
12:41sow along their paths
12:43and under their
12:43fruit trees,
12:44for it feeds
12:45the soil
12:46with its own roots,
12:48and, folk find,
12:50the grubs
12:50care little
12:51for the ground
12:52where it grows thick.
12:54A living green cover
12:56is one more
12:57small weight
12:58on your side
12:59of the scale.
13:00My grandfather
13:02had a grub trouble
13:03one bad year.
13:04A whole row
13:05of his potatoes
13:06hollowed out
13:07from below,
13:08and I remember
13:10him not reaching
13:11for any bottle,
13:12for he had none,
13:13but walking
13:14the rows
13:15of an evening
13:15with a pail,
13:17turning the soil
13:18and picking
13:19the grubs
13:19by hand,
13:20and carrying
13:21that pail
13:22straight to the hens,
13:24who came running
13:25at the sight of it.
13:26I asked him,
13:27a boy,
13:28was he not angry
13:30at the grubs
13:30for the ruin
13:31they had done
13:32his potatoes.
13:33He laughed
13:34and said,
13:35No,
13:36for look,
13:37the grub
13:37ate my potato,
13:39and now my hen
13:40eats the grub,
13:41and tomorrow
13:42I eat the egg,
13:44so I have got
13:45my potato back
13:46in the end
13:47by the long way
13:48round,
13:49and the hen
13:50is fat besides.
13:52He did not see
13:53a pest
13:54to be destroyed.
13:55He saw a thing
13:57that had got
13:57into the wrong place
13:59in the great
14:00turning of it,
14:01and he simply
14:02moved it along
14:03to where it did
14:04some good.
14:05That is the whole
14:06of his wisdom,
14:07and it took me
14:08a lifetime
14:09to see it.
14:10So let me say
14:12plainly,
14:13who gains
14:14by you believing
14:15the only answer
14:16to a grub
14:17is a bottle
14:18of soil poison?
14:20The folk
14:21who sell
14:21the poison
14:22gain,
14:23and they gain
14:24twice over,
14:25for as I told you,
14:26the poison
14:27kills the grub's
14:28natural enemies
14:29and brings it
14:31back worse,
14:32so you must
14:33buy the bottle
14:33again the next year,
14:35and the next,
14:36forever.
14:38A poison
14:39that truly
14:40ended the problem
14:41would sell
14:42but once.
14:43A poison
14:44that makes
14:44the problem
14:45worse
14:45sells every
14:47single season.
14:49It is not
14:49that anyone
14:50schemed it so,
14:51or perhaps,
14:53with this one,
14:54it is not far off,
14:55but mostly
14:56it is only
14:57that the bottle
14:58can be sold,
14:59and the pail
15:00and the garlic
15:01row
15:01and the manure
15:02pit cannot,
15:04so the one
15:04is pushed,
15:05and the old
15:06patient ways
15:07are let slip.
15:09Now tell me this
15:11in the comments.
15:12Have you ever
15:12dug up one of
15:13these fat white
15:14grubs and
15:15wondered what it
15:16was?
15:17And did you know
15:18to look at where
15:19you found it
15:19before you decided
15:20whether to kill it?
15:22And tell me as well
15:23whether you keep
15:24chickens,
15:25for if you do,
15:26your grub problem
15:27is only a feed
15:29opportunity
15:30waiting to be
15:31turned around.
15:32Next time,
15:33I will show you
15:34the other great
15:35underground thief,
15:37the root knot
15:38that swells
15:39and knots
15:40your roots
15:40from below,
15:41and the old
15:42way of driving
15:43it off
15:43with nothing
15:44but the right
15:45plants.
15:46But for now,
15:47if your beds
15:48collapse for no
15:49reason you can see,
15:51dig down and look,
15:53know the thief
15:53from the helper
15:54by where you find him,
15:56and send the thief
15:57to your hens.
15:59The people who
16:00built this country
16:01with their hands
16:02knew that,
16:03and we are only
16:04just starting
16:05to remember it.