The Natural Remedy You Need To Get Rid Of Grubs Before They Become A Bigger Issue

Neem oil is like that rich kid who has a full-time job at your local garden center; it works, but no one completely understands why. But if you can't seem to control grubs in your lawn or worse, your vegetable garden, neem oil might be the solution for you. It's a good choice if spraying chemicals on your food (or the soil around it, or around you for that matter) seems like a bad idea, and you're looking for a natural remedy.

Most neem oils can be described more accurately as clarified hydrophobic neem oil when it's produced as a pesticide. It's extracted from the seeds of the neem tree and used for insect pest population control. It can be further refined to isolate azadirachtin, neem oil's most active ingredient, for use as an insecticide. Neem oil can be applied as a dust or as granules, but is most often a sprayed liquid.

Unlike some other natural treatments for grubs, neem has a staggering number of modes of action — the actual mechanisms by which it deters or kills grubs and other insect pests, according to the National Research Council (US) Panel on Neem. All this makes it a great, generally nontoxic DIY pesticide for eliminating pesky bugs in general. It can disrupt insect development, block molting, interfere with sexual processes (up to and including sterilization), inhibit chitin formation, deter feeding by blocking the ability to swallow and other means, and just plain repel or poison insects. All of this is great (unless you're a garden pest) and means neem oil is a safer solution for getting rid of grubs before they become a huge problem.

Using neem oil to control grubs involves finding the grubs and spraying diluted neem oil where they're doing damage. If you have a grub problem, finding them should be easy; look for patches of dry grass on a lawn or root-damaged garden plants. Dilute the neem oil according to concentration-specific package directions, typically 2 to 4 tablespoons per gallon of water. Spray liberally, directly on the soil and from different angles, in late summer and early fall when the grubs are most active ... and doing the most damage. Apply every seven days for active infestations or every 14 days as a preventative. To prevent accidentally exposing bees and other pollinators, do not spray neem oil on flowering plants, or where runoff is likely to enter a waterway or pool.

One knock on neem oil is that it is slow to act, because it usually functions best as a growth inhibitor rather than as a fast-acting poison. It's also prone to repelling humans by means of its pungent odor — which has been described as being like coffee, a rotting corpse, overripe bananas, and ear wax.

Other common natural remedies for grubs have downsides as well, but you could consider them if you'd rather avoid neem oil. They include pyrethrum, which can harm beneficial insects when used on soil, and targeted bacteria like milky spore and Bacillus thuringiensis (BT), which may only affect particular grub species (like the larvae of Japanese beetles and June bugs). Beneficial nematodes might work, but can infect arthropods that are the natural enemies of lawn and garden pests.