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A pair of burrowing yard pests are making their usual impact on area lawns this summer, and now is the time for homeowners to rid their properties of the bothersome creatures. Sheryl Nunnikhoven with Dutch Meadows Garden Center in Pella says grub worms will begin appearing soon, and can be eliminated relatively easily.

“If you’ve had a problem with grubs before, there is a product you can put down as a preventative – you can put that down any time in the summer – and it’ll stay there for the whole summer,” says Nunnikhoven. “It’s a tobacco product, very safe for kids and pets, and once the grubs come up and start to eat it, they don’t like the taste and basically they’ll starve.”

Grub worms are the larvae of beetles and feed on the roots of grass, which can lead to dead patches in the lawn. They are also known to attract raccoons, which dig up lawns to find them. Nunnikhoven says another pest – digger wasps – could also present potential problems for homeowners.

“It may not seem like a problem this year, but from what I’ve read, they multiply exponentially,” says Nunnikhoven. ”If you’ve got one this year, you’ll have ten next year, and you’ll probably have a hundred the year after that; so it might be something you want to get a handle on now.”

Though large and menacing looking, the wasps’ sting is no more painful than a regular bee sting, and the wasps will typically only attack if threatened.

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