Town Turns To Insecticide To Deal With Grub Problem

Lawn grubs are creating problems for Quispamsis residents and causing extensive damage to town property.

Grubs — the larvae of Japanese beetles, June beetles, chafers and others — feed on the roots of grass, causing sections of grass in the lawn to die.

More than 4,000 square metres of town greenspace has been affected so far this year, according to Dana Purton Dickson, the director of community services.

“Areas that are impacted would be, Meenan’s Cove, the skateboard park,” Dickson told council during their May 4 meeting.

Purton Dickson approached council asking for permission to use a targeted insecticide called Acelepryn on town property affected by the damage, which they approved.

The insecticide, she said, only affects grubs and does not impact bees, birds, other insects or mammals.

She said that the town does not traditionally use pesticides, other than in 2019 when grubs caused similar damage to town property.

“We had already tried the nematodes, the organic solution, and that did not work,” said Purton Dickson. “The Acelepryn has a success rate of 90 to 99 per cent.”

Purton Dickson noted that that areas sprayed with insecticide in 2019 are not currently experiencing damage.

Coun. Pierre Rioux said he cannot believe how much damage the grubs have caused throughout the town this year.

“I cannot believe the number of lawns that are destroyed and I don’t know how you recover,” said Rioux. “I think you have to dig the whole thing up and get it out.”

Coun. Kirk Miller asked how quickly the insecticide could be applied and whether it would require more than one treatment.

Purton Dickson said they intend to apply the insecticide in late May and into June, based on the cycle of the grubs and may have to apply again in the fall.

Miller also suggested that the town may have to look at artificial turf for some fields in the future in order to prevent damage caused by grubs.

The town spent more than $120,000 on field maintenance in 2019, according to Purton Dickson, with much of that related to re-soding damaged fields.

“In the future, that’s something that we’re going to have to consider doing for those other areas, but this is a solution for this year,” she said.