Grass Grub and Porina are Flying Now.

For New Zealand lawns threatened by grass grub, porina, bronze beetles or other sub-surface pests, Yates Lawn Grub & Porina Kill + Protect products powered by Acelepryn^® provide the best combination of efficient control and extended protection.

When Acelepryn^® is applied at the higher label rate, it can provide up to six months of protection. This allows you to plan ahead to interrupt the life cycle of these key lawn pests, to help prevent next year’s infestation. An application in November stops newly hatched grass grub and porina larvae from maturing, so it heads off the damage that usually occurs over autumn and winter when the grubs/caterpillars get bigger (and hungrier).

It's ideal timing this month, because swarms of NZ grass grub beetles lay their eggs into lawn soil from October-December. Bronze beetles are also flying and laying eggs during the spring-summer period. Both these nocturnal beetle species are very unpopular, as they often chew holes in garden plants and fruit trees. Porina moths are also flying from October-December, indiscriminately scattering thousands of eggs as they go. If you treat your lawn this month, you can interrupt the life cycle of all these pests.

Even better, proactively apply Yates Lawn Grub & Porina Kill + Protect twice a year, to prevent lawn pests from getting started at all!

Symptoms of an Infestation

The most common symptom of grass grub infestation is brown dead patches developing in the lawn, or sometimes, sections of grass that can be easily lifted up, like the edge of a carpet. Also, if plants in your garden or pots are wilting despite being well watered, it's a possible symptom of grubs feeding on roots.

Damage from porina caterpillars is most noticeable during autumn and early winter. They don't move far from their burrows, so their grazing leaves distinctive bare soil patches with pencil width burrow holes in the centre. In heavy infestations, the individual bare spots can join up into very large bare or weedy areas, causing serious damage to lawns.

If you see birds pecking at the lawn and leaving divots, it can be a sign that porina caterpillars are present (the birds will be searching for juicy caterpillars).

Pro Tip: Adult grass grub beetles and porina moths are both attracted to light. If your outdoor lighting is near to your lawn area, try to use it sparingly and don't leave it on for extended periods, to make your lawn a less noticeable 'landing strip'.

Which Yates Product Should I Choose?

Yates has two versions of Yates Lawn Grub & Porina Kill + Protect, each with its own advantages.

1. For gardeners who want maximum convenience and fast application, our new hose-on format is hard to beat. Simply connect the bottle to your garden hose and evenly spray the lawn, for a fast and easy solution. That's all you need to do for porina; for grass grub, lightly water the lawn after application to help soak in the product. The 2L bottle treats up to 300m^² of lawn, providing excellent coverage with minimal effort: ideal for medium to large lawns.
2. For precise application and control over the treatment rate, our granular formulation is an excellent choice. Simply sprinkle across the lawn by hand, from a shaker pack or a lawn spreader. For porina, hold off watering for 24 hours; for grass grub, lightly water the lawn immediately after application. Granules make it easy to tailor the application rate to suit the pest pressure: if you have a particular spot that gets hammered by grubs year after year, this is the version to go for. Multiple pack sizes are available, to suit small urban lawns, right up to larger lifestyle/rural lawns.