Chaefer Beetles in Vancouver

Once again, crows and raccoons are dining on delicious Chaefer Beetle larvae.  These larvae are living under lawns.  The crows and raccoons dig up lawns to get to the larvae.

Why are some lawns affected and not others?  The lawn has to be easy to dig.  Crows only use their beaks, and raccoons their paws.   I have dug up lawns with deep roots, and the Chaefer Beetle larvae are under the roots, but they are safe from crows and raccoons.

Lawns that are easy to dig have shallow roots.  A lawn should not have shallow roots.  A lawn gets shallow roots from being cut too short, and not getting watered effectively.  Generally, the roots of a lawn are as long as the blades of grass.  So if the lawn is only 1" high, chances are, the roots are only 1" deep.

If a lawn is watered at short intervals, the water cannot penetrate very deeply into the soil.  If the water is not penetrating into the soil, the grass roots come to the surface looking for moisture, and again, this leads to shallow roots.

You have probably heard this before:  raise the mower blade so the lawnmower is cutting the lawn at least 2" high.  When the grass is growing quickly in the spring, 2" is a good height.  As the grass growing slows down when the weather gets hotter, lawns can be 2.5-3.0" high.