Many Coquitlam home owners, and elsewhere, are struggling with lawn damage caused by the European chafer beetle. The grubs feed on grass roots. Birds and animals dig up lawns to feed on them. My friends in Port Moody video taped two black bears in their backyard flipping turf over and feeding on chafers.
Westwood Plateau lawn damaged by animals searching for chafer beetle grubs
So your lawn has been damaged. Now what?
Some local residents are turning to lawn alternatives. The example below is interesting because chafer beetle damage was the last straw for this resident.
Problems
- The owner had very little time and inclination to “baby” her lawn
- The large spruce tree shaded out the lawn and rained down needles on top of it
- dogs abused the lawn with urine
- foot traffic compaction
Solution
- dig up the lawn (this was my humble contribution to this project!)
- install wooden border
- install stones
- decorate with rocks and pots with succulents (low maintenance plants)
pots with low-maintenance succulent plants
Problem solved! No more mowing, no more chafers, very little maintenance required aside from needle clean up and weed control.
