Question
We recently purchased new sod for our yard. It came with small redish brown beetles. I asked the sod company what they were and they didn't know. Are these beetles bad? Will they kill my lawn?
Answer(s)
There are a lot of beetles (make up 40% of all described insect species), so it is best to get a proper identification of the beetles to know what effect they will have on your new lawn. If you can bring a few beetles into our office to identify, we can give the proper recommendation for managing the beetle. Remember that the majority of insects in our garden are beneficial, and a small minority are truly pest problems. Please bring in a sample and we can try to identify and if we aren't able to, we can send the sample up to Logan and the Utah Plant Pest Diagnostic Laboratory and for a small fee ($5) they can identify and send you recommendations.
Our offices are located at 2001 South State, Rm #S1200, Salt Lake City, UT. Directions to our office can be found on our website at http://extension.usu.edu/saltlake/htm/directions , we also hold Ask A Master Gardener clinics on Mondays from 1 to 4pm where we have both staff and Master Gardeners ready to answer your plant problem questions.
Other Questions In This Topic
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- I just moved to SLC from Phx,Az and many of the plants here are new to me. I have some flowers in my yard that resemble "Blue Dicks" closely but, the flowers do not cluster -- they each form on a single stem and have been flowering since the end of April. I also have some Violet-like flowers growing in my lawn at about the same height as the grass. I would like to know what they might be and where I might be able to purchase seed or bulbs of the same type so I can plant more
