Viewers’ Letters – dead lawn/white curl grubs/sick roses/shepherd’s pie


Dead lawn

Sue McCaull, of Raymond Terrace in New South Wales, wrote to say that her husband had accidentally sprayed the front lawn with Roundup instead of grub killer. The letter goes on to say that the moral of the story is to label everything in the shed in containers.

If the lawn was sprayed with Roundup it is dead. Don said that turf underlay could be put over the top of the dead lawn and new turf could be rolled out within 48 hours or so. The alternative is to sow seed in spring. However, lawns need water to establish so it would be best to wait until better rains come around.

Note: it is illegal in all states of Australia to pour out garden chemicals into an unlabelled bottle for storage.

White curl grubs

Mrs R. Hamer, from Rochedale South in Queensland, sent Don an email asking if witchetty grubs were good for the soil.

Don said that the grubs in the soil were white curl grubs, not witchetty grubs. Witchetty grubs are the wood boring larvae of moths, and they are found in trees and branches, not in the ground. White curl grubs are the larvae of scarab or cockchafer beetles.

White curl grubs are C-shaped, whitish grubs with orange heads. Whether they are good for the soil or not is not really the issue. They feed on plant and lawn roots and do a fair bit of damage, particularly when they are in pots. If you have magpies or blackbirds in the garden they will dig up the curl grubs and eat them. It’s not a good idea to spray with a pesticide to control white curl grubs, because the birds might be poisoned too.


     Witchetty Grub


    White curl grub

Sick roses

Duncan Whan wrote to say that when his standard Iceberg roses started dying back, he had no idea what was wrong. He contacted the Plant Disease Diagnostic Unit at the Botanic Gardens Trust of NSW, which is run by Dr Brett Summerell and his team. They quickly identified the problem as stem canker, a disease that probably spread from rose to rose at pruning time.

When pruning, Don stressed the importance of disinfecting tools between plants, to avoid spreading diseases. In the garden you can simply dunk your secateurs or other pruning tools into a Dettol or bleach solution before moving on to your next plant.

Contact information:


Plant Disease Diagnostic Unit
Botanic Gardens Trust
Mrs Macquaries Road
Sydney 2000
Phone: (02) 9231 8186
Fax: (02) 9241 1135
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au

For information on collecting and packaging your samples, visit the website.

Shepherd’s pie

Two Victorian viewers, Christine Draffin and Marjorie Crompton, emailed to say that they tried Geoff’s shepherd’s pie recipe last weekend. Their verdict? Delicious – a fantastic, hearty and yummy meal!

Letter of the Week


Duncan Whan wins the prize for Letter of the Week – a year’s free subscription to the Burke’s Backyard magazine. Congratulations Duncan!