How to prevent and control chafer grub damage in potted flowers

What to do when potted flowers are harmed by chafer grubs?

Many flower growers know how troublesome chafer grubs are; they are the larvae of scarab beetles, commonly known as soil worms. Chafer grubs damage the roots of flowers. For potted flowers, if chafer grubs appear in the potting soil, it can be said that this plant has already set foot on the road to death. Even if it escapes the misfortune of dying, it will be half-dead with no vigor of growth.

Because chafer grubs mainly move about in the soil, this creates a certain difficulty in judging the pest situation. If you find that an outdoor flower you are growing has leaves that are wilting unusually even though the pot is not short of water, the soil is not too rich in fertilizer, and the light is not too strong, then there is an eight or nine out of ten chance that chafer grubs are present. To confirm this, you should knock the pot loose and spot-check; if you find them active, you can drench all the suspected subjects once with a 1000-fold dilution of 80% dichlorvos emulsifiable concentrate for treatment. Chafer grubs are very susceptible to poisoning; usually only one application of the pesticide is needed to kill them. If it were not for the fact that their adult form, the scarab beetle, can fly everywhere to lay eggs, chafer grubs would not give flower growers such a headache.