East Lansing-Home owners and golf course managers may soon be able to reduce the amount of damage to their lawns and golf courses caused by European chafer, the white grub most often found in home lawns. Researchers at Michigan State University are developing more environmentally friendly methods for controlling European chafer. Innovative control practices will reduce the dependency of homeowners and golf course managers on standard pesticides, especially those that are no longer available or facing withdrawal as a result of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) European chafer resembles its relative the Japanese beetle, but it is larger and causes more damage because it feeds earlier in the spring and later into the fall. It damages turf from mid-March to mid-May and again in September by attacking the grass plants’ root systems. Predators such as skunks, raccoons, moles and birds cause additional damage by tearing up the sod to feed on the grubs. Economic damage from European chafer is difficult to assess but is estimated at more than $45 million a year in Michigan. “In a bad year, the turf in a majority of home lawns in many urban neighborhoods can be largely destroyed,” says Dave Cappaert, MSU Department of Entomology. “At least 700 acres of turf in the Lansing area had to be replaced in 1999 and 2000 at a cost of nearly $5 million. In addition to turf replacement, homeowners and commercial turf managers incurred hundreds of dollars per acre in preventive maintenance costs for pesticides.” Biocontrol organism may help suppress European chare on a wide scale. A new strain of nematode-a microscopic worm that eats the grub-has proven effective and may replace chemicals if commercially suppliers become available. Another natural enemy, a gut parasite called a gregarine, attacks the intestine of the grub, reducing its growth rate and survival. European chafer is not just a lawn pest-it can also cause serious damage to wheat fields and nursery crops, especially spruce and arborvitae.