Grubs in my bales?!?!

Is this unusual... usual.. or just freakish?
Matt, (my husband) planted some pak choi in a couple of bales, for what ever reason it bolted and we decided to pull it up and plant some purple bush beans.
Imagine our shock when just under the surface we found 100s of grubs!
He started scratching the surface of the bales and found most were infested.... I nearly lost the organic "high road" battle right then and there, he was sooo angry he wanted to race to Home Depot for some horrific "Grub Blaster".

I was able to convince him to try Neem oil, the grubs squirmed, looked as if they were suffering and withered before dying. (I'm sorry he's a dude and was greatly satisfied to see the invaders suffer)

My question is where do you think they came from? The bales? The bagged manure we spread on the top while preparing them?
Have any of you had a problem with grubs in your bales?

Dove
PS We had a cool spring and although the bale garden has been slow to take off, things are perking up and growing nicely.

No grub info from the strawbale folks?

Gee, Dovey- I don't have enough experience to speak intelligently to this- Kent may know more . . . he's been doing it the longest. Try DMailing him if he doesn't see this thread soon.

Good luck! Suz

We haven't been at it for long either.
I just wanted to know if it's a potential bale problem we should be on guard for, of it was something we added to the bale that caused it.

Thanks for the response Suz *S*

dovey: no clue about grubs in a bale. Never experienced them.

Dovey, Sorry, just saw your post.

I have never heard of this.

Start from the first and go forward. i.e. Where did you get the bales and do you know wht kind they are? Such as oats, wheat, etc.? If that would not be the cause, what did you put on them? Would the plants themselves have had any in the soil? Or did you start from seed? If so, what soil did you use? Where did you get the seed? It could have had eggs in it. Then what did you add? Bagged manure you said. Was it sterile?

Even a cool spring would not have been the problem. Obviously, something had the eggs in it. The bales, the soil from the plants, the manure???

I am sorry I laughed but you know, even weirder than the grubs being there was using neem oil on them. I have never heard of that before. Using neem on grubs. Does it say on the label it is for grubs?

Please let us know if you come up with an answer. So curious.

Jeanette

Thanks Kent,
That's pretty much what I wanted to know... if it is or, is not, a common problem for bale gardeners.

Jeanette,
All but 2 of my bales came from a reliable source, they had been stored in a barn, clean, dry and never exposed to weather.

We started every vegetable from seed and never saw a single sign of grubs when they were transplanted.

After thinking it over I realized grubs actually living, over-wintering in the bales was unlikely since they lay their eggs in the soil and the grubs emerge from - live in soil.
Therefore I feel it must have come from the bagged steer manure, I don't recall if it was sterile.
The bags did sit outside in the garden the entire winter, it's possible the grubs entered the bags through small holes that developed as the manure froze and thawed.

I wasn't sure neem oil would work, we checked the label and sure enough it listed grubs. Neem is fab stuff and It killed the grubs on contact. I had Matt mix it up in the watering can and just pour it into the bales, a light spray was not going to work. My biggest concern was that the oil would coat the vegetable's tender roots and endanger their ability to absorb water. All is well and we had zero side effects.

Cheers
Dove

There is no reason to give up the Hula...