Turf Insect Control Programs
While weeds certainly don’t look good in your turf, it’s the things you might not see that can really harm it. Insect infestations often happen deep in the grass or in the soil, where they’re hidden. Still, you’ll see the effects as your grass doesn’t green up like it should, thins out in areas, or even just plain dies.
The good news is you can fight back. Green Concepts offers turf insect control programs that will stop the infestations in their tracks, so you can enjoy the lush, healthy, green grass you’ve always dreamed about.
Grubs
Quite simply, grubs will kill your turf, especially if left unchecked. You need to understand what these creatures are and what they do to appreciate why you need to address this problem.
- Grubs are beetle larvae, or the stage after the eggs hatch.
- They feed on your turf’s roots, stressing and eventually killing random patches. You might be able to roll up sections of your lawn, almost like a rug.
- Grubs have short, white bodies that look somewhat like worms. If disturbed, they’ll curl up into a “C”.
- If not killed, grubs will mature into beetles, which will breed and lay more eggs that hatch and become grubs in the late summer or early fall.
Chinch Bugs
A common turf pest, chinch bugs can be especially troublesome for your grass.
- They blend in with the grass and thatch, so you might not notice how many are in your lawn.
- Mature chinch bugs are about 1/5 of an inch long and usually have black bodies, plus white wings. Nymphs are the size of a pin head and are pink or red.
- In about 4 to 6 weeks, chinch bugs mature, allowing the population to explode quickly in the right conditions.
- They suck nutrients right out of the grass blades, then inject poison to finish them off. The resulting damage looks like the effects of drought.
Sod Webworm
Another turf pest we encounter often in this area is the sod webworm. As the name suggests, they live in the thatch, spinning almost invisible webbing. Their main food source is grass, which as you can imagine, leads to serious damage. Look for ragged, small brown spots in the turf blades, which spreads throughout the grass in patches.
The damage can start in the spring, if you had a sod webworm infestation in the fall. During the summer, they turn into moths, mate, and lay eggs in the grass, and the problem continues. You don’t have to endure dying turf from an infestation. We have treatments that safely kill this pest, so everything returns to green and normal.