SAVING YOUR LAWN FROM BUGS
Chinchbugs & Sod Webworm ControlAre lawn bugs ruining your lawn?
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BUGS MIGHT BE KILLING YOUR LAWN
WEED PRO WILL ELIMINATE THE BUGS FROM YORU LAWNA closer look at your lawn might reveal the real reason it is damaged.
Chinch bugs feed on the sap contained inside the grass blades.
Over time, they will suck the blades dry, leaving dry, dead, and bare paths in your lawn.
To spot chinch bugs, examine the area where the damaged blades meet the healthy grass. Look for nymphs and adults around the base of the stalks.
Do you have a damaged lawn?
Chinch Bugs or Sod Webworms are likely the cause.
There are a handful of damaging insects we see in our lawns around Regina.
However, primarily we see the damage caused by sod webworms or chinch bugs. Both bugs prefer a malnourished lawn that is under-watered. Since 2015, chinch bug populations have become a real issue in Regina, and because they are prevalent in every community,
Weed Pro takes a proactive approach to chinch bug control. Our one-time application keeps them out of your lawn all summer long.
How Chinch Bugs Kill Your Lawn.
Chinch bugs pierce the grass blade with their sharp beak and suck the juices out of the grass blade.
In the process, they deposit an enzyme into the grass plant. In the grass plant, this enzyme permanently stops the grass plant from being able to absorb water, thus the grass plant dies from dehydration, turning from green to a pale green, then yellow and finally a greyish colour.
How to Identify If You Have Chinch Bugs.
Chinch bugs prefer hot and dry conditions.
Therefore the first place you will likely see the effects of chinch bugs is:
- close to sidewalks,
- driveways,
- patios
- or grass next to a building or fence that radiates heat from the sun.
There are two quick symptoms that you can spot easily.
- If the thinned-out area is more than a month old, the grass will be dead and have a greyish colour to it. This dead grass that is grey, is a dead giveaway that your lawn is struggling with Chinch bugs.
- If you pinch a little tuff of that dead grey grass and pull on it lightly, if there isn’t any resistance and it easily comes up, then your lawn is being thinned out by chinch bugs.
Chinch bugs are usually difficult to spot but not impossible!
They like to stay in the thatch layer of the lawn so that makes them tricky to see. There are many different varieties of chinch bugs,
They are only about 1/8” long and have a distinguishing X on their back where their wings cross.
Picture of Regina’s Chinch Bug
If your lawn has chinch bugs, they need to be treated.
If not, your lawn will always be trying to recover from its damage and will have thinning spots. Typically on the border of your lawn by concrete or in full sun sections of your lawn.
If hot and dry conditions ever present themselves, then the chinch bug population will multiply rapidly.
To the point that your lawn can not multiply and repair itself quicker than the chinch bug does its damage and the thin patches will get bigger.
What does a chinch bug look like?
Chich Bug Treatment is simple and very safe.
In the last number of years, we have seen a greater number of chinch bug infestations in communities throughout Regina and the surrounding area.
For this reason, Weed Pro includes Season Long Chinch Bug Control in all our Fertilizer and Weed Control Packages.
Unlike options found at a garden centre, our treatment targets chinch bugs in your lawn today and keeps them out for the rest of the summer.
Safety precautions are the same as weed control, stay off the lawn until dry, we recommend 2 to 3 hours.
Another major pest to lawns in Regina is Sod Webworms.
They do their damage when they are in their larva/worm stage. In the larva stage, they eat the roots of the grass plants and kill the grass plants.
When they are adults they are small ½” to ¾” moths with funny bottleneck noses and fly in a zig-zag pattern over the lawn. In the adult stage, they are harmless to your lawn, except that this is when they lay their eggs for the next generation of lawn-destroying larvae.
In Regina, we get two to three generations of sod webworms in a growing season. When temperatures are hot and dry, damage and population spikes will occur.
How to treat Sod Webworms.
The best time to treat your lawn for Sod Webworms is in May or early June.
This is when they are in their larva stage. Unfortunately, there is no product available that can keep adult moths from flying into your lawn and laying eggs for future generations.
The good news is, the damage caused by Sod Webworms is not as devastating as the chinch bugs. With daily light watering habits, see our blog on effective watering.
The damage caused by Sod Webworms should be kept to a minimum as the lawn heals itself and regenerates new grass plants.
Weed Pro’s Proactive approach.
All of Weed Pro’s Residential Packages include a one-time application of our season-long chinch bug control. Which also treats any Sod Webworms in their larva stage.
Proactive treatment protects our customers’ lawns from infestations and continued damage from delayed reaction times from diagnosis, quote, approval, and final treatment.
Weed Pro is the lawn expert, we use the best products that are both safe and effective. We are here to help you achieve a beautiful lawn all summer long.
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