Insect infestation has destroyed many a dream of having a green and health lawn. You'll find that insects don't really cause the destruction of your lawn. It is just a manifestation of ill-tended soil. Soil that isn't well-tended and an imbalanced environment attracts insects. As you repair this root damage, you will also need to get to know the different types of insects and how they can be eliminated as you work towards a better lawn.
The planting zone where your lawn is placed affects your insect combating strategy. There are seven major regions in the country with different insect infestations rates and types. Coastal Northwest, Mountain West, Southwest, Midwest and Northeast, Transition Zone, Central Southeast, and Gulf Coast and Florida. Laws in certain regions also affect your ability to control the infestations of these insects.
The general strategy of pesticides for almost every insect type includes eradicating the insect in its larval and defenseless form. However, these have adverse environmental effects, and there have been alternatives made to change this. To detect the presence of which insects have infiltrated your lawn, the drench test is conducted.
Moles and voles adhere to general symptoms of lawn devastation. Spike traps may be used especially when the moles and voles are at their most active phase in attacking your lawn. Army worms and cut worms, on the other hand, can be distinguished by signs of chewed leaves and cuts near the circular or depressed portion of your lawn. Killing army worms and cut worms may be done by reducing thatch and eliminating soggy areas of your lawn.
Billbugs are the only species of weevils which turns your lovely grass into straw. Irrigation, fertilizers and increasing of mowing height help eliminate billbugs. Billbugs are also known to resist certain organisms such as the Beauveria fungus. Having this specie in your lawn will surely make your billbugs willfully leave your lawn.
The black turfgrass notoriously attacks Kentucky, ryegrass, annual blue grass, and bent grass. These types are under the spell of black turfgrass if they are peeling, have diminished roots and the grass is brown in color. Aeration and altering of mowing height usually does the trick.
The chinch bug is another common harmful lawn insect. Also known as St. Augustine grass, the chinch bug creates patches of yellow and brown in your lawn. Reduction of thatch and nitrogen can kill the chinch bug. Also, planting resistant models such as Floralaw or Florata, can help your chinch bug say goodbye. If you find your lawn becoming more brown than yellow, you are most likely infested with lawn moths. Irrigation, fertilization and thatch reduction are also techniques you can try to eliminate the lawn moth.
If you find leaves getting curly and the tips are growing, plus a hint of sticky substances, aphids are the culprit. While there are pesticides tailored to kill this culprit, you can also find that a strong jet of water does the trick. If there are white bumps and yellow patches on your lawn, you might be suffering from the attack of the euonymus scale. Dormant oil spray usually prevents this.
Irregular shaped holes are the best symptom of presence of shails and slugs. If you find the base part being more attacked than other parts, you definitely need to lay a board and pick them up when you spot them in your lawn. The board will serve as your way of capturing them.
White grubs and its older version (scarabs) are the lawnmaker's biggest enemies. The large patch of brown of grass attests to the fact that these insects mean to harm your lawn. Uprooting them manually during the moist times of the year will help you diminish the presence of those nasty white grubs. Milky Spore is also a popular way of eliminating this, brought about by proper timing and understanding of their life cycle.
Have you ever seen unsightly mounds and tunnel-like installations in the root area? Ants are your enemy in this aspect. You must also learn to differentiate well if the culprit is an ant or a termite. There are about 5,000 species of ants, so you must check which of these species are harming your lawn. Depriving them of water and organic material usually does the trick, as well as destroying their colony base. Put a yummy jelly in the lawn as bait, and follow their trail so that you can destroy them at the root.