Lawn Care Service

Top 10 Most Common Lawn Pests

If you are like me you are at least concerned about different pests that could attack your lawn and either destroy what you have worked hard to achieve or simply cost you a lot of money to get rid of. That’s a normal concern for anyone who has the responsibility for maintaining a yard. One of the best ways to deal with this concern is to get educated on the most common and dangerous (to your yard) pests. I thought I would put together this list of the 10 most common lawn bests to be looking for:

Cutworms – This is the street term for the larvae of the Turnip moth (generally the larvae of moths). They love to eat leafs, stems, and nearly any part of a plant that they can get to. They get their name from the common practice of “cutting” off a seedling at ground level by chewing through the stem. There are lots of variations and colors of cutworms including green, yellow, or even brown. They are most often found in the Upper South Carolina, North Carolina, Coastal Inland Valley, Upper and Middle South Region, and the Coastal Tropical South. They love Bermuda grass, bent grass, and rye grass.

Chinch bugs – I recently did a full article on these little guys. You can read more about them here: http://www.lawncareservice.net/blog/2010/10-tips-to-detect-and-destroy-chinch-bugs/. They are commonly found just about everywhere in the U.S. including the Coastal Tropical South, South Western Deserts, North Central West, Middle and Lower South, High Plains, and the West Mountains. They will comfortably and quickly destroy your yard if you don’t take care of the problem early.

Mole crickets – These pests are on the bigger side (1-2 inches long). They have shovel-like limbs in front for digging and even swimming. For the kicker, these guys can also fly as far as 5 miles. It lives year-round and goes into hibernation in the winter. They are nocturnal and you will hear them chirping at night as they dig beneath your yard and do damage to your turfgrass and Bermuda grass. These are most common in the South (nearly everywhere), the Western Mountains, and the High Plains.

Bermuda grass mites – These are one of the smaller pests and will require a 10X or 20X magnifying glass for you to see if you suspect you have them. They attack Bermuda grass with is the most popular grass used for football and sporting fields across the U.S. They can barely be seen but they are worm-like mites. They have two pairs of legs near their head. They will generally stunt the growth of the grass and if the infestation is bad enough they can cause the grass to die. These are most common in the Coastal Tropical South, Western Mountains, South West Deserts, and the High Plains.

Scale insect – There are only about 8,000 species of scale insects (yeah, scary). They are completely parasites of plants feeding on the sap directly in the plant’s vascular system. Since there are so many species they vary a lot in size, shape, color, and overall appearance. They are particularly fond of St. Augustine grass and are capable of doing severe damage to your yard if not caught early. They are found in the Northern and Central Midwest, High Plains, Western Mountains, and the Coastal Tropical South.

Mealybugs – These are technically a specific kind of scale insect but they are very common in moist, warm climates and generally well knows (you have probably heard of them). They feed on plant juices including subtropical trees. The male and female mealybugs are quite different in appearance. The males have have wings, the females do not. In the end, you don’t want either anywhere near your yard. They are most commonly found in the Southern States, California Coastal areas, Western Mountains, and the High Plains. They thrive on St. Augustine grass and centipedegrass.

Fire ants – These are the aggressive red weaver ants (there are actually 280 species of stinging ants) and if you have them you will most likely know especially if you have ever been bitten by a bunch of them. This is a wide-spread problem in the U.S. pretty much common to every area of the country but especially in the South and Coastal areas. They are also very damaging to St. Augusting and ryegrass.

Armyworm – This is also sometimes called okalombo or the nutgrass armyworm. The larvae feed on really all types of grasses and some early stage cereal crops (not that you would have those in your yard). It gets its name from “marching” in large numbers from grasslands into crops or from yard to yard. They are found in Southern States, the Midwest, and coastal areas in California. They particularly like Bermuda grass but will gladly dine on fescue, ryegrass, or Kentucky bluegrass.

Sod webworms – There are over 400 species of moths that are classifed as sod webworms. They feed on all grasses but have a special affinity for sod thus the name. If you recently put down sod in your yard and know these guys are in the area, take precautions. They are commonly found in the Midwest however they can show up elsewhere. They are typically found in Kentucky Bluegrass which is common in the Midwest.

Billbugs – There are 60,000 different beetles in the same family as billbugs. They like to hollow out the stems of mostly Kentucky Bluegrass. It results in circular patches of dead grass. They are most commonly found in Northern States (from New England to the Pacific Northwest).

If you find that you have any of these pests in your yard you have a lot of possible treatment options, the surest being to contact a lawn care/pest control specialist to come out and analyze the yard, the extent of the damage, and to provide a quote for controlling these pests. If you are interested in taking out the problem on you own you can either talk to someone at your local garden center or you can feel free to shoot us an email and we will do our best to offer solutions to you.