During the spring season, you’ll experience plentiful showers and flowers. Unfortunately, you’ll see many lawn pests too. Other pests attack your lawn when fall comes around and are determined to damage your yard all year round. It would help to learn how to identify and eliminate some of the most common lawn pests.
Here, we provide five pests that might be ruining your yard.
Fix the problem
Before treating an infestation, you’ll need to call your Boston pest control company. The technicians will test your soil to determine the main problem. Then, the technician might recommend using a natural or chemical solution for treatment.
White grubs
These are the larvae of various scarab beetle species. These include the Japanese beetles and European chafers. Usually, the grub is C-shaped and resembles tiny worms with legs. Their bodies are milky-white with brown heads.
You’ll know you have a grub infestation if:
- You observe irregularly shaped brown patches of dead turf
- Your turf lifts from the soil easily
- Rodents like skunks and moles dig into your lawn for food
Chinch bugs
These are very subtle bugs with wings. Chinch bugs have grayish-black bodies with white and black wings. Wilting grass, uneven spots of yellow, and grass that grows bigger and turns brown may indicate chinch bug infestation.
You should call your pest control technician to test your yard for chinch bugs and recommend solutions. You can fertilize your lawn and use preventive pesticides to control chinch bugs infestation.
Armyworms
You should worry about the larvae stage of armyworms for your lawn care. These pests are caterpillars of about 2 inches in length at this stage.
Armyworms have red, yellow, green, or brown stripes running down their bodies. Also, armyworms earned their name for moving in masses that ruin your yard and crops.
You probably have an armyworm infestation if you see bare spots on your lawn. Other signs include entirely bare spots on your lawn and brown patches amidst healthy, green grass. Removing grassy weeds, reducing thatch build-up, and maintaining your lawn mow short will help prevent armyworm attacks.
Cutworms
These caterpillars can grow up to 2 inches and feed on turf grass. Usually, cutworms are brown or gray with spots and stripes of other colors. You can find these pests in your yard any time of the year.
Some common symptoms of cutworms are wilted grass and tiny pockmarks dotting your lawn. Ensure you keep your grass short, aerate, and dethatch your yard to prevent cutworm infestation.
Sod webworms
At the larvae stage, these worms feed on grass leaves and stems. Sod webworms are only one inch long at their larvae stage.
You can identify a sod webworm infestation by checking for grass scalped down to the base. Also, unequal spots of brown grass that grow big with time and silk webbing may indicate your yard has sod webworms.
Controlling lawn pests will help improve your home so that it can become a more comfortable and healthy environment.
Bottom line
Pests are harmful and can damage the health of your lawn yard. Sometimes, pests become complicated to handle and control.
It’d be best to call a professional pest control technician to help you solve the problem. Proper lawn care management can also be a preventive measure for pest infestation in your yard.
