Knowing your local pests and their life cycles is the key to determining whether lawn damage is due to insects. The rest is a matter of keeping your eyes open. Most insects are large enough to be visible, so do not wait for your grass to start dying to find out there is a problem. Look for the Clues The presence of sod webworms may become apparent one evening when…
Chinch Bugs Chinch bugs are the premier pest on St. Augustinegrass lawns and will attack other grasses except those in the coldest climates. Black, winged, and 1/5-inch long, they live and lay eggs in the thatch layer at the root line. Most damaging are the tiny red nymphs, which thrive on sap sucked from grass stems. The adult chinch bug is the scourge of southern grasses. The chinch bug nymph…