Scouting for Pests
Read this tip to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Professional and other Lawn topics.
Scouting for Pests
An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. With that in mind, be vigilant in scouting for pests in your lawn. Learn as much as you can about the pests that your turf faces in your area. Learn about their life cycle--when they appear, what they eat, when they mate, where they lay their eggs and how long before the young appear to complete the cycle. Nine times out of ten, interrupting that life cycle will head off most of the damage. For example, we know that white grubs (larvae of the June Beetle) hatch from eggs laid by burrowing adults in July. Thus, the right time to treat for grubs is late July, but only if we've seen the telltale signs of burrowing adults (small holes and small bumps of soil, adult insects a few inches beneath the surface, etc). We also know that chinch bugs are a serious threat only to St. Augustine in full sun. If you see yellow patches appear, in a sunny St. Augustine lawn, get down there and part the turf. If you see small, 1/8 to 3/16" long winged bugs, treat them right away. If you have a shady lawn, don't treat a problem you or your client isn't likely to have.
