Lawn Pests
Lawn pests are a major problem no matter what variety of lawn you have.
When it comes to insect pests on lawns you can easily be overwhelmed by all the choices available with over the counter and professional insecticides.
Natural, organic, synthetic, contact, systemic are one of the class or types of insecticides available to control lawn pests.
First I think its important to understand what lawn pests are. Lawn pests could be an insect, fungus or weed.
Here is a link to id lawn pests http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/topic_turf_pest_insects
A pesticide is anything that kills a pest weather its natural or not.
If you have an insect pest you will need an insecticide.
If you have a fungus pest you will need a fungicide. See our post Lawn Diseases
If you have a weed pest you will need an herbicide. See our post Lawn Weeds
If you have a mite you will need a mitacide. Coming soon
But this post is focused on lawn pests that are insects so what is the right insecticide for lawn insect pests.
If you are the average home owner you might of heard of some the lawn pests mentioned bellow and may even have been able to identify one or some of them and it is vital that you know for sure if you have an insect pest and not a fungus or nutritional deficiency drought stress or any type of damage caused by lawn ornament or a basketball left on the lawn if you are going to get the right result.
This is especially important ff you are concerned about the environment and being environmentally conscious about using pesticides on your lawn to control lawn pests.
IPM Integrated pest management principals work really well for home owners that can correctly identify a pest problem and only apply a pesticide when lawn pests are found. By this they reduce pesticide usage and pesticide exposure.
However if you do not have the time or the patience to correctly identify lawn pests but have a recurring problem like chinchbug then a routine insecticide application can performed as a preventive service to control lawn pests.
Which is the right insecticide to control lawn pests that are insects.
Bellow is a list of common lawn pests.
- Annual bluegrass weevil
- Asiatic garden beetle
- Billbug
- Black turfgrass ataenius
- Cutworms
- European chafer
- European crane fly
- Green June Beetle
- Japanese beetle Northern Masked chafer
- Oriental beetle Phyllophaga spp.
- Southern masked chafer
- Chinchbugs
- Mole crickets
Some insecticides work great as a control or knock down insecticide while others work best as a preventive or suppression insecticide.
If you have an existing lawn insects pest problem you may need an insecticide that provides a quick knockdown of the pest to control it. this is great as part of an ipm program where you only treat when there is a problem.
If you are looking for preventive service then you will need a pesticide that has a good residual value.
Lawn pests the insect type have similar characteristics they fall under a sucking – piercing or chewing insect which makes control and prevention a little easier providing they do not have a resistance to the insecticide you are using.
Why is it easier because the insect has to consume some part of the plant in order to cause damage. They have to suck out nutrients or eat the foliage or roots.
A chinchbug is a sucking piercing insect it attacks the crown are of the grass to suck out nutrients, while a white grub only eats the roots and army worms eat the leaf but all consume some part of the plant.
How contact insecticides work
If you have an existing pest problem you most likely need a contact insecticide, contact insecticides work by killing the lawn pests when they come in contact with the insecticide by either ingestion or by penetrating their body.
Most modern insecticide are designed to kill on contact meaning that there job is to kill what is there now, they have low soil and plant residual so they don’t linger in the environment and are degraded by the soil, light or water.
Bellow are 4 insecticides we use and recommend click the image and you will be able to order them directly with free shipping also you can get labels and msds.
Because of this low residual more than one application may required a short time after to break the pests life cycle from egg, larva pupae and adult, usually the residual value is 3 to 7 days after which there is no further protection is available.
Some contact insecticides are micro encapsulated to offer a slow release of the active chemical ingredient over time offering 30, 60 or 90 days of control. However soil ph and heavy rain fall can diminish the residual value. From personal experience 14 to 30 days is a reasonable expectation.
Equil Micro Encapsulated Contact insecticide
Preventing lawn pests that are insects with systemic insecticides.
How systemic insecticides work to protect lawns
Systemic insecticides work by penetrating the entire plant root, crown and leaf through the root system via the plants vascular system so no matter what insect lawn pests you have it will prevent pest damage by killing the pest on its first meal.
Systemics offer long term control of lawn pests in my experience we get on average 45 to 60 days even during heavy rain falls and summer growth.
Dominion 2L Systemic Insecticide
Dominion 2L Termiticide/Insecticide
There are modern formulations of insecticides that combine contact and systemics to offer a quick knockdown with long term systemic action.
Tandem Contact & Systemic Insecticide
All these product are in a liquid form which is the easiest products to measure and apply in small quantities for homes with a handheld sprayer or backpack sprayer.
In addition with the control of lawn pests you also get control of most indoor pests like ants and roaches since most lawn insecticides are also albled for indoor pests, including some flying insects and mosquito. By performing lawn sprays you control a variety of pests.
Unfortunately there are no reliable natural pesticide that provide control for all lawn pests in the natural and organic or biological eco friendly pesticide market you have to be a true pro in order to id every pest and then purchase all the targeted products to have on hand to control the pest you encounter them.
The best environmentally responsible way is to monitor, inspect and treat when required. Remember to always follow label directions and us all recommended personal protection equipment. Keep these and all chemical products away from children.
Enjoy your lawn Cheers!
