by What You Need to Know About Chinch Bugs and Your Lawn
The southern chinch bug loves Alabama yards—especially those with certain varieties of St. Augustine turf. Chinch bugs can infest a lawn and kill it. Read on to learn what you need to know about stopping chinch bugs from infesting your AL lawn.
What are Chinch Bugs
Chinch bugs are tiny insects that suck your turfgrass dry and inject a poison into the grass blade at the same time. In southern Alabama, your lawn would have the southern chinch bug.
Chinch bugs are hard to see because they live in your lawn and only measure 1/6” long. But you know when you step on them because chinch bugs emit a horrible odor.
Chinch bugs and their nymphs affect turfgrass unless Baldwin and Mobile Counties have a cold snap in January. Then adult chinch bugs will overwinter in your yard.
An adult chinch bug has a black body with wings. The nymphs are brownish-red with a white band across their backs. Both the adult and larvae feed on turfgrass.
Chinch bugs attack with a vengeance on already stressed lawns. If your lawn has chinch bugs, you’ll notice your yard grass turning to yellow, orange and then brown during the summer months.
Learn more: Protect Your Baldwin or Mobile County Lawn from Weeds in 2019.
Chinch bugs tend to favor certain varieties of St. Augustine the most during the summer. Ironically, fungal diseases kill chinch bugs and keep their numbers low during periods of cloudy, humid weather.
How Chinch Bugs Harm Your AL Lawn Grass
As stated above, southern chinch bugs attack most warm season grasses. Also, St. Augustine is the most susceptible to chinch bugs because it produces a lot of thatch where chinch bugs can live and thrive.
Chinch bugs kill lawns. Stop chinch bugs from destroying your yard grass by changing how you take care of your turf.
Hire a lawn service, for example, to add fertilizer, pest and weed controls. Your lawn grass won’t be susceptible to chinch bugs or other lawn insects when it’s properly cared for.
Make sure you take care of your lawn so chinch bugs don’t stand a chance of survival. You can avoid stressed grass by changing some of your lawn care habits, such as
- Mowing your lawn after the grass dries.
- Raising your mower’s height to only take 1/3 of the grass blade off.
- Sharpening your lawn mower’s blades regularly.
- Watering your lawn deeply once or twice a week—unless you had 1”-2” inches of rain. Then, you don’t need to water your yard that week.
- Make sure you dethatch, aerate and overseed your lawn regularly.
- Hire a lawn service to apply fertilizer, pest and weed controls to keep your Baldwin or Mobile County turfgrass at its healthiest.
How Xtreme Turf Lawn Care Keeps Your Lawn Free from Chinch Bugs
If you think you have chinch bugs killing your turfgrass, you need Xtreme Turf Lawn Care. At Xtreme Turf, we provide insect controls including ones that stop chinch bugs from eating your entire AL lawn.
If you think you have chinch bugs, or you need a lawn care company to take care of your lawn this summer, call us today at 251-648-9947 or fill out our contact form.
Xtreme Turf Lawn Care serves homeowners in Daphne, Fairhope, Foley, Gulf Shore, Loxley, Mobile, Saraland, and Spanish Fort, AL.
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