Several insects feed on the roots or blades of grass, causing significant damage to your lawn. Learning to spot their presence quickly and identify them allows you to effectively fight pests and limit damage.
By using nematodes, you can eliminate them naturally, without using chemical pesticides. These microscopic worms offer an environmentally friendly and effective solution for quickly resolving the problem. Here is how to get rid of insect pests so you can enjoy a lush, green lawn.
How do I get rid of white grubs?
White grubs are the larvae of beetles such as the Japanese beetle or the European chafer. These C-shaped grubs are milky white in colour. They have a brown head and six long legs. In the spring or fall, they are easy to see when you dig the first few inches of soil under the grass roots. If you find more than five per square foot, you most likely have an infestation.
How to recognize white grub damage
White grubs destroy grass by feeding on its roots. The presence of yellow or brown patches of turf that you can lift like a carpet is the sign of a white grub infestation. Damage is usually noticeable from late July to early August. The first signs of damage will be visible in sunny, well-irrigated areas.
You can also suspect the presence of white grubs in early spring when skunks, raccoons or birds dig up the lawn to feed on them.
How to get rid of grubs
The best time to control grubs is early August, when the larvae are small and actively feeding near the surface. Begin applying nematodes in August to destroy these destructive insects for one full year. For heavy infestations, you may need to repeat in September. After September or even in the spring, they are much harder to control.
To learn more about white grubs, read our other article.
How to identify an ant problem in the lawn
Ants are social insects that live in colonies with one or more queens. While their work is essential within ecosystems, their presence in very large numbers can devastate lawns and gardens.
How to recognize ant damage
Without proper control, ants can damage plant and grass roots. They can bury the base of plants under the above-ground part of their nest, bore deep tunnels in the lawn, cause paving stones and slabs to sink, and, of course, enter your home.
How to deal with an ant problem in your lawn
Left unchecked, ants can upset the roots of plants, cause deep holes in the lawn or find their way into your house. Long-term control of ants can only be achieved by destroying the nest and the queen. Ants generally feed on a variety of small insects (found or captured), plant nectar or the honeydew present on plants. Because they need both carbohydrates and proteins, the mixture found in traps, baits and ant stakes can exterminate a colony in 7 days.
ANT OUT Nematodes can also be used to significantly reduce ant populations in the soil.
How to recognize chinch bugs
Chinch bugs are quite small, with adults being 4 mm, and are blackish brown insects with two white marks on their back.
What damage do they cause?
Chinch bugs suck the sap from grass, usually leaving random patches of dead grass. In large infestations, your whole lawn can be affected. The patches, initially yellow, turn brown in summer, leading you to believe the damage is due to drought. However, neither cooler weather nor watering succeeds in restoring the lawn. They thrive in hot dry weather, and are most active on days when the temperature is above 20 °C, typically affecting sunny areas first. They feed most heavily from mid-July to mid-August, and this window is the most effective control period.
In the event of a major infestation, your entire lawn is at risk.
How to get rid of hairy chinch bugs in your lawn
If you are unsure if you have chinch bugs, try parting the grass and looking at the base of the grass plants to look for them. If you’re still not sure, try creating a cylinder by removing the top and bottom of a can and force one end of the cylinder into the infested soil. Now fill it with water and wait to see if they float to the surface. Once you’re sure they are chinch bugs, begin treating with nematodes.
Once you have confirmed a chinch bug infestation, treat your lawn with our Chinch Bug Nematodes.
Learn more about chinch bugs in our other article.
How to identify sod webworms
Adults are small, light-coloured moths that fly up from the lawn, travelling in a zig-zag pattern in the evening when they are disturbed. They can also be seen during the day, flying away when you are walking on the lawn or mowing it.
What damage do sod webworms cause?
Sod webworms, or lawn moths, feed on blades of grass, chewing them off at ground level. Damage will appear as brown patches in the driest areas of the lawn. Dead grass will pull away in clumps (like hair). Damage usually appears in late August and September.
How to get rid of sod webworms?
At the first signs of infestation, treat the lawn with GRUB OUT Nematodes, which are effective against many pests in lawns as well as in vegetable and flower gardens, including white grubs, cutworms and crane fly larvae.
How to tell if your lawn is infested with crane fly larvae
The European crane fly resembles a large mosquito. The adult poses no threat to your lawn. However, in its larval stage, the crane fly can wreak havoc on a lawn. Although they are roughly the same size as grubs, crane fly larvae have a plump, grey-brown or grey-black body and no legs. Very voracious, they devour roots and grass blades in the fall and spring.
How to identify crane fly larva damage
The larvae feed on grass roots and blades in the fall and spring. The worst damage is done in March and April. They are found just under the surface of the soil, and after June they will begin to emerge as the European crane fly. The crane fly lives for only one week, with its sole purpose being to reproduce. Once it has laid its eggs in the soil it dies off, but those eggs will hatch in approximately 11 – 15 days, so without treatment they can quickly multiply and destroy a lawn.
How to get rid of European crane fly larvae?
It is recommended to treat in the fall (from August to October depending on the temperature) or in the spring (at the end of April), when the larvae are feeding near the surface. Use Leatherjacket Nematodes.
