What Are The Most Common Lawn Pests, And How Can You Identify It In New Braunfels, TX?
Having a beautiful lawn is the dream of every homeowner in New Braunfels, TX and indeed everywhere else. However, this dream can easily be cut short by the appearance of common lawn pests which can appear seemingly out of nowhere to cause needless problems. Being able to control common lawn pests is an essential aspect of lawn care and ownership.
Fortunately, lawn services in Braunfels offer an affordable lawn service which often includes pest control measures for affected lawns. Therefore, it’s important to know which organisms found on your lawn are pests and which aren’t. With proper lawn pest identification, eradicating infesting pests becomes an easy, straight-forward process.
In this guide, we have discussed some of the most common lawn pests in New Braunfels, TX. By going through this post, your knowledge of lawn pest identification gets enriched and controlling pests becomes more effective.
Below are the most common lawn pests and how you can identify them in New Braunfels, TX.
Chinch Bugs
Chinch bugs are sap-sucking bugs that feed on grass. There are many species of chinch bugs but all of them cause the same problems. Chinch bugs secrete a substance that stops the absorption of water by grass leading to withering and eventually death.
Chinch bug lays eggs of 2 generations which hatch in a month’s time typically. These eggs hatch into nymphs which mature to adult chinch bugs in 6 weeks and begin mating immediately. The cycle repeats itself until winter when they hibernate until the next lawn season begins afresh the next year.
Chinch bug infestation is usually visible between June and September. At first observation, the effects of their activity can be mistaken for drought. However, close inspection will reveal the presence of chinch bugs.
Common symptoms show irregular patches of grass with a purple hue, wilting, yellowing and then browning as the grass dies. If this is noticed, contact a lawn service in New Braunfels immediately.
Ants
Ants may not attack grass directly but they are certainly unwelcome as they can cause damage to woodwork in a yard. There are thousands of species of ants and their pattern of behavior is similar. Ants will build homes in any place suitable and if care isn’t taken, they can invade your home as well.
Eradicating ants can be tough considering how resilient these little hard workers are. Pest control for ants is best done by professionals. Hiring a New Braunfels lawn care service is still your best shot at dealing with ants decisively.
Ants usually have a colony headed by a queen, guarded by soldiers and workers. To eradicate ants effectively, it’s important to identify where their colony is situated. Eliminating this colony will most likely destroy the ant population in your lawn completely. Fortunately, a good number of affordable lawn services in New Braunfels are more than capable of dealing with ant infestation problems.
Army Worms
Basically, army worms are baby moths that aren’t fully developed. While in the larval stage, Army worms will eat grass leaves and stems in massive amounts. They’re usually in clusters and will wreak havoc on any patch of lawn where they are resident. Proper lawn pest identification is important here because Army worms can be mistaken for some other pest to the untrained eyes.
Army worms hide during the day and feed heavily at night or in the early mornings as they’re averse to sunlight. The moths responsible for Armyworms usually lay eggs in clusters that hatch in a week and start feeding on grass for 3 weeks before completing adult development into new moths which repeat the same cycle again and again.
Army worms are usually about 1 to 2 inches thick and colored gray, army green, or yellow. They’re quite easy to identify on sight. Consult a lawn service in New Braunfels to ensure that pest control is implemented as soon as possible to stop the spread and further damage of lawn grass.
Grubs
Grubs, which are the larva of certain scarab beetles, are one of the most common lawn pests known to cause problems in lawns. Grubs are potent lawn pests that attach grass at the roots, killing them quickly. Signs of grub damage usually show as wilted grass leaf blades, patchy brown spots and dying grass.
As a matter of fact, underneath such dead patches of grass, grubs are always present. If you notice grubs on your lawn, it’s necessary to get the attention of a lawn service in New Braunfels to look into it and initiate pest control measures.
Another sign that you probably have grubs on your lawn is the presence of certain digging animals like moles and crows. These animals enjoy feeding on grubs and their presence is an indication that grubs are beneath your grass roots.
Grubs form after certain beetles like the common beetle lays eggs in the soil after mating. In 2 weeks, these eggs hatch and turn into new grubs that begin feeding on grass roots. By winter, grubs mature and hibernate beneath the soil until spring season when they become active again. As the season becomes warm, the grubs continue feeding until they mature into adult beetles and start the cycle again.
Burrowing animals
Animals like squirrels, moles, voles, skunks, badgers and their likes are digging and burrowing pests that can damage your lawn yard. If these animals are found on a lawn yard, they’ve either built a home or found regular food. If it’s the latter, it means there’s a primary pest present on that lawn which these secondary pests see as food.
For instance, skunks and moles will burrow into soils that have an abundance of grubs in it. To drive off these burrowing animals looking for food, first eradicate the primary pests like grubs. When there’s nothing to feed on, such burrowing animals will likely move on.
If eliminating primary pests doesn’t work, consider setting traps, using specific pesticides or simply hiring lawn care in New Braunfels to deliver a professional pest control strategy on the lawn.
Fiery Skippers
This inch-long, hairless caterpillar, with its green-gray hue, undergoes a captivating transformation, ultimately blossoming into the brilliantly hued yellow-and-black patterned butterfly. As it morphs, the flaming skipper leaves behind patches of brown, spanning two inches, embedded within lawns. These infestations materialize as an asymmetrical cluster of interconnected spots. The eggs of the flaming skipper find their discreet abode nestled beneath the blades of grass.
To tackle and eradicate the Fiery Skipper, a potent insecticide is needed. For this pest, it’s not business as usual. Consult your lawn service in New Braunfels, TX if you notice the presence of this species of butterfly in your lawn yard.
Pest Control for Lawns
If unattended, every lawn can be susceptible to pest damage over time. It’s important to contact your New Braunfels lawn care service as soon as pests are observed to be present in a lawn yard. Early pest control is less time-consuming and more effective.
There are many pests that can cause damage to a lawn. Quick and efficient control will stop army worms, ants, rodents, bugs, grubs and others from causing lasting damage to lawns. While some pest control measures are general-based, some others are pest-specific and will only work on particular pests.
In all, ensure that only pest control measures that do not affect your lawn and landscape negatively are used. Hire a New Braunfels lawn care service with good ratings and a reputation to maintain for best results.
For all concerns related to lawn mowing in New Braunfels, get in touch with us at GoMow Lawn Care Service, TX to handle them. We offer a FREE QUOTE estimate to our customers when they book an appointment with us.
Are you ready to enjoy an exceptional lawn mowing experience?
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