Common lawn pests like grubs can cause major headaches. These pests might be sneakily feeding on your lawn without you even realizing it. Often, homeowners don’t realize they have an issue with lawn pests until they start to notice the damage.
In this article, we’ll dive into what you ought to know about the common lawn insects in Tupelo, Oxford & New Albany, MS.
While lawn pests are a significant source of frustration, there are solutions that work! Read on to learn more about where lawn grubs come from, how they attack your lawn and how you can prevent them from appearing season after season.
The most common lawn pests in North Mississippi are grubs, billbugs, spittlebugs, and armyworms. Lawns provide a natural habitat for insects with an ample supply of food and shelter.
But when that food IS your lawn, that can become a problem.
Grubs and billbugs are subsurface feeders, meaning they feed beneath the surface on the grass roots. Spittlebugs and armyworms are surface-feeding insects and feed on the grass blades themselves. Let’s take a closer look at these common lawn pests.
“Lawn grub” is the collective name for a few different species of beetles (like the Japanese Beetle and June Bugs) that are in the larval stage. After these white, C-shaped pests are born in the soil, they soon start feeding on the grass roots. They’ll also eat organic matter in the soil, which will deprive the lawn of these nutrients as well.
Billbugs are a type of weevil. They’re actually a pest that does “double-duty damage.” As larvae, billbugs are subsurface feeders. That’s why some homeowners refer to them as “billbug grubs.”
As adults, billbugs are surface-feeding insects and will chew holes in the grass blades. This damage is less severe than what the larvae will do.
These pests are named for the frothy spittle mass that they leave behind after feeding on plants, like grass. They use their piercing, sucking mouthparts to suck juice right out of your grass blades. They are found predominantly in Centipedegrass.
Armyworms are caterpillars that get their name because they tend to travel in large groups (or “armies”) when they infest a lawn. Fall armyworms usually infest lawns in southern and transition zone states, making North Mississippi lawns an ideal location for them to attack.
While not every lawn will wind up with a pest problem, it is important to be watching for signs of damage so that you can implement solutions quickly.
Homeowners are often most concerned about lawn grubs in their lawns…and for good reason.
One of the reasons why lawn grubs are such a problem (and why lawn care companies often insist on professional lawn grub control) is the fact that grubs can truly decimate a lawn. Obviously, without roots, your lawn cannot survive. This is why lawn grub damage typically shows up as brown patches in the lawn. These are areas where the lawn has been detached from its roots due to feeding.
Since grass that grubs have eaten is no longer rooted in the ground, it might come out in handfuls or even “roll up like a carpet.” You will need to grow new grass in these areas with a service like lawn aeration and overseeding.
Even if the grass does not completely die off, areas that grubs have eaten can become thinned out. This makes these spots more prone to weed growth and other problems.
People are often surprised by how quickly grub damage can occur. It usually feels like things take a turn for the worse overnight. Your lawn might look healthy one day and have large brown areas the next. This is because grubs are subsurface insects that often go unnoticed until damage is severe.
The other problem with lawn grubs is that they are juicy protein stacks for animals like birds, raccoons, moles, and skunks. So you might see these animals digging up your lawn to get to these “treats.”
Often, homeowners are equally as frustrated by the damage caused by wildlife that eat grubs as they are by grub damage. It’s a double whammy!
Obviously, lawn grubs are just one potential pest that could be feeding on your lawn. Since grubs are such a destructive problem, lawn grub control can be a valuable solution.
Let’s talk about the other three common lawn pests and what their damage can look like.
Billbug larvae damage can look a lot like grub damage with irregularly shaped brown spots. The damage often appears as irregular mottling or thinning of the turf, which is sometimes mistaken as drought damage as well.
One way to tell the difference between billbug damage and grub damage is to look for sawdust-like frass. Frass is an excrement left behind exclusively by billbug larvae. Adult billbugs also cause damage by chewing holes in your grass blades. This damage is far less severe than what the larvae tend to cause while feeding on roots.
As spittlebugs use their piercing, sucking mouthparts to suck juice from your grass blades, they will start to turn yellow. Eventually, the grass will turn brown or purple as the damage worsens.
A telltale sign that you have a spittlebug problem is the frothy spittle left behind by these pests. This foam-like substance can be found at the base of the grass.
Early feeding damage by armyworms looks like drought-stressed grass, but if there are a lot of these pests present, it can quickly progress to complete browning.
Armyworms chomp directly on grass blades as they feed . Look closely and you’ll see ragged holes in your individual grass blades. Grass may be eaten down to the ground, creating brown patches.
Another sign of armyworms includes a lacy or transparent effect on your grass blades where they have been chewed.
There are different pest control solutions for different problems.
At Lawn & Pest Solutions, we believe in an integrated pest management approach. This means that we will inspect your lawn for pest problems and provide further recommendations based on our findings.
We do have preventative and curative products that can help you address some of the common lawn pests we’ve talked about in this article. With lawn pest control, you can let go of the worries that you’re going to lose your lawn to pests.
Yes, there will definitely be times when lawn pest control is necessary. While not every lawn experiences problems with pests, once you do, you want to make sure that you act quickly.
Many lawn pests have the power to be highly destructive in a short amount of time. This is one of the benefits of having a technician on your property regularly, keeping an eye on what’s going on.
We often tell homeowners that lawn pest control is a protection of their investment.
Some people are surprised to learn that healthy lawns are even more susceptible to grubs than unhealthy ones. Since they also love to feast on organic matter, grubs will gravitate toward healthy, nutrient-rich soil.
This means that all of your investment in lawn care services like fertilization and weed control (which will make your lawn healthy) could be a waste if your lawn ends up being infested with grubs.
Armyworms prefer new sod or newly seeded grass, and both billbugs and spittlebugs will attack healthy grass.
It just means that even when you do all the right things to care for your lawn, you could still be attacked by pests and have it destroyed.
Don’t mess around with lawn pests. Talk to a professional about the right solutions that will protect your lawn.
At the end of the day, you don’t have to let lawn pests win. When you partner with a lawn care company that you trust has your best interests at heart, they’ll always be scouting for potential problems. A company like this will also give you helpful tips and advice to set you up for success.
At Lawn & Pest Solutions, we care deeply about ensuring our customers are happy. One of the reasons that we love the work that we do is that we thoroughly enjoy helping homeowners enjoy their properties to the fullest. That includes helping homeowners solve their lawn pest problems.
We understand that problems like pest damage can be incredibly frustrating. But we’ll help set you up for success. With professional lawn pest control, you can save time, money, and aggravation and have the healthy lawn that you deserve.
Ready to learn why Lawn & Pest Solutions could be your choice for lawn pest control services in Tupelo, Corinth & nearby North Mississippi communities? We’re excited to learn more about you and help you have the best lawn on the block. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we can create a customized plan that's perfect for you and your lawn.