Introduction to Turf Pests

Your lawn represents a significant investment in both time and money. Turf pests, such as insects or small animals, can quickly damage or ruin a lawn. Your greatest defense against these pests is knowledge. When you know how to look for them and identify their signs and symptoms, you can stop them before any real damage occurs.

Some of these turf pests, such as moles and certain insects, are some of the most frustrating to deal with. Many have claimed to have a cure, a repellent or even a homemade organic pesticide. The following pages will help identify these pests and the products that work best.

Lawn Insects

Insects are an important part of nature and are found in almost every square inch of earth. No matter how we feel about them, life on earth would suffer if they were not here. Not all insects are always turf pests. However, even a good thing that is out of place can prove disastrous. Termites provide a valuable service in the forest, but they cannot be allowed to do the same thing to our homes. Ground wasps feed on small insects, but must be destroyed when the nest is in close proximity to our home or near a child’s play area. It is no different for our lawns. Since we have an investment in our lawns, we need to protect it from damaging turf pests.

Insect Classifications

Lawn insects are classified as either beneficial insects, nuisance insects or damaging insects. Beneficial insects are those that provide a needed service. Bees pollinate plants and spiders help keep other insects under control. These are just a couple examples.

Nuisance insects are usually more of a problem for us than they are for the grass. They include ants, certain spiders, green June beetles, frit flies, etc. In most cases, little or nothing needs to be done about nuisance insects unless their presence becomes an annoyance or a danger to us, to our children or pets.

Turf damaging insects are those that feed on the grass blades, stems, or roots. Generally they are not a danger to us, just the grass. However, just because a lawn-damaging insect is found does not necessitate treatment. Healthy grass is easily able to withstand insect pressure within certain limits. It is only when they exceed the threshold that treatment may become necessary.

Turf Pests That Attack From Above and Below

Insects can damage grass in different ways. Most of the insects that damage the grass roots and crown have a narrow time frame when damage can occur. The insects that cause the damage are generally the larval stage of certain beetles and moths. The damage doesn't usually occur until the last stages of larval growth. Examples are white grubs, cutworms, army worms and billbugs.

These insects have a complete life cycle. This means they emerge from the egg into the larval stage. The larva becomes a pupa and later emerges into an adult. Knowing when the damage is likely to occur is important for good control.

Insects that feed on plant juices are referred to as sucking insects. Aphids, leafhoppers, chinch bugs and mites can cause considerable damage especially to stressed or young plants. Since they live on plant juices, over-fertilized, nitrogen rich lawns will often receive the most damage.

These insects have incomplete life cycles. This means the immature stage is simply a smaller version of the adult.

Old Insecticides Vs. New Insecticides

Forty years ago, insecticides were much different than they are now. Popular insecticides like chloradane, heptachlor and others were commonly used. They had a very broad spectrum and a long persistence. The term “broad spectrum” means they controlled a wide variety of turf pests and “long persistence” means it remained active for long periods. One application would last all season and quite often would last well into the second season. Due to the long persistence, a person didn’t need much knowledge of insect growth stages or behavior. The insecticide was going to kill the insect sooner or later. Although effective, the long persistence became a concern and by 1980 almost all were off the market.

Newer insecticides are developed to be active for much shorter periods. Most will remain active for just a few days while a few others are persistent considerably longer. They also have a narrower spectrum.

More attention and research has been given to biological controls. These are often insect specific and must be applied well in advance of any turf damage.

What Does This Mean For Us?

It means we must be more accurate in our understanding of insect behavior and life stages. With newer insecticides, success in controlling turf pests is determined by correct pest identification, pesticide selection and application timing.

This section will show you how to identify problem insects and methods of control. This requires that we become more active in scouting for insect activity, especially if we have had previous insect problems. It doesn’t matter if you are a golf course superintendent or a homeowner, the methods are the same. Knowledge is the real key.

Moles, voles, skunks, and other Turf Pests

Tunnels everywhere! Holes in the lawn from over-night digging! What do you do? The tremendous amount of homemade or store bought cures, advice and traps mean one thing. No one has figured out a sure fire way to stop them. However, being in the business for as long as I have, I have tried most everything. (Sorry, I still refuse to put gum or hair in mole tunnels.) Although, I will share my views and tricks that work.