Don’t Let Pests Destroy Your Lawn

We spend a lot of time and a lot of money on our lawns. If you add up the costs of establishing, fertilizing, mowing, and weed control, you’d probably be very surprised at how much you are actually investing in your little green slice of heaven.

Of course, it’s worth it. A beautiful lawn with some attractive accents is a source of pride, a destination for family recreation, and a big boost to home value, in addition to keeping the house clear of muddy footprints.

Something as important and expensive as a lawn must be protected from the things that can destroy it, so think about what you will do to keep insects under control. Knowing what threats exist and how to deal with them is essential because it can quickly reach a point where it’s too late to do anything.

Ants

We mostly think of ants as the quintessential unwanted guest, disturbing picnics and other outdoor meals. Ants can be a far more serious problem than that, however. There are many different types of ants, some of which can do real damage to your lawns.

Anthills are cute in cartoons, but they don’t look very good in your yard. Furthermore, some ants can actually cause serious harm. For instance, Moxie Pest Control Nashville and other experienced exterminators across the southern United States are often called to help fight fire ants, which inflict a painful bite and live in massive, unsightly colonies.

Professionals can eliminate these, but the earlier you take action yourself, the better. Exterminators can also reduce the populations of other types of ants, whatever your particular needs may be.

Grubs

You may not realize it, but grubs are not a species in and of themselves. They are the larvae of any of a variety of beetles, including the destructive Japanese beetle. The beetles lay eggs through the summer, which hatch in the soil. The larvae retreat to deeper soil through the winter, then emerge as adult beetles next spring.

Grubs not only turn into these rosebush-eating monsters, they also destroy the grass by feeding on its roots. The damage may not be evident until the onset of hot weather when the root deficiency starts to interfere with water uptake. You must control grubs before this stage or it will be impossible.

In addition to exterminator intervention, home remedies like milky spore can help. Any evidence of widespread grub activity is reason enough to bring in expert help.

Mole Crickets

Another insect that seems harmless is the cricket, and while the familiar black field cricket does little more than serenade us on a warm summer night, its cousin the mole cricket is not so benign.

Mole crickets operate much like grubs, feeding on grass roots and interfering with the lawn’s ability to access water and nutrients. Native to the southeast, mole crickets can be controlled with a biological control called a nematode, but don’t hesitate to talk to a qualified exterminator about developing an overall pest program that could help with mole crickets as well as other pests.

It’s important to note that any success in controlling grubs might potentially increase available food for mole crickets, so be prepared for this rebound effect as well.

As hard as we work to make our lawns beautiful, there are many different pests working even harder to damage it. They are on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so if you don’t take definitive action to control them, you will see their populations explode. When the numbers get that big, the damage to your lawn can be extensive, and maybe even irreversible.

Winning the war against lawn pests requires constant attention, preventive steps of your own, and intervention by an experienced pest control firm. They’ll have the products, equipment, and skills needed to bring your insect problem to an end once and for all.