Call 281-431-7441. In this video, Houston Grass Owner Michael Romine gets down on hands and knees to help you identify chinch bug damage in your grass. He also talks about the chinch bug treatments we recommend to prevent further damage.
Summary of How to Spot Chinch Bug Damage and Best Chinch Bug Treatments
We’re here in an area where I noticed some chinch bug damage and we’ve and we’ve, pulled over to look. This is as many chinch bugs as I’ve ever seen in an area. Basically chinch bugs are looking for drought stressed grass. So you might think there’s just a dry spot in your yard and more than likely that is where they start. It’s usually up next to the concrete because that heat radiating off that concrete stresses that grass.
The chinch bugs will move in and quickly cause damage. If you think you’ve got them, you don’t look at the dead area to identify chinch bug damage. You look at the areas around the perimeter where it’s still green to spot the bugs. As the chinch bugs eat they suck the juice out of the plant. They inject a toxin as they eat as well and it basically turns your grass to hay . You’re replacing the grass because it’s the only thing that’s gonna come back.
How to Identify Chinch Bugs
Basically you can see the chinch bugs in here. You see little gnat looking guys with black bodies and their wing tips are white. Their wings forms an X across their back as they fold their wings, but there are different life stages.
When you get down on your hands and knees and part the grass, if you can count more than five or six of them in a minute or so you got a problem. And right now I’m not counting, but there are hundreds right here in front of me.
I know this is a place they always come because we’re only standing on about six inches of dirt and underneath it is a big concrete pipe. So the grass isn’t real healthy because it just doesn’t have an extensive of a root system because of that lack of dirt. This is a place that chinch bugs will show up first to every time.
We’ve had a fairly wet year, but it didn’t rain for about three weeks in July. And so this grass is drought stressed. These chinch bugs showed up here and they are doing a number on the grass. If this was your backyard or front yard you would definitely have to replace this grass.
Some people say that if you stick a coffee can with the bottom cut out on the ground and fill it up with water the chinch bugs will float to the top of the can. Or just pour a bucket of soapy water on this area, and you’ll see chinch bugs come running up out of the grass as well.
Best Chinch Bug Treatments
I would recommend an immediate treatment of either the Cyonara Liquid insecticide or the Nitro Phos Bug Out Max. We now recommend Wisdom Granular insecticide instead of Bug Out Max because it’s less expensive and just as effective. We carry both Cyonara and Wisdom at our store in Arcola.
Cyonara or Wisdom would take care of these guys in a real big hurry. They’re really easy to kill, but you’ve got to identify them. You can’t mistake the damage to your lawn for just drought-stressed grass. You’ve got to get on your hands and knees — you can confirm chinch bugs pretty quick by doing that.
Right now there’s so many here that it is that it is unmistakable that chinch bugs are causing this damage. I just wanted to show you some chinch bug damage in the area and help you identify chinch bugs as well.
Get the Help You Need
Call us at 281-431-7441 for answers to your questions. All of our grass is grown on our family farm in Bay City where we’ve been in the grass business since 1981. We carry the Cyonara Liquid and the Wisdom Granular insecticides you need to quickly limit the damage that chinch bugs are causing to your lawn grass. Click the button below for our office hours and directions to our office in Arcola.