While putting out some Tirade and Grubz Out on my Mom’s lawn for the ‘Nasty Rascal, The Chinch Bug’ at dark a few days ago, I noticed many moths flying around as I pushed my spreader. These moths were the moths that lay eggs throughout the lawn. These eggs hatch into the sod webworm larva, a voracious eater of turfgrass.

The moths fly very short distances in a zigzag pattern, most noticeable at dusk. The moths fly up right from your feet like a bobwhite quail. Once they lay the eggs, they will begin to hatch in a week to ten days.

The sod webworm larva is an insatiable eater of all types of grass that we have in the Lowcountry. They like to eat at night and on cloudy days. Birds are a big predator of sod webworms, so eating under the cover of darkness, is a lot safer.

Seeing groups of birds feeding in your yard is a good indication you have sod webworms.
Another way to tell is that your yard appears to have been mowed really short; even though, you have not mowed your grass in a week. The blades of grass have been chewed, giving the turf a very ragged appearance. If you have any doubts, a soap flush of one ounce dish detergent in five gallons of water poured over a four square foot area, should bring them to the surface.

If you see sod webworms in your lawn, you want to react very quickly. These worms can do a lot of damage, fast. Bt and Spinosad are biological (organic) control products that works very well if you apply it while the worms are very young. Tirade, Sevin, and Bug Blaster will nail sod webworms if they have grown a little older.

Mole crickets, large patch, winter weeds, fire ants and sod webworms are just a few things showing up in the yard. Get them before they get you!

Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is a Federal Law.