Well, it happened to me. I went out of town for a weekend,
and when I returned, I noticed the grass gobblers had eaten most of my back
yard and part of my front yard. While I was tailgating, they were chowing down
my St. Augustine turf. The sod webworm shows no conscience when devouring the
grass you have worked on all summer.
About a month and a half ago, I wrote about a small area
that I noticed some activity of the sod webworm. I treated with Sevin about six
weeks ago and the area recovered quickly. As Murphy’s Law of Gardening would go,
right when I went out of town the residual of the Sevin wore off and the feast
on my lawn began! At least the major damage was in the back yard and not the
front.
With cooler weather in the forecast, I doubt I will have the
quick recovery that I had six weeks ago. I will try to coax the lawn along with
a little SeaHume G, and maybe a very light dose of Neptune’s Harvest Fish /
Seaweed blend. I have my second application of preemergent out, so hopefully,
not too many weeds will germinate in this area that is exposed to sunlight and
thinned out so weeds can take over my grass. You know the old saying, “the best
weed control is a thick and healthy stand of grass.”
If you would like to learn a whole lot more about sod
webworms, you can go to www.possumsupply.com and click on the Horticulture
Hotline tab. Look for the article around 9/13/13 and there should be more
information on the insect and control recommendations.
Be sure to kill any fire ants and remove any tripping
hazards before Halloween.
