Horticulture Hotline 07/01/19
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
Looking at the upcoming forecast (hot and dry) and knowing
this is family vacation time, I decided I better get some information out about
chinch bugs.
‘The Nasty Rascal, The Chinch Bug’ is about impossible to
see (about the size of fine ground pepper), the damage can be confused between
fungi, dry areas, and just dead areas, and although they are easy to kill once
identified, the chinch bug keeps coming back. Chinch bugs limit their diet to
St. Augustine grass (AKA Charleston Grass).
In the old days (Dursban, Diazinon), you could put out a
product in May and pretty much control chinch bugs for the season. Now
depending on the product, if you get two to three weeks control you are lucky.
Most of the products work on the adults and do not affect the eggs that are
waiting to hatch.
There are a lot of
cases of resistance to certain control products in Florida, so be sure to
rotate chemical families of your products (not just product names). Since some
of our sod comes up from Florida, we will most likely experience these
resistant chinch bugs before long. If you talked to some of the people I talk
to, you would swear they are already here.
‘The Nasty Rascal, The Chinch Bug’ got
this designation from attacking family’s lawns during the summer while families
were taking their summer vacation. The fact that this very small insect and a
lot of its buddies can wipe out a beautiful yard in a very short period of time
is ruthless. Hard to control weeds like bermudagrass and Virginia button weed
always seem to move in on the weaken areas.
There is a fungus in the soil that controls chinch bugs.
When the soil dries out the fungus in the soil that keeps chinch bugs in check
dies. When the fungus dies, the chinch bugs go crazy. The reason you see chinch
bugs along the road, driveway, sidewalks or in the sunniest part of the yard is
because that is where the fungus dies out first. Chinch bugs rarely attack
grass in the shade because the fungus keeps them in check. With about 50 people
moving to the Lowcountry a day, I wanted to make people aware of ‘The Nasty
Rascal, The Chinch Bug’.
Since chinch bugs attack the grass along the road, driveway,
and sidewalks, when people treat for them, they often throw product on hard
impermeable surfaces (roads, driveways, and sidewalks). Always be sure to sweep
or blow any particles back into the grass to avoid any unwanted runoff into
storm water drains or marshes and waterways. This particular runoff situation
would be another reason to refer to this pest as ‘The Nasty Rascal, The Chinch
Bug’!
Always read, understand and follow product label. The
product label is a Federal Law.
