Late Summer Insects and Pests

Insects seem to be the main pest at the Possum’s counter this week. Armyworms, chinch bugs, fleas, roaches (hey, it is Charleston, they like the world’s best city also) and mosquitoes have been attacking our Lowcountry homes and yards.

Armyworms are chowing down on grass throughout the area. Athletic fields, Golf Courses, and home lawns lose the aesthetic value of the green grass, and the worms thin the canopy of the grass where weeds will move in if given a chance. Prostrate growing weeds like spurge, lespedeza and Virginia button weed seem to come in the fastest.

What bothers me the most is you work all summer on your grass to have it looking nice, and once the grass starts to slow down for the winter, fall army worms and then sod webworms attack the grass. Look for areas that appeared to have been mowed low and with a dull blade. You can see that the leaf blades have been chewed. Also thatch type debris will be churned up on the surface. Birds and low flying wasps are also predators of armyworms. Thanks to cell phones, last year, I took a cool picture of a wasp attacking the head of an armyworm.

Since army worms are in direct contact with the ground, they are very easy to control. Bug Blaster, Bifen, Sevin, and Acephate will all put a hurting on armyworms. Thuricide (Bt), Eco Via and Spinosad are organic products that will also work well if you get them while the worms are small. Since the population of worms is so high and hit so hard, keep your eye out for a second hatching.

For those of you with St. Augustine and Centipede, keep your eye out for the sod web worm. Watch for moths in your yard around dusk. If you begin to see a moth that gets out of the grass, flies for 6-10 feet then lands again (like a bobwhite quail for you bird hunters) you may want to consider using one of the above mentioned products. Usually sod web worms would not come out until September / October; however, with the crazy weather we are having, scouting for them could not hurt.

We are approaching the time to put out preemerge products in the lawn and beds to prevent those small seeded annual weeds. Henbit, chickweed, Poa annua (annual bluegrass), cudweed and lawn burweed are a few of the winter weeds that would like to occupy your lawn and flower beds. Poa annua (the green grass that is very visible in February and March) and lawn burweed (the prostrate growing weed that develops a sticker) are usually the most hated of the winter weeds. Some people use profanity while describing them at the counter of Possum’s! 

If your yard has thatch, drainage, or compaction issues, now is a great time to aerate your lawn (and beds where possible) before you apply your fall preemerge. Aeration is a great cultural practice, which will among other things help your roots grow throughout the winter giving you a head start for the spring. Bringing thatch eating microbes to the surface will help manage your thatch and therefore fungus.  

The “nasty rascal the chinch bug” is still sucking the life out of many lawns. They are a very small insect. A chinch bug is a little bigger than the period at the end of this sentence and they move very fast. They are very difficult to point out to people; even though, there are hundreds of them sucking the life out of their grass.

Fleas, mosquitoes and/or roaches?

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

Those Grassy Weeds Are Taking Over My Beds!

I’m sure you noticed it is still very hot outside. Last week I wrote about the possibility of armyworms showing up, and Friday morning I got my first report of birds eating worms on new sod. Last week, I also got that familiar call from a landscaper (complete with pictures). The jest of the call was I come to this house with St. Augustine grass every 2 weeks while the owners are out of town. Two weeks ago beautiful, lush, green St. Augustine, and now completely dead. The nasty rascal – the chinch bug – strikes again.

While driving around this time of year, grassy weeds taking over ornamental beds is very common. Fusilade II is what is known as a selective herbicide.  Fusilade II selectively removes grassy weeds from broadleaf planting beds.  You can spray Fusilade II right over the top of many different plants and it will kill grassy weeds without hurting the plants (read and follow product label).  It does particularly well in killing Bermudagrass.  Roundup is a non-selective herbicide which means that it kills anything that it comes in contact with.  Fusilade II does a better job of killing Bermudagrass than even Roundup. 

Fusilade II lists over 40 annual and perennial grasses that it controls.  Some of the more common ones are:

·         Barnyardgrass

·         Bermudagrass, Wire Grass, Joint Grass

·         Broadleaf Signalgrass

·         Crabgrass (large, smooth, southern and tropical)

·         Field sandspur

·         Foxtail (giant, green, yellow)

·         Goosegrass

·         Johnsongrass

·         Quackgrass

·         Torpedograss

The list of ornamentals that you can spray over the top of is in the hundreds.  Again, read and follow the product label.

With all the Zoysia being planted in the area, Fusilade II has another useful application. Killing bermudagrass in stands of Zoysia; however, it is not labeled for home lawns (it can be used in residential beds).

Here is part of Syngenta’s Fusilade II label:

Over-spray Zoysia: Application should be made at a rate of 3-4

oz./A with Fusilade II Turf and Ornamental Herbicide, and a

nonionic surfactant. Applications should be made in late spring

(around June 1) and repeated about every 28-30 days. Late summer application can be reduced to 2-3 oz./A as bermudagrass

is preparing for dormancy. During hot summer weather the rates

could be increased to 4-5 oz./A. Note: The 5 oz. rate could cause

temporary turf discoloration.

The label does warn that this could be a multi-year process. As you can see, this part of the label is packed with information. The label mentions using a surfactant, when to apply the product, how often it should be applied, when to adjust the rates, and even warns you that you might get some discoloration. The label also has some very important information throughout the whole label.

If you are trying to kill bermudagrass and other grasses in Liriope, juniper beds or other labeled plantings, we also sell other products that will do that. Vantage, Over The Top, and Ornamec Over The Top are a few of them. Vantage, Over The Top and Ornamec Over The Top are in smaller “retail” packaging. Ornamec Over The Top does have a residential label for removing bermudagrass out of zoysiagrass (read and follow product label).

If you have a few sedges mixed into your beds, look at Certainty and Image labels, and see if they will work for the landscape plantings you have (read and follow product label).

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

Crystal Ball?

I have been writing this column since around 1989. Right after Hurricane Hugo, I started this column (with the help of many others from the Post and Courier family) to try to help people out with their landscape situations after “The Storm”.

With over 26 years of articles in the archives (over 1300 articles), it is easy to spot trends. I see (in my article’s crystal ball) that during the next two weeks’ army worms will be looking to add a little fiber to their diet in the form of your turf grass.

I have also noticed a few moths flying around in my yard in the evening and have been told by many of my fellow moth watching friends that they are starting to see them as well. Moths fly around, lay eggs, then the hungry worm emerges and eats your grass. The worm then becomes a moth and the cycle begins again.

07-00-14 + Allectus (if you need a little fertilizer to get you through the summer), Bifen, or Sevin G would help prevent the grass munchers from eating the grass you have tried so hard to cultivate over the summer. EcoVia is an NOP (National Organics Program) compliant product that works great if you prefer to use organic products.

While driving around and looking at my own yard, the grass is looking a little “washed out” from the high temperatures and the lack of fertilizer. Most people’s spring fertilizer has been consumed by the plant and turned into clippings. 07-00-14 + Allectus and Perk are two good fertilizers to get you through until it is preemerge time again. If you are working from information derived from a soil test or custom program, stick with those recommendations.

I’m still seeing areas that are dying from lack of water. The grass will just thin out and die. With the high temperatures we are having, good coverage is a must. If you have an irrigation system check the valves and the heads to be sure everything is working.

While you are out there working in the yard, remember the sunscreen (sun cancer seems to be another way our reckless youth catches up with us), sun protection clothing, and water (rotate in a sport’s drink as well). Mosquitoes?