Maintaining a healthy, green lawn requires some work. Proper irrigation, fertilizer and weed control treatments, and routine mowing all do wonders for your lawn. Chinch bugs are voracious pests, and when they invade your lawn, they quickly destroy all your hard work and kill off your grass.

If you live in College Station, Bryan, Brazos Valley, and the surrounding areas, then chinch bugs are quite common. Here are some ways you can determine if your lawn has chinch bugs, and what to do if you find your lawn infested with them.

What Are Chinch Bugs?

Chinch bugs are small bugs that cause immense damage to your grass by removing all the moisture from your grass blades and injecting them with poison. This poison interrupts water flow and movement within the grass, causing it to dry out and die. Chinch bugs thrive in the southern areas of the United States and prefer St. Augustine, Zoysia, and Bermuda grasses like the ones found in our area of Texas.

These bugs prefer sunny areas of your lawn and dry, hot weather. If your lawn has thatch buildup, it’s especially susceptible to these pests as thatch provides a great place for adult chinch bugs to grow, feed, and lay eggs. Once one part of your lawn dies, these bugs move to the next patch of grass, and thus the patches of dead grass spread outward, killing your entire lawn.

Signs Your Lawn Has Chinch Bugs

Oftentimes, a lawn with a few dead patches is mistaken for a lawn that is suffering from drought. While dying grass can be a result of drought, it can also be a result of chinch bug infestation. Grass infected with chinch bugs looks like grass suffering from drought. As these bugs invade and attack your lawn, the grass blades wilt, turn yellow-brown, then dry out and die.

These bugs make quick work of your lawn, moving on from patch to patch until your entire lawn begins to die. One of the first signs of chinch bugs is yellowing of your lawn. Your grass first turns yellow, then brown, and eventually dies. If your grass doesn’t green up after watering it a bit and remains dry and dead, you most likely have chinch bugs.

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How To Kill, Control, and Prevent Chinch Bugs

Once chinch bugs are identified, they are relatively easy to eliminate and prevent. One of the best preventions is to use a preventative pesticide treatment before the bugs even get a foothold in your lawn. Chinch bugs are known to be attracted to lawns with excess nitrogen, so it’s best to not over-fertilize. When you do fertilize, make sure you choose one low in nitrogen, like the fertilizer offered by Greener LawnScapes. Chinch bugs like compacted soil and thatch, therefore aerating your lawn every spring is effective in preventing them from taking over the lawn. Dethatching and aerating your lawn removes thatch buildup and loosens your soil, making it less welcoming to chinch bugs.

If you already have chinch bugs, then a pesticide treatment is necessary to eliminate them. At Greener LawnScapes, we offer multi-step pesticide treatments that are highly effective in killing and eliminating chinch bugs and their eggs. We are certified by the Texas Department of Agriculture for outdoor pesticide applications. Once we eliminate already existing chinch bugs, our preventative treatment ensures they won’t come back.

Ready to eliminate chinch bugs from your lawn?

At Greener LawnScapes, we understand the importance of protecting your lawn from various pests and diseases, and our insect control treatments are effective in eliminating and preventing further pests. If you live in College Station, Bryan, Brazos Valley, and the surrounding areas, call us today at (979) 750-9545 for a free estimate and consultation.

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