All lawns go through many different stages with the changing seasons. The month of May for your lawns is a time to reflect on the spring activity that you have accomplished in prior months, such as putting in a new turf or planting new plants or flowers, which should now be in bloom. The difficult part now is to maintain what you have cultivated throughout these past few months and make sure your lawn is disease-free and protected from harmful insects or conditions.

This month, after April showers, you may be facing drier conditions, which can give rise to more than just annoying pests in your lawn. Large, growing, irregular patches of dead or stunted grass surrounded by yellowing halos of dying grass can indicate the first signs of the harmful chinch bugs. As these insects grow in numbers, so do the area of dying grass. Chinch bug damage can be sized up by detecting a significant number of them present in the affected grass area. Be sure not to confuse the damages on your lawn caused by chinch bugs to a lawn disease, such as brown patch, which occurs in a circular or semi-circular pattern as opposed to the irregular patches that chinch bugs cause.

Chinch Bug Identification

Adult chinch bugs in Texas have black bodies measuring one sixth to one fifth inches long. They are small and slender, with white wings marked by a triangular shape. Recently hatched chinch bugs do not have wings and are yellow or light red with a band across their abdomen.

Thatch management

Getting rid of chinch bugs begins with effective lawn care. The key here is thatch management. Thatch is the layer of dead plant material that lies between the top of the grass plant and below. Chinch bugs like to take refuge in thatch. Thatch also chemically binds with many insecticides, therefore, making these chemical solutions ineffective.

To handle the thatch problem, start off with mowing. This will help to decrease thatch buildup, which can occur when soil microbes cannot break down dead plant material as fast as it is growing. When grass is mowed too infrequently, thatch buildup can occur. Experts recommend homeowners to mow their lawn at least once a week during critical growing times. Grass clippings should be clipped into smaller pieces so that they can be decomposed more easily by soil microbes.

When your thatch is more than one inch thick, you may have to resort to have your lawn "vertically moved." However, be advised that vertical mowing can temporarily alter your lawn's appearance negatively since it destroys the tightly woven horizontal stems of the St. Augustine grass in Texas. The best time to have your lawn vertically mowed is when the grass is continuously growing during this season, so that the lawn can recover more quickly.

Along with mowing, lawn aeration with application of a top dressing can help control your thatch buildup. Through a lawn/core aerator, you can put holes in your lawn to increase air and water impact. For top dressing, apply a thin layer of sand, soil, or compost to the surface of the lawn. Top dressing addresses the soil-to-thatch ratio, so that the soil is increased to speed up microbial decay.

Biological Control

Currently, since there are no commercially available varieties of the St. Augustinegrass that are resistant to chinch bugs, a homeowner's best method besides cultivating and taking good care of the lawn is to use some control/prevention methods. Chinch bugs have a variety of of predatory and parasitic enemies which include big-eyed bugs, small pirate bugs, spiders, wasps, and ants.

Chemical Control

Besides good lawn care practices, thatch management, and some biological control, there are certain situations that may require resorting to using chemical insecticides. When you have dead and rapidly dying areas of turfgrass with chinch bugs eating away, this would be a time to take up some form of chemical control. However, it must be noted that you should really determine whether or not you have a real problem since some chemical insecticides are not effective over a period of time and require constant application. It is a good idea to inspect your lawn weekly during the spring, summer, and fall for off-color areas under the direct sun, next to driveways and sidewalks. Yellow areas in the turf can be caused by chinch bug damage - parting grass at the affected area can reveal any chinch bugs crawling about. When there is a large infestation of chinch bugs, insecticides can be used more effectively.

Granular insecticides can be used with a standard fertilizer spreader and irrigated with one-eighth to a quarter of an inch of water to move the insecticide along. Liquid sprays are applied with a hose-end sprayer that can apply 15 to 20 gallons of water per 1,000 square feet. For even coverage, spray back and forth across the same area. Watering the lawn before application of a pesticide can help it penetrate the turf, but irrigation is not recommended after applying liquid insecticides.

Spot treatments can help with isolated areas of chinch bugs. Treat the off-color turf and surrounding areas that have chinch bugs. Keep a close watch on the treated areas every three to five days for at least two weeks to make sure the infestation is under control. Spot treatments can also help prevent environmental contamination and lessen the impact of pesticides on beneficial insects, such as the big eyed bug. Be sure to read and follow the pesticide label if you choose to make the application on your own!

Chinch bugs are just one of many lawn troubles you may run into this spring and early summer. However, they can do great damage to what you have cultivated so far with your lawn care, so it is important to take preventative measures as discussed in this article and maintain a strong, healthy lawn for the summer months to come.