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Texas Gardening

chinch bugs in lawn

11 years ago

Any suggestions on how to save my lawn that seems to be infested with chinch bugs that have killed large areas of grass. I live in Austin Tx so have drought problems and severe watering restrictions. I am trying to gradually switch from grass to low water requirement plants, but need to keep grass until can complete transition due to limited funds and time. Thanks for any help.

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Comments (4)

PKponder TX Z7B
11 years ago
We had them really bad last summer. The most effective thing that we used was Orthene. Really stinky and strong but knocked them down when applied every two weeks for a total of three treatments. We tried a couple of organic products that lasted a week or less. It may have been the cooling temps last fall that ultimately helped. We lost at least half of the lawn last summer and are currently looking to replace the St Augustine to avoid this pest going forward. They do an amazing amount of damage for a critter that you can barely see. Good luck.
Bryan Scott
11 years ago
Carla,
See link below for a start.

After that, please answer the following:
What kind of grass do you have?
Watering Schedule?
Mowing Schedule and mowing height?
Fertilizing Schedule?

Also, do you know about the lawn conversion program that Austin is doing right now? If you are on Austin Water Utility like I am, there are rebates for converting your turf areas to native beds and such.

Here is a link that might be useful: Austin Grow Green website for lawn problems
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Different plant zones require different approaches. You probably didn't have to de-thatch in Michigan. Thatch is a compressed, light brown organic matter that looks like peat moss and is located between the soil line and grass blades. Thatch can be beneficial or detrimental, depending upon the amount present. Several problems will develop if a lawn has more than Â½ inch thatch buildup. The biggest problem will be the lack of water penetration to grass roots. Water is repelled by thatch. Likewise, fertilizers and other chemicals can run-off or be caught in the thatch layer. Thatch provides a hospitable environment for disease and insects. Finally, excessive thatch will make the turf less cold, heat, and drought tolerant. To tell if thatch has become a concern, use a knife or shovel to cut a small wedge of turf down to the soil line. If the thatch layer is more than Â½ inch thick, the turf needs to be de-thatched. Also see if you have cinch bugs. Heck I would have been excited to see Cranes. You can try malathion although it is less effective than diazannon which was banned because of a threat to wildlife. Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Perennials
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Um, sounds like your letting more than the top 1" of soil to dry out. The top 1' of soil is the most bio active layer of the soil. It where all the good things and bad things live. Fungi need dark, warm, moist conditions to develop. That's why it is critical to let St Aug. and even Bermuda dry out in that top 1". What is below that 1" should still be moist and friable. If you can not get a can down into the soil to do a Chinch bug test, you lawn is way to dry, especially for a St. Aug. On your pop up zones, if all conditions are nominal, it should take 20 minutes to put out 1" of water which is what you turf needs once every 4 or 5 days during the summer. Because nominal conditions never exist, figure that each pop up zone should run for at least 30 minutes in 10 minute increments. It's anyone's guess on zones using rotor heads but 45 minutes is a good starting point. These would be watered in 15 minute increments. Even the lowest quality controller has 3 start times for the program. So lets say you have 5 zones with pop ups and 3 with rotors and the controller starts watering at 12:00AM. 5 zones @ 10 min/zone and 3 zones at 15/zone equals a total of 95 minutes. So the system kicks on at 12:00AM and finishes at 1:35 at which time zone 1 starts again. This second start finishes at 3:10AM at which time zone 1 starts again and stops at 4:45AM or nearly 5 hours of run time for this yard. Sounds like a lot of water. You bet it is. An irrigated 60' X 120' lot planted in Bermuda will require at least 4500 gallons of irrigation every 5-7 days depending on soil profile, humidity. With a St Aug. lawn the requirement would be almost 2x that of Bermuda. Of course when we get rain, you would then back of that number and would water less as we go into fall, winter and spring. My suggestion is that if most of your lawn is in full sun, convert to Bermuda. Bermuda is the bane of all turf chemical manufactures. It rarely gets sufficient disease or pest to warrant treatment.
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Dear Japessebas, Thank you very much for your inquiry. Your symptoms do sound like chinch bugs. The can be notorious on St. Augustinegrass. Left unchecked they can destroy a whole lawn. You must treat with an insecticide, perhaps several times a season if symptoms warrant. I like to go with a liquid primarily because the insecticide must get into the layer between the soil and the grass (thatch). While you must help the liquid along by supplemental irrigation (you have to do this with a granular application for sure), you can get an ample dose of water through your hose if you have this form of an applicator. Either way, the insecticide must be watered into the turf to get to the bugs. You can use a plethora of products, anything containing the chemicals permethrin or the lamda-cyhalothrin will be fine. Follow the label directions. You do not have to treat the whole lawn every time you see a problem. Just spot treat the affected area, plus a six foot border around. Dead areas will need to be resodded and there are varieties that are more resistant to chinchbugs than others. There availability may or may not be there and they will cost more, bank on that. Look for ones named FX 10, Floratam and Floralawn if you can. Finally, so the things to your lawn that will discourage the chinch bug. Mow on a regular basis at 3-4 inches (do not let you lawn get higher than 5.5 inches), do not over fertilize and check the lawn for excessive thatch as this is their favorite home. Both over-watering and over fertilizing contribute to thatch. Again, thanks for the question and let me know if you have more. Make sure and water in the granular insecticide if you have not already. Respectfully Trey Rogers The Yard Doctor
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PKponder TX Z7B
11 years ago
I was thinking that Chinch bugs only feast on St Augustine. They love the heat and drought too.

Informative website, by the way. I see that they like bermuda and zoysia also.
Bryan Scott
11 years ago
I believe you are correct, but wanted to confirm she has St. Augustine. Chinch bugs love sunny, over fertilized, under watered, drought stressed lawn areas. Hopefully the op will respond to my questions above and we'll see if the lawn care regimen is adequate or lacking in those areas.

About the link- Austin has really taken the Grow Green initiative to a high. All of the GG materials are printed for free, and are available online or at just about any nursery down here (and also the City's Development and Water/WW offices). What they are promoting are principles such as what we find on this website, like deep and infrequent watering, non-toxic pesticide or organic fertilizers, ect. They are also pushing for native landscapes, offering rebates to convert water hogging turf to what they call Waterwise Turf such as bermuda and zoysia, or mulched native beds with pathways of crushed granite.

I will eventually (pending if the powers that be on this website will let me), post the Grow Green program links. Like I said, their sites mirror the same ideas and concepts that are found on this site, from lawn care to tree care.

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