Go Vigilante on These Turf Murderers

May 7, 2021

Go Vigilante on These Turf Murderers

Though you may not want to get caught taking the law into your own hands, when it comes to the murder of your lawn, you have every right to get involved. California has some pretty strict regulations in place to keep down the likelihood of invasive plant and pest species from coming into the state, but this doesn’t do much good against the local pests that are known for destructive behaviors on the average lawn. If you want grass that is on par with the local putting greens, you need to get hunting.

Guard Against Destruction

Don’t let drought or other conditions be your only lawn maintenance worry. These nasty little creatures can take out your turf in just a season.

  1. Armyworms and Cutworms
  2. Also called owlet moths, these pests have bright colors along the hindwings but drab colors across their forewings. Their eggs are laid in the soil, and when the young caterpillars hatch out of the eggs, they eat the crowns and leaves of your turf. You will see circular patches of dead grass or depressed spots grow across the lawn. These tiny pests hide in thick thatch and aeration holes.

  3. White grubs
  4. This pesky group also goes by the name of masked chafers, and they are golden brown colored beetles that have hairy underbellies. The white grubs are the larvae of the adult eggs, and these like to feast on the roots of perennial ryegrass, annual bluegrass and Kentucky bluegrass. Once the roots are gone, the rest of the grass starts to wither and wilt into brown patches. You will find the grubs close to the soil’s surface.

  5. Billbugs
  6. If you are hunting billbugs, look for light brown beetles that have a downward-pointed snout and clubbed antennae. Eggs are laid in the stems of zoysiagrass and bermudagrass, where they hatch between six to eight weeks later. Because Bermudagrass is a favorite for putting greens, this little bug could even jeopardize your golf game. These legless grubs will eat the stem and crown of your sod and work their way down to the roots. In their wake will be a trail of sawdust-like feces across the top of your lawn.

  7. Sod Webworms
  8. Snout or lawn moths have a funky sensory appendage that grows out of the head, creating the illusion of having a long snout or nose. Though the webworms live in burrows just under the surface, the moths lay eggs in turfgrass. When the larvae hatches, this invasive pest will cut off the leaf blades and pull them down into their own burrows. You will be left with sod that is brown, similar to the look of drought-stressed grass.

Get Justice for Your Property

While you could invest in a bunch of remedies that exterminate these pesky lawn murders, you have a more reliable solution in Green Turf. We are known for our commercial turf and putting greens, but we also have an affordable and artificial residential turf that is indestructible from these pests. Choosing an artificial turf means the grass killers don’t stand a chance, and you stand to have a gorgeous, low-maintenance lawn. Request a quote or give us a call at (951) 656-4150.

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