Chinch bugs have torn my yard up. At least Im pretty sure it's chinch bugs. I bought some liquid stuff today and put in on the messed up spots, but am not confident it will work. Anyone else gone through this before? How long does it take your yard to get back to normal?
Are you sure it's chinch? I would test it first.. 1. get an old large metal coffee can cut out the bottom 2. place it into the dead grass about 2-3 inches down into the soil 3. fill it half full with a mixture of water and soap about a spoon full for a gallon of water will do 4. let the can set and come back in 15 mins or so 5. if you see any small black bugs you got chinch Sounds like you may have overfertilized and your lawn has been stressed out.. I would get some Sevin pestiside.. it's stomach and a contact killier also to keep that crap away I would spray you lawn with regular old dish soap and water mix every month but make sure it's at about 70-1 also put down pesticide granules, the cheap stuff works fine just make sure to do it atleast everyother month... Hope that helps...
I found this on the Gardenline site: Chinch Bugs Once it's hot enough in Houston, it's not long before the dreaded chinch bugs come to suck the life out of our St. Augustine turfgrass. They especially like to chew up lawns that aren't taken care of very well. In other words, well-watered and well-fertilized lawns are the best way to keep chinch bugs at bay. But what if you suspect you've got chinch bugs? Is there a quick way to tell? Unfortunately, in many cases, people make the wrong diagnosis when chinch bugs begin their damage. Quite often, when the first telltale sign pops up in the form of small yellowing spots, people either assume they have a fungal disease or iron deficiency. Then, they spray in vain with a fungicide or put out an iron supplement or fertilizer. And even when people think they have chinch bugs, they sometimes don't treat often enough to break the cycle. I'll get to that a little later. If you start seeing a small yellowing, irregular patch in the lawn, first find out if you've got chinch bugs. You can make that determination with a regular coffee can and a water hose, while you get down on your hands and knees to do a little investigation. On the green-yellow edge of the patch, shove the coffee can (open at both ends, for my Aggie brethren out there) into the soil and fill it with water. If you see flea-like insects floating to the top, you've got chinch bugs. Click the pictures for a closer look at the bugs in various stages of development. While you're on your hands and knees, push the grass aside and look down near the root systems - near that yellow-green edge of the patch again. See if you can spot those flea- sized bugs with white spots on their sides or the baby ones that are orange with a white ring. To treat for chinch bugs, you need to apply a liquid insecticide (a synthetic pyrethroid like Bifenthrin, Permethrin, Cypermethrin or Deltamethrin) three times over a 21-day period ... or once every five to seven days ... up to four applications at most. Sadly, most people who try to treat for chinch bugs use a granular insecticide or they only make one application of liquid insecticide.
I have them too but I don't care. But I'll do something if it gets real bad. I love this drought. It makes it easy to mow the yard. I have a lot of friends and family in Portland OR. Nobody there ever waters their yard for water conservation. Yards are brown in the summer but the surrounding environment is so awesome, nobody cares. I have adopted this attitude here.
I have always been told that Chinch bugs love dry lawns and high heat that have been overfertilized, but I could be wrong... The dead grass is caused by the bug pukeing toxins on the grass.. like I said get some Sevin pestiside to get a good kill and use it by the directions... I would also rake out most of the dead grass before the next time you cut the lawn... After the lawn comes back in about 2 months keep up with the lawn and dont let it get out of control after you get it back to normal by watering and putting out pestiside on a more regular basis..
Here's another question. The liquid I bought contains the Permethrin the article mentioned. What do you use to apply this stuff? The instructions said 6oz per 10 gallons (I think). I ended up using a big watering can, but here has to be a better way to apply it.
yeah stay away from using a watering can you could end up burring your lawn ever worse than before... get one of these http://www.acehardware.com/sm-ortho-dial-spray-hose-end-sprayer--pi-1279144.html
Chinch Bugs...you know...What you need for Chinch Bugs is a hybrid. This is a cross, ah, Bluegrass, Kentucky Bluegrass, Featherbed Bent, and Northern California Sensemilia. The amazing stuff about this is, that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt that night on this stuff. Here, I've got pounds of this.
Ok you said that on the bottle it says to mix 6oz per every 10 gallons.. so that is .6oz for every gallon then you add the mix to the bottle and set the dial to a hair over a 1/2 (or.6) an ounce, and start to spray.. It’s that simple, as the water flows the bottle will mix the correct water amount with the mix according to the dial setting of 1/2 ounce that we have the bottle set at..
That can't be right because it sounds too easy. So do I put the entire contents into the sprayer? Type slowly because as you can see I'm pretty dumb.
I agree w/ the pesticides and fertilizers, but I disagree about the grass. Those green lawns may suck up water but they produce a lot of oxygen and help clean the air. A field of brown native grass helps the air little. Also, I imagine that the green lawn also helps cool the temps around the home a little, but I haven't seen anything definitive.
