Wynn's Intensive Lawn Care

Atlanta Insects and Pests Information

	Armyworms are light tan to dark brown with yellow, orange or dark brown stripes down the length of their backs.  They can be ¾” to 2” long.  Parents of armyworms are 1” wide tan or mottled gray moths, which migrate in fall from cold climates to warmer ones and then return in spring to lay eggs on grass blades.  Armyworms are active at night and on overcast days.  They chew grass blades and stems (not the roots), causing bare patches in the lawn.  In large numbers, armyworms can eat a lawn in 3 days.  In southern states they are worse in the late summer to early fall.
	Fire Ants are reddish-brown to black and are 1/8 to 1?4 inch long. They construct nests that are often most visible as dome-shaped mounds of soil, sometimes as large as 3 feet across and 1 1?2 feet in height. In general, mounds are 12 inches or more in diameter and height. In sandy soils, mounds are flatter and less visible. Fire ants usually build mounds in sunny, open areas such as lawns, pastures, cultivated fields and meadows, but they are not restricted to these areas. Mounds or nests may also be located in rotting logs, around trees and stumps, under pavement and buildings, and occasionally indoors.
	Grubs are the larvae of Japanese beetles & other types of beetles.  They feed on the roots of grass and other plants.  Grubs are controlled with an insecticide in the late summer before soil temps start to drop.  After soil temperatures get in the 50s they move below the frost line of 2-6 inches.  They are a problem in your lawn if you see 6-8 grubs in a 1 sq ft. area.  1 or 2 is not a problem and would not need an insecticide.
	Japanese Beetles attack in early summer and have HUGE appetites. Be on the lookout for bronze-green beetles on your plants.  They love to eat crepe myrtles, roses, cherries, and other fruit and ornamental trees.  Our Shrub & Tree program can help, but homeowner intervention is often needed with repeat applications of liquid seven. Adults live 30-45 days and are most abundant in July.  Just before they die, females lay their eggs under the soil surface in lawns.  The eggs hatch in late summer. The developing beetles spend the next 10 months in the soil as white grubs. (For additional information see “Grub worms”)  *If you see Japanese beetles in you shrubs and ornamental trees, it does NOT mean that you have grubs** Japanese beetles are very mobile and can move from other areas.
	Fleas & Ticks There are over 2,000 described species of fleas in the world. Eggs are oval, and smooth. They are tiny (0.5mm), but visible to the naked eye. Their white color may prevent them from being seen on lightly colored fabric. Adults are about 1-3 mm in length, reddish-brown to black, wingless, and laterally compressed. Their powerful hind legs are well adapted for jumping and running through hair and feathers. The 8-legged adult male and female D. variabilis ticks are typically brown to reddish-brown in color with gray/silver markings on their scutum (dorsal “shield”). The female will vary in size depending on whether or not it has blood fed. Unfed females are typically 5 mm long and are slightly larger than males, which are about 3.6 mm long. Females can be distinguished by a short or small dorsal scutum, right behind the mouthparts while the male scutum covers the majority of its dorsal surface. Blood-fed (engorged) females can enlarge up to 15 mm long and 10 mm wide.
	Moles are small rodents that tunnel underground looking for food.  They feed on earthworms, grubs and other insects.  They use their trowel like claws to dig and push as they move the through the soil.  They create new tunnels constantly and may not use the same one twice.  To find active tunnels pack down dirt mounds and check them the next day.  The disturbed mounds are active and can be used to place traps or poison peanuts to control them.  You want to be cautious when using traps or peanuts if you have children or pets.
	Armadillos can cause lawn damage as they dig up grass to feed on insects.  They are nocturnal and feed mostly at night.  They also dig large, deep burrows in the ground where they will live and raise their young.  They like to dig under concrete slabs & foundations.  To control/eliminate armadillos you have to trap and relocate them or put up a barrier like a fence.  Sometime they will dig under barriers.  They will also move to other locations if they run out of a food source.
	Voles are mouselike rodents somewhat similar in appearance to pocket gophers. They have a compact, heavy body, short legs, a short-furred tail, small eyes, and partially hidden ears. Their long, coarse fur is blackish brown to grayish brown. When fully grown they can measure 5 to 8 inches long, including the tail. Although voles spend considerable time aboveground and you occasionally can see them scurrying about, they spend most of their time below ground in their burrow system. The clearest signs of their presence are the well-traveled, aboveground runways that connect burrow openings.
	Spittlebugs can be found in lawns, mostly Centipede and sometimes Zoysia. They are also found in shrubs.  Spittlebugs are most noticeable in the spring when nymphs are feeding; adults can be seen throughout the summer.  Adults are small, winged insects that hop or fly away quickly when disturbed.  They feed on plant sap and lay their eggs inside stems or between leaf blades and stems.  Nymphs surround themselves with a frothy, white mass that looks like spit, which protects them from the sun and preying insects.  The insect excretes drops of undigested sap mixed with air.  Its tail moves up and down forcing out bubbles of sap.  Spittlebugs are controlled with contact and systemic insecticides.
	Chinch Bugs The hairy chinch bug prefers bentgrasses, but will attack many other lawn grasses as well. The adult chinch bugs are about 3 to 5 mm (1/8 to 1/5 inch) in length and black with white markings on the wings. The wings rest flat over the back of the insect and there is a black spot between the wings. Adults may be long-winged or short-winged.
	Whiteflies are tiny, winged insects that feed by sucking sap from plants.  They are found on the undersides of leaves and are active during the day.  Larvae are the size of a pinhead and are wingless.  Because they feed more heavily than the adults, they cause more damage.  Whiteflies can be controlled on our Shrub & Tree Program with a contact insecticide for larvae or systemic insecticide for adults.  Often, the first thing you will notice with whiteflies (or other sucking insects) infestation is the presence of sooty mold. (For additional information see “Sooty Mold Below”)
	Aphids may be green, yellow, brown, red, or black depending on the species and the plants they feed on. A few species appear waxy or woolly due to the secretion of a waxy white or gray substance over their body surface. All are small, pear-shaped insects with long legs and antennae. Most species have a pair of tubelike structures called cornicles projecting backwards out of the hind end of their bodies. The presence of cornicles distinguishes aphids from all other insects.
	Euonymus Scale is yellow or whitish spots that appear on leaves.  Males are narrow white and females are larger brown scales.  Females spend the winter on the plant and lay their eggs in the spring.  Young scales called crawlers, settle on leaves and twigs or are blown to other susceptible plants.  The young suck sap from the plant.  Plants infested may drop most leaves by midsummer.  Branches often die and heavy infestations may kill the plant.  Euonymus scale can be controlled w/ a systemic insecticide
	Sooty mold is a common black mold found on a wide variety of plants.  It is almost always an indication of an insect infestation.  It is caused by any of several species of fungi that grow on the sugary material (honeydew) left on plants by aphids, whiteflies or other insects that suck sap from the plant.  Sooty mold is unsightly but if fairly harmless because it doesn’t attack the leaf directly.  Once the insect problem is under control, rain will eventually wash off the sooty mold.