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Lawn Dawg Red Alert:
Chinch Bugs
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It's a
Cruel, Cruel Summer...
The hot, dry weather conditions we have been experiencing
this summer are perfect for certain insects that infest home lawns. One such insect is the Chinch Bug. This
surface-feeding insect (as opposed to a sub-surface feeding insect such as the
White Grubs) is native to North America and is a pest not only of turfgrasses,
but also of grains, such as corn and wheat.
Indeed, it is one of the oldest identified pests of crops in the United States
having been documented in the late 1700's.
 What is a Chinch
Bug (and how do I pronounce 'chinch')?
The Chinch Bug is about the size of the lead of a pencil,
are mostly gray to black in color, with white wings. Adult Chinch Bugs are easily identified by an
hourglass shape on their backs. The 'ch'
in Chinch Bug is pronounced like the 'ch' in church, not to be confused with
the 'sh' sound in a word like cinch.
Why is
having Chinch Bugs in my lawn a bad thing?
The Chinch Bug damages turfgrass by piercing the sheath of
the plant and sucking the plant juices out. This damages both the xylem and the
phloem (the pathways for water and nutrients in a plant - like the circulatory
system in humans). Turfgrasses that have
been damaged by Chinch Bugs have great difficulty in transporting water up from
the soil into the plant, giving the lawn the appearance of drought stress. Additionally, sugars manufactured by the
plant through photosynthesis cannot be transported downward either, so the plant is both thirsty and
hungry. Further, in the process
of sucking out the plant juices, the Chinch Bug introduces its saliva into the
grass plant. The saliva is toxic to the
plant and could lead to the plant's death.
How
can you tell if you have Chinch Bugs in your lawn?
It would be a rare
lawn that did not have some chinch bugs since they are native to America and
have had plenty of time to disperse themselves. The questions that need to be answered are how many Chinch Bugs are
there, are they causing damage to the lawn and how much damage you are willing
to tolerate before resorting to treatment.
 The first sign of a Chinch Bug infestation is the appearance
of brown areas in full sun
that are spreading outward over time. If you get down on your hands and knees and put your face right down
close to the surface, you'll be able to see Chinch Bugs scurrying about. They do like to hide among the grass plants,
so lightly rubbing your hand over the surface of the soil will usually flush
them out. Another trick is to use a
shovel to remove a four-inch square of turf from the soil. Place the turf in a bucket of water. If there are Chinch Bugs there, they will
float to the surface. Then there is the
coffee can test. Remove both ends of a
coffee can and pound one end into the soil with a hammer. Fill the can with water and, like the
preceding test, Chinch Bugs present will float to the top. My favorite is the hands and knees test. If they are there in great numbers, you'll be
able to see them.
Lawns can tolerate up to approximately 20 Chinch Bugs per
square foot before damage is noticeable. Quantifying pests in this way is known as
determining the damage threshold. This is not a hard and fast number as other
circumstances need to be taken into consideration. For example, if the weather has been
especially hot and dry, like this summer, the lawns will already be under
considerable stress and even a limited number of Chinch Bugs could do an
extraordinary amount of damage.
So I
have Chinch Bugs. Now what?
If your lawn is suffering from drought stress, and you can water, the addition of
water will help to mitigate the damage. Obviously, not everyone is able to water because of municipal water
bans. Even a quick passing thunderstorm
is helpful in times such as these. We
wish to add just enough water to allow the plants to survive until Mother
Nature sees fit to return a little rainfall to us.
Continue with your
lawn care program. The addition of
properly formulated fertilizer is critical and will bolster the plant's
hardiness, giving it the strength it needs to survive until fall.
Follow the other cardinal rules of turfgrass
management. Mow regularly and never remove more than 1/3rd of the height of
the plant with any one mowing. Use a sharp blade. Cut at the highest height that you can tolerate. Cutting at 3" is better than cutting at
2". Just remember, the golf course you
see on TV this weekend is the end result of years of preparation and millions
of dollars of expense. The mowers they
use cost more than a Mercedes Benz and have cutting heights measured in
thousandths of an inch. It is not a good example whatsoever of how we should be
caring for our home lawns (and, truth be told, they get Chinch Bugs,too).
My
Lawn is Definitely in Trouble. What can
Lawn Dawg do?
We are always
available when you need us.
We can come out to your house and assess the situation. If Chinch Bugs are the problem, we can
perform a control application to knock back the population.
There is no way to tell in advance if the damage we see on
your lawn is actually death or something reversible. Only by controlling the pest and waiting
until more favorable weather to return will we know that definitively. Having said that, the early fall is an excellent
time to perform cultivation services. Lawns may appear to be permanent and perennial, when in actuality, they
are not. Turfgrass plants are constantly dying and germinating
anew just like any other species.
Lawn Dawg offers both core aeration and overseeding services
that can dramatically improve the quality of your lawn. New plants are naturally more aggressive to
out compete older, weaker plants. They
are naturally more resistant to pests, including insects, disease and weeds. A Lawn Dawg representative will be happy to
go over your particular situation to determine what course of action is best
for your lawn.
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