Comprehensive Lawn Pest Control in Jacksonville, FL

Florida is a beautiful state offering plenty of sunshine and a comfortable climate throughout most of the year. This climate is also conducive to the development of problems with several types of lawn pests, as detailed below.

Chinch Bugs

Chinch bugs are tiny black and white bugs that are usually discovered in the hotter and dry portions of the lawn. In fact, the bugs themselves are difficult to even notice at all. What a homeowner is likely to notice is the extensive damage that chinch bugs can cause. Damaged patches of grass that appear to be discolored as a yellow or brown hue can be caused by chinch bug damage. This results in unsightly patches of lawn that appear dead or dying.

Mole Crickets

Mole crickets are very common pests throughout much of the state of Florida. These pests create elaborate and extensive tunnels near the surface of the soil, resulting in grass that becomes dislodged and overly dried out. The mole crickets will approach the grass from the underside of these tunnels, chewing their way through a large portion of the lawn if left untreated.

Tropical Sod Webworms

Tropical sod webworms typically strike in the summer season. They can quickly overtake an entire lawn, almost wiping it clean of its lush vegetation. They appear as gray or green caterpillars that can be up to an inch long and continually hungry. Tropical sod webworms do their feeding at night, so it can be difficult to spot the worms themselves. However, signs of chewing will be visible on the blades of grass.

Armyworms

As the name implies, armyworms do battle with your lawn. These 1- to 2-inch-long pests vary in color from gray to yellow to pink, depending on the type. Armyworms turn into brown moths that are easy to distinguish at night. As they gravitate toward light, they reveal their furry abdomens.

• Armyworm Life Cycle: Armyworms produce two to three generations throughout the spring and summer months. The adult armyworm moths lay clusters of small, white eggs that hatch within a week. The wormlike larvae then feed for two to three weeks before turning into moths.
• Armyworm Symptoms: Armyworms eat grass blades and stems, and they skeletonize leaves on other plants as well. They generally take shelter from sun and heat during the day and feed most heavily on your lawn in the evening, at night or in the early morning. As the worms eat the grass, they create circular bare spots in lawns. When invasions are heavy, the lawn appears to move.