Ive spread for chinch bugs twice over the last week and they havent died/left. Im tired of watching them tear up my lawn. Is there any lawn or pest company that can come in and spray?

When I had them I used a spray solution to get rid of them. It was probably Ortho brand and was in a bottle that had the hose attachment on it. I think I used twice the recommended dosage to make sure I got them.

They went away.



[This message has been edited by 91_Aggie (edited 7/29/2010 7:10a).]

Watering adequately will get rid of them. They become a problem when your turf is under water stress.

Its likely the turf is getting to hot.


[This message has been edited by nnichols (edited 7/29/2010 10:37a).]

I use Aggieland Green and my yard looks better than it has in a long time. Call 690-7300 and ask for Tim. It is a local company and he is an Aggie.

are u sure it's chinch bugs? Ive lost a lot of st augustine to fungus.. Look for little black marks on the blades... some might actually be diamond shaped...

i thought it was a burn mark, but my plant lady (anne at close quarters) said its fungus..


fertilome makes fungicide..

Its definetly chinch bugs. I went this morning and picked up some of the ortho bug be gone max hose attachable spray (I spread 25k sq ft of the granulated spread this weekend to no avail) and gave the front and back yards a solid spray/soak. Hopefully this takes care of them. I need them to die so that I can fertilize my yard. I dont want to fertilize while they are devowering it.

[This message has been edited by JHNichols (edited 7/29/2010 1:49p).]

I assume you mean that you have spread granules 2x. It's hard to cure a bug problem with granules - they're better as a preventative measure, and 2x in a week isn't going to help. You need a liquid insecticide. Each brand will have it's own active ingredient and they all work about the same, and most will end in "thrin" (permethrin, deltamethrin, cyhalothrin). Except I would avoid bifenthrin (Ortho) as some chinch bugs have developed resistance to it. Even with liquid, you won't kill them all in a week. You need to treat once a week for 3 weeks. Applying more often will not help, you need to break the life cycle. Good luck.

Just saw your last message. Too bad you picked the ortho product. It might work but you will need multiple treatments. Also, now is not the time to fertilize. Wait until fall. You will be encouraging fungal disease and stressing out the grass in this heat if you fertilize now.

How long does it take the liquid insecticides to begin thinning them out? Basically, when will I see the destruction slowing down? Im guessing between the 2x grans and the spray, they arent to happy. Ill follow it up with some cutter or the likes next week. The mockingbirds were already starting to circle this morning when I was out working.

Ive never had a problem fertilizing in small doses year round vs fertilizing in bulk in the spring in fall.

[This message has been edited by JHNichols (edited 7/29/2010 2:10p).]

They will start to thin out for sure after one application, you may even think you killed them all. But you will need to followup to get the new babies. Biggest problems with treating chinch bugs is not following through with subsequent applications.

You know your lawn best. As a rule I don't recommend fertilizing in the summer, but if you are experienced in it and apply a light treatment, you have a better chance of avoiding problems. If you just want a bit of greenup, an application of iron would not have any disadvantages.

Thanks twigs. When I said fertilizer, I really ment a majority iron & nitrogen mix suppliment (much much heavier in iron than nitrogen). Ive already got the cutter ready to go for the next treatment (I knew better than to buy the same brand for both treatments). Hopefully anything with an ortho resistance will get taken out by the cutter. Is the above comment about keeping the lawn properly watered an old wives tale? My lawn was anythign but dry, and wit hthe last 2 days of rain, I cant imagine even if it was dry that it needs water.

The only good thing I can note at this point is the mockingbirds appear to be having to search much harder to find the little critters.

Chinch bugs do tend to go after weaker, drier grass. A healthy lawn is generally less attractive to them, but if they are hungry they'll eat what is available.