Most homeowners take great pride in their lawns, giving them constant care and attention; dutifully rooting out crab grass and catching dandelions before they go to seed, and applying lawn fertilizer in precise patterns on a set schedule. Unfortunately all of this excellent care can be for naught if your lawn becomes infested with bugs. Here are the top five lawn bugs that can cause lawn devastation. When properly treated these pests can become a thing of the past, however like so many other battles in the suburban jungle constant vigilance is the key to a prolonged success. White grubs are one of the most common lawn critters that most home owners have to deal with. These little guys cause extensive damage to the root systems in which they live. Adding to the problem, it is impossible to see white grubs on the surface of your lawn as they exist below the blades of grass in the root zone, so the only way you will be able to know if you have a white grub infestation is to physically dig up patches of the lawn and look in the underlying soil. There are no surefire telltale signs of a white grub infestation in your lawn, in fact about the only thing you'll notice is the general poor health of the grass. The only signs you will get of a white grub infestation is general browning and dying of the grass and in some cases that are severe you'll be able to pull back patches of the grass with your bare hands. The best defense against a white grub infestation is to keep your lawn healthy in the first place by applying proper fertilizers and watering on a regular schedule. Your next line of defense, believe it or not, is to encourage birds in your yard. Birds eat the white grubs, so the more feathered residents you have the more grubs they will eat. The fiery skipper is another common lawn pest. Luckily these guys are rather specific in the types of grass that they like, favoring Bermuda grass, bent grass, and St. Augustine grass. A common symptom of a fiery skipper infestation is noticing patches of brown grass popping up among your healthy green grass. As the infestation worsens these brown patches can join together and form large patches or veins of brown grass that skirt across your entire lawn. To help fight in infestation of fiery skippers you are going to want to reduce the thatch of your lawn as well as over seed with grass species that they do not find palatable. Billbugs are a past that is endemic to all species of grass. They have no preferred feeding habits thus you will not be able to choose a resistant grass for your lawn if you find them eating away at your turf. Much like the fiery skipper if you have a billbug infestation you'll notice brown patches on your lawn that grow in size and eventually join up to form larger patches which can extend to several feet in width. The best defense against billbugs is to make sure your lawn is very healthy to begin with by adequately fertilizing and watering on a regular schedule. You'll also want to increase the mowing height when you perform your regular lawn care. Lawn moths are an unusual lawn pest because they do not reside below the surface of the ground, though they are no less trouble some then any other lawn pest. Symptoms of a lawn moth infestation are fairly obvious, you'll find a general browning of your lawn, as well as observing chewed grass blades. To combat this problem you will want to remove excess thatch from your lawn, as well as provide adequate fertilizer and water to keep your lawn healthy and thus less likely to succumb to further moth attacks. The last scourge of the suburban lawn is the any worm, or cutworm. This lawn pest exhibits symptoms of many other pests, including chewed up blades of grass, and brown spots that can grow and merge into large brown patches. Combating these worms, like many of the other pests, requires you to reduce your lawn thatch as well as maintain general good health of the grass by fertilizing and watered regularly. These top five lawn pests are not the only bugs you will encounter that want to eat your lawn, but they are some of the most common. If you'll notice however they all have a common cure; general good lawn health and maintenance. You are never going to be able to read your lawn of all insect residents, and these insects need to eat something; so the best offense is actually a good defense. And the best defense your lawn can have is to be properly fed and watered so it has the strength to resist infestations.
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