Armyworms May Be Attacking

Armyworms may be attacking your Grapevine lawn soon. Armyworms are the larval stage of moths. They are tan or light green in the early months of their development. By the time they reach their full size between one and-a-half and two inches Armyworms are a dark green or brown color. Equipped with voracious appetites, these caterpillars are capable of consuming large amounts of your lawn, turning what was once a lush, green space into a brown wasteland. When they are bad, it will look like your lawn is moving. You can see them going across driveways in Grapevine and across streets. Just as annoying, these trouble makers may attack your vegetable garden, making it imperative to get rid of them.

Signs of an infestation in Grapevine in summer. It frequently begins on the edge of the lawn. After being consumed, the grass blades will appear ragged. If the infestation is particularly large and voracious, then the blades may be eaten all the way to the ground. In these cases, the entire lawn can be consumed within a few days to a few weeks. They love green lush lawns with lots of foliage.

A cool, wet spring is often the catalyst for bringing on a summer with lots of armyworms. It is believed that they hitch a ride in to areas on large weather events like Tropical storms. They are usually active at night, resting during the day under garden or lawn debris. It’s not unusual for moths to be able to produce three generations of in a single season, which means that your lawn could be under continuous attack for months.

Armyworms – Control

Often, birds and insects are able to keep the population of armyworms under control. However, when these predators are few in number or when there is a particularly large outbreak, they may not be able to do enough to deal with the problem. That’s when it’s important to call in lawn care maintenance experts. If you have armyworms, they aren’t hard to kill, you just need to stop what you are doing and take care of them immediately. If you have armyworms in your Grapevine lawn, your neighbor probably has them also, so be sure to check next door on both sides and alert your neighbors. This will help any worms that decide to come to your yard later.