Moths are the parents of a Gainesville lawn pest known as the Tropical Sod Webworm. Do you know how caterpillars go into a cocoon and transform into butterflies? Sod webworms do the same thing, except they become moths. 

Webworms eat the tops of St. Augustine and Zoysia grass down to the tougher stolon, which causes a scalped look, typically in wet areas of the lawn. They also leave behind green pellets, which are the remnants of the lawn after the webworm has digested it.

Here are some quick notes about webworm damage in lawns:

• Moths are typically noticed fluttering in the early morning dew of the lawn when you walk through it.
• They are typically swarming when the heavy rains of summer/fall begin, which in Gainesville is anywhere between late June and October. 
• The webworms are translucent green, and about 1/2" long. They're easily located in the morning dew, but they stay in the thatch during the heat of the day. 
• They're very difficult to treat DIY because most hand or backpack sprayers don't have enough pressure to penetrate the thatch or cocoons.
• Commercial lawn pest technicians (like The Master's Lawn Care) can use more pressure and preventative products that aren't available at home improvement stores. 

If you need help controlling Gainesville lawn pests that are killing your yard, please give us a call or text (352) 378-5296.

Today's Quick Tip on Gainesville lawns is about Chinch bug damage, and how to decipher it from drought stress, webworm damage, fungus, or other common yard issues. There are three main things to look for:

1. Where is the damage? Typically, chinch bugs attack Gainesville yards close to concrete, asphalt, and in areas that are in full sun. 
2. What do the damaged areas look like? When chinch bugs attack lawns in Gainesville, they leave a clear trail. The dead grass looks dark brown (compared to a the typical greyish color of dead grass) and is typically very patchy. Also, weeds typically thrive because chinch bugs do not damage weeds - just the grass.
3. Is there a yellow ring? To be clear, there can also be a yellow ring around fungus, too. However, chinch bugs and fungus attack very different St. Augustine grass. Chinch bugs attck drought-stressed grass, so the yellowed turf would be in typically dry soil (which is why they love the full sun areasof your lawn). Fungus typically leaves yellowing grass in very wet areas of the lawn, from too much water (irrigation or rain) sitting on the lawn.

If you would like help protecting the health of your lawn, please call our office at (352) 378-LAWN. We would love to help.

When and where is this lawn pest the most prevalent?

Although native to South America, they are very prevalent in Gainesville lawns throughout the year. They typically become bothersome in spring and summer due to more lawn-related activities - but they are active year round.

How can I identify this as the problem in my lawn or landscape?

Fire ants are very different from crazy ants, in that they are typically reddish-colored, and swarm. Crazy ants can be seen running aimlessly in circles, which is where they derive the 'crazy ant' name.  

How do they occur and how can I prevent it?

Fire ants naturally arrive in most all Gainesville lawns. Prevention is only offerent by a licensed lawn pest prevention service, like The Master's Lawn Care. 

What can I do to resolve the issue?

If you prefer to D-I-Y, we recommend purchasing lawn insect control products at the local home improvement store and treating the mounds. Unfortunately, this usually means the mound just moves to another area of your yard rather than getting rid of them for good. We have a one-time treatment that lasts for a full year and guarantees your lawn to be fire ant-free. 

If this service, or any other seems to be a good fit for you, don't hesitate to fill out the form above or call our office at (352)378-5296.

When and where is this pest the most prevalent?

Aphids are prevalent on Crape Myrtles anytime they have leaves - which for our Gainesville lawns is from April through October. Typically, their remnants (the black sooty mold) is not seen until late summer, though. Aphids also attack other trees and shrubs in Gainesville yards as well.

How can I identify this as the problem in my lawn or landscape?

The quickest way to know if your Crape Myrtles have aphids is to see a black fungus looking substance covering the leaves. This substance is the excretion from the aphids, which dirt in the air sticks to and becomes black. It really isn’t a mold at all - it’s just a lawn insect infestation (Aphid, white fly, or scale) leaving their mark in your yard.

You may also notice a lot of ants and wasps around your crape myrtle, as these will feed on the aphids if the infestation is large enough to attract them.

How does it occur and how can I prevent it?

Aphids are like most other insects in that they go after unhealthy trees. Whether they’re drought stressed, rootbound, or in too much shade - Aphid infestations regularly are a symptom of a larger problem.

What can I do to resolve the issue?

The only natural way to rid your Crape Myrtles of aphids is to release ladybugs around the affected crapes. These ladybugs are what’s known as a ‘beneficial insect,’ because they protect the plant by feeding on the aphids that are damaging it.  Here’s a photo of them feeding:

The other way to resolve them is treating with a mixture of dish soap and water every couple days for several weeks. This is a slow process, but it’s faster than the ladybugs.

The third option is allowing our lawn insect control professionals spray the lawn. If you need lawn and ornamental pest control, please call our office at (352) 378-5296.

Turf diseases are not usually as common a threat to a Gainesville lawns as Turf pests and weeds, but they are still a concern in certain seasons. Occasionally an outbreak will occur after an extended period of heat and humidity but for the most part, a lawn will remain relatively disease free as long as it is irrigated properly.

However, if there is a dead or dying spot on your lawn, it is beneficial to know if it might be a disease or simply your neighbor taking the dog to its favorite spot in your Gainesville yard. Identifying a lawn disease will also give you clues as to what is causing its presence and if there is anything you can do about it.

5 Common Lawn Diseases

There are numerous diseases that can creep up into your lawn if the proper conditions are present. Five of the popular turf fingii include:

• Large Patch Fungus - Previously termed as 'Brown patch fungus' appears as circular patches in the lawn that are brownish yellow in color and range from 6 inches to several feet in diameter. It effects most all Gainesville grass, but is especially harmful to St. Augustine grass and Zoysia grass. Brown patch is most likely to occur during extended periods of heat, humidity, and rain - which is common in our Gainesville, Florida summer and fall seasons. The most effective treatment is with targeted fungicides and withholding nitrogen (lawn fertilization) to keep it from spreading. 
• Grey Leaf Spot -  Grey leaf spot looks like brown patch fungus at first, but it attacks the tops of the leaf, leaving tiny olive-to-brown oblong spots, which may have velvet growths in their centers. As the disease progresses, the oblong spots become oval or an irregular shape.Grey leaf reduces the ability of the grass to thrive, making it sparse and spindly. It most often occurs from early spring to early fall when the humidity is high and rainfall is heavy (or you’ve over-watered). The moist Gainesville climate allows spores to produce with abundance.
• Dollar Spot Fungus - Dollar spot appears in a pattern of brown circular patches about the size of a silver dollar. A spot by itself doesn’t look too horrible, but don’t let it fool you. Those small patches become very large areas, and dollar spot is merciless. It kills the grass right down to the roots causing a need for new plugs or sod installation.

You can also identify dollar spot by the lesions (infection marks) on the leaves of the grass. They begin as light tan with a reddish-brown border and turn white to straw-colored as the lesions grow into one large leaf blemish. Another clue is when you see mycelium (cobwebs on lawn) early in the dewy morning. Dollar spot starts growing when the humidity is high and temperatures reach higher than 70 degrees.

• Fairy Ring Fungus - In Gainesville yards (and all over Florida for that matter), fairy rings appear annually in the same spot. You’ll see 3-foot to 20-foot rings of dark green or dead grass, most often in hot weather and heavy rainfalls (noticing a tred between the different diseases). Major yard outbreaks will have mushrooms in a circle or semicircle, but not always.

Fairy ring spreads rapidly along the root system of the grass, depleting the nitrogen that is essential for the life of the grass. It also has a second line of attack. It produces mycelium (a web of fine white threads), which, as it dies, hardens and kills the grass by keeping water from reaching the roots. Fairy ring is kind of sneaky. By the time you see the signs, it’s been in your soil for two to three years. Then, you think you’ve taken care of the problem and it’s back several years later.

There are three types of fairy ring found on lawns, those with a darker green flush of growth, a zone of dying grass and mushrooms, those with only a darkened green ring and mushrooms, and those with only mushrooms. Fairy rings do not cause widespread damage and are very hard to get rid of so they are most often just left alone.

• Rust Fungus - Rust fungus is a yellowish-orange powder that turns your lawn to yellow, orange, red or brown rust-like color. In the beginning stages, leaves develop yellow flecks that get larger and become dark yellow. By then, the flecks are pustules that burst and release spores that are the powder you see. When the turf infection is severe, the leaves will turn rust-colored (hence the name) and growth slows down. As the lawn becomes sparse and individual leaves begin to die, it becomes very hard to mistake for other yard problems. However it presents itself, the primary danger is that your lawn is susceptible to more lethal lawn diseases.

Rust attacks grass that is in the shade and stays saturated with water from rain, dew, humidity or due to your watering it too often. Be on the lookout from early spring to fall when temperatures are between 60-85 degrees, particularly if your grass is growing more slowly than usual.

 

Your TMLC Gainesville lawn experts are trained to determine what is ailing your lawn and if a lawn fungus treatment is really what you need. We can provide valuable advice on how to treat Gainesville turf disease as well as give tips for proper mowing and watering. In addition, the ongoing support they offer can greatly reduce the likelihood of lawn damaging insects or diseases reappearing in your lawn and will fortify your lawn fungus control. Fill out the form above or call (352) 378-LAWN today for more information.

Other Topics of Interest:

• Gainesville Lawn Fertilizing
• Weed Control in my yard
• How to get my Gainesville yard Chinch Bug free

 

In the past few weeks, I've had multiple clients ask about how to control the number of ants in their lawn. The combination of a fairly dry winter and the extremely dry spring this year has created outstanding conditions for ants to expand their population and build more nests. This is the reason why you may feel like you're seeing more ant beds this year than normal. 

For most people, the bite of an ant is just a painful nuisance. For children, pets, and people with allergies- they can be far more dangerous. Many people believe that fire ants are the only threat, but that’s just not the case in North Florida. There are several types of biting and stinging ants in Florida, and all of them will attack anything that disturbs their nest - whether the disturbance was intentional or not. 

Removing ants from your Gainesville lawn is as much about safety as it is about aesthetics. While they can do all of the damage of less-dangerous ants, stinging ants have the added threat of physically harming people and pets.

Ants prefer lawns that are struggling and patchy, so you generally don't see significant ant issues in strong healthy lawns. However, ants don't eat grass and generally aren't lawn-damaging insects. That's why the first step in controlling them is:

1. Take Good Care of Your Lawn

Although your lawn may be too infiltrated and need a solution that offers quicker results, it's important to know that the first step to a lawn with fewer ants is simply good lawn maintenance practices. Mow the lawn on your mower's highest setting. Water the lawn to avoid drought stress. Fertilize and treat to prevent chinch bug damage (which also helps to prevent most ant species). These 3 things will keep the ants out of your lawn better than any other post-infestation treatment or bait on the market. (Side benefit, you'll have a great looking lawn, too!)

2. A Natural Home Remedy for Ant Control in your Lawn

Don't believe the hype about using grits to control lawn ants. Lyle Buss, in the insect identification lab of the Entomology and Nematology Department at UF, said the idea that grits can be fed to fire ants to kill them is not true.
“The rumor is that they eat the grits, which expand in their gut and make them explode. However, the workers don’t actually eat the grits because they aren’t able to eat solid food. They feed solid food to the ant larvae, which are able to digest it,” Buss said.
An IFAS publication, “Managing Fire Ants in Urban Areas,” states that a home remedy for treating ant mounds is to pour about three gallons of hot or near boiling water on the mound when a number of ants are on the surface, such as on a cool, sunny morning or right after heavy rainfall, which should eliminate about 60 percent of the mounds treated. This will need to be done several times for full control, though.

3. Local Garden Store Solutions

If you still aren't ready to call a professional Ant Pest Control Service after the home remedy, then you will need to visit your local home improvement store. Sometimes home remedies work great, and other times the lawn pest infestation is simply too large.  At most home improvement stores, you can pick up anything from full lawn insecticide treatments (broad species control from chinch bugs to ants) to specific lawn insect treatments (like fire ant bait).

The biggest key to your success is following the label thoroughly. Some require 2-3 applications over several weeks, some will require a lawn fertilizer spreader to get the proper rate of the product down, and some will need to be watered in after the application. Whatever the instructions, follow them precisely - because we don't want you to join the number of calls we get where the homeowner has over-treated their lawn furthering the damage, then requiring a new lawn installation.

Once the lawn ants are gone, practicing proper Gainesville lawn maintenance should keep your lawn healthy and stress-free. The secret to having a lawn you love really goes back to the basics of watering, fertilization, and mowing correctly. If there is any way we can help you get control of the ants in your landscape, please fill out the form above or call us at (352) 378-5296. We look forward to the opportunity to serve you.

 

 

When and where is this pest the most prevalent?

Chinch bugs are most prevalent from late spring to mid-fall and are typically found in St. Augustine lawns, although they are occasionally found in Zoysia yards as well. They love hot, dry soil and will almost always start damaging the grass near concrete. They like to start by a sidewalk or driveway and work their way out into your lawn.

How can I identify this as the problem in my lawn or landscape?

Chinch bugs can be tricky because they love to attack yards already weakened by drought stress, and their damage looks very similar to drought stress. Many people assume their lawn is just dry and just increase their irrigation settings when in reality they need a lawn insect control application to control the chinch bugs. 

This is especially important as we experience the worst drought in over a century, as confirmed by the Gainesville Sun. Drought stress and Chinch bug damage not only look similar, but they also compound each other because of how a chinch bug feasts on your lawn. 

Locating chinch bugs can be done by shoving a coffee can into the soil and filling it with water. If you see flea-like insects floating to the top, those are chinch bugs. They are ant-sized pests that range from red to black (depending upon age) and have a white stripe across their back. 

How does it occur and how can I prevent it?

Chinch bugs occur mostly due to cultural practices such as lack of irrigation or the grass being cut too short, however that isn’t the only case. Chinch can also terrorize a neighborhood by going from lawn to lawn, attacking any lawn that isn’t on a lawn pest program.

Lawn pest prevention comes down to a mixture of properly maintaining the lawn’s health with proper amounts of water and proper mowing height, and being protected with a preventive insecticide that repels all lawn-damaging insects.

What can I do to resolve the issue?

To control chinch bugs in Gainesville yourself, there are products you can buy a the local home improvement store. I highly recommend using the liquid products and buying a sprayer, though, as the granular products aren't nearly as effective. The granular lawn insect control products need the perfect amount of irrigation that won't dilute the product down beyond effectiveness, but also not under-irrigate where the granule doesn't dissolve.

If this is something you would like us to take care of, please call our office at (352) 378-5296 or email our office at info@themasterslawncare.com. 

Although the word 'pest' is typically used to describe an insect such as chinch bugs or webworms, the term is actually used to describe anything that is unwanted. (Perhaps you remember what you may have called your little sibling growing up?) In this case, a lawn certainly is not improved by being pestered with a lack of one of it's three basic needs)   When and where is drought stress the most prevalent? Imagine filling a gallon bucket with water and setting it out in your yard. When you check your bucket a week later, you’re going to find it still has water, but you’ve lost an inch or so from evaporation.  That’s what happens to your lawn and landscape plants if the evaporation isn’t replaced by rain and/or irrigation. If you had the bucket of water in full sun, it would experience more evaporation than one in the shade. Also, a bucket put out in summer would lose more to evaporation than one in winter.  All of that is to explain that drought stress is most prevalent in the sunny areas of your lawn and in the driest times of the year.     How can I identify this as the problem in my lawn or landscape? St. Augustine and Zoysia lawns are the easiest to diagnose drought stress in. Both leaves have a midvein that acts as a “spine” for each individual blade, allowing it to open and close as needed.  Healthy, well-watered grass blades will appear almost completely flat and totally open. When grass begins to dry out, the blade will close in half upon itself, to reduce its surface area to the sun and thus conserve water. This will also give the grass a “hazy” look, as the backs of the blades are not as deep a green as the enclosed fronts.   How does it occur and how can I prevent it? As mentioned above, drought stress is simply a lack of water, which is one of a lawn's 3 most basic needs.   What can I do to resolve the issue? Turn up your irrigation settings (link is a tutorial on Gainesville Irrigation settings). When I advise this, the typical response is, “But there’s an irrigation rule that says I can only water 2 days per week.” That’s completely correct. However, the frequency of the irrigation running typically isn’t the problem. Most of the time, I find irrigation timers set to run anywhere from 15-20 minutes per zone - and we recommend anywhere from 30 to 75 minutes per zone.
Related Reading: 5 Tips to Avoid Drought Stress How to Change Your Irrigation Timer Settings Tips for Watering Your Gainesville Lawn  

When and where is this landscape ornamental pest the most prevalent?

Magnolia scale is extremely prevalent among all types of Magnolia trees - the Little Gem, Tiny Bear, Southern Magnolia, and even the Japanese Magnolia. There is no specific season they are more common, although they do go dormant in the winter. Having a Magnolia tree in your Gainesville lawn almost assures at some point an infestation of scale - however, a good Ornamental Pest Control plan will keep this from happening.

How can I identify this as the problem in my lawn or landscape?

If you regularly inspect your Magnolia branches for little bumps on the branches, which is what scales seem like, you will catch them before a bigger infestation occurs. If you already have a large infestation, you will notice a black silt, commonly called ‘black sooty mold,’ (See photo) on the tops of the leaves and surrounding plants. Although many people mistake this for the lawn pest, this is simply the excretion from the scale that is damaging your Magnolia.

How does it occur and how can I prevent it?

The scales spread via the wind, so the only way to prevent them is to regularly treat your Magnolias with a strong horticultural oil or systemic insecticide.

What can I do to resolve the issue?

If you have an infestation of Magnolia scale in your Gainesville lawn, treating with a combination of systemic and topical insecticides labeled for scale is really the only answer. Our ornamental pest control program can resolve this issue for you.

If we can help you prevent Gainesville lawn pests, please give our office a call at (352) 378-5296, or email us at info@themasterslawncare.com.

Are you frustrated with Bermuda taking over your lush St. Augustine lawn? Unfortunately, there are only two options to deal with it.

Before I get into solutions, let me explain how Bermuda works. It is very invasive and spreads via seed (when mowed), stolon (above ground "runners"), and rhizomes (underground root system). It is in the grass family, so any herbicide that kills it will also kill St. Augustine grass - which is why it creates such a hassle for Gainesville lawns. 

The good news is that Bermuda and St. Augustine grasses can co-exist in Gainesville lawns and the grass can still look overall healthy. We have several clients that have found this to work for them, even if they would prefer to have a Bermuda-free yard. The bad news comes if anything ever causes the St. Augustine grass to struggle, like irrigation issues or insect damage, because then the Bermuda will immediately take the opportunity to really cover that area and will not let St. Augustine back in without being completely removed and having new sod installed.

A good lawn spray technician can utilize pre-emergent* herbicides to slow the spread of Bermuda - but nothing will stop it completely because of the runners. 

Some people love Bermuda lawns and grow it as their primary turfgrass, but you rarely see this in Gainesville. Primarily in our area, Bermuda is used for golf courses and football fields. It just takes too much maintenance and fertilizer to keep it looking healthy and lush in our sandy soils to be a good lawn grass.

Here are the two options when it comes to resolving the Wild Bermuda grass issue..  

Least Invasive Option - The key for this is to keep the St. Augustine turf healthy enough to keep the Bermuda at bay. You may have to sod any areas that are completely riddled with Bermuda to get a good start.

• Mow the lawn on your mower's highest setting. (Bermuda prefers to be mowed low, so this will help the St. Augustine grass)
• Increased irrigation times to keep the St. Augustine healthy enough to hold it's space against the invasive Bermuda grass.
• A good fertilization and pre-emergent weed control program, which we offer. 
• Lawn Insect Control such as chinch bugs and webworms. This is also a service we offer.

Extensive Option - This would involve locating any areas where Bermuda is located, even if it doesn't look bad yet, to remove and resod so that Bermuda is no longer taking over the property.

• We would recommend starting with a couple non-selective herbicide applications that will kill the Bermuda grass throughout your yard.
• Next, you would sod-cut and till the lawn to assure you remove all of the roots.
• You would apply a soil amendment such as milorganite to help the sod root quickly.
• Install the healthiest sod available. 
• Lastly, protect the sod with a lawn health program.

Either one of these plans can work if all of the steps are followed, but missing a step assures failure when it comes to Bermuda grass. I encourage homeowners to keep their lawn healthy and a little Bermuda grass will not be an issue. It's only when the St. Augustine thins out and struggles that it shows up.  If we can be of any help in this job, please feel free to call us at (352) 378-5296 or email us at info@themasterslawncare.com. 

*Pre-Emergents lay a protective barrier down on the soil that won't allow seeds to germinate, restricting Bermudas ability to spread.