Identification and Control of the Lawn Pest: The Chinch Bug
The chinch bug belongs to the order Hemiptera, family Lygaeidae. In recent years, due to abnormal temperature changes, the damage caused by chinch bugs has become increasingly severe, especially to lawns of bluegrass and bentgrass.
I. Ecological Habits and Characteristics
The nymph is small, with incompletely developed wings, unable to fly, but capable of long-distance jumping. Its body color ranges from slightly red to black, with a yellow-white stripe on its back. The adult is black, about 1 cm in body length, with folded white wings. When you pull apart dying lawn grass, you can see the pests scurrying in all directions.
Chinch bugs prefer heat and become more active as temperatures rise, reaching peak activity during sustained dry and hot weather.
Females begin laying eggs in late spring, generally laying about 200 eggs in around 25 days. The eggs are placed inside the leaf sheaths of lawn plants, hatching into nymphs in 7 to 10 days, and becoming adults after 5 weeks. One generation is completed in 7 to 8 weeks, and two to multiple generations can occur within a single growing season. The first generation often completes its life cycle before the first frost. Subsequent generations overwinter in trash and debris, hedgerows, and dead grass or soil layers of the lawn.
II. Damage
They use piercing-sucking mouthparts to suck sap, causing stems and leaves to become soft, prone to curling, and even die. Affected lawn areas turn patchy light grayish-brown and emit a foul odor. In areas with mild temperatures, they cause severe damage to bluegrass and bentgrass lawns.
III. Control Methods
During overwintering, clean the lawn, remove lawn trash and debris and dead grass, which can eliminate large numbers of pests. Using trees and shrubs for shade can inhibit their development. When sowing and establishing a lawn, mixing a certain amount of sand, gravel and mixed fertilizer into the seedbed soil can prevent their development. During the outbreak period, applying carbaryl wettable powder has a certain effect. Before plant dormancy, use 48% chlorpyrifos emulsifiable concentrate at 100 milliliters per mu, add water and spray to kill the pests.