Big Daddy, I think I may have bugs in my lawn! I had a big problem with grubs last year and want to know what I should put down now. - TG

OK. The first thing you need to decide is whether you have damaging turf bugs right now. You would notice an irregular shaped brown area in the grass and if you go and take hold of a big handful, it would come right up with very little to no effort because the roots have been eaten away. If that is the case, your next step is to identify the pest (click HERE) choose a product that is labeled for the pest and apply according to that label. One of the top problems in turf management is incorrectly diagnosing an area as bug damage when it may be water, chemical or mechanical damage. By treating a pest that isn't there, often times we wipe out potential predators, create resistant pests and waste our money! Many insecticides that were once extremely effective when we first started, are nearly useless now due to overuse. It's expensive and time consuming for researchers to find new generations of controls and take a guess at who eventually pays that price! Returning to the predator issue, you may want to think of your turf as a mini ecosystem with many organisms at work, both beneficial and harmful to your landscape, but necessary. If we tilt the balance extremely in one direction, unintended reactions may happen in another. This is especially true using broad spectrum insecticides off target or out of window for your intended pest. If I were to have a an area that traditionally has seen white grub damage each season and I had identified that as my pest, I would recognize that their time of activity is in the late summer. If I were to apply a preventative insecticide in the spring, with most insecticides giving me only a 30 day window of control, I would effectively kill no grubs, possibly wipe out any potential predators for the grub and may face an even larger problem in the fall when they DO become active, because I am getting no assistance from beneficial predators. Our stance is treat when visible signs begin, identify the pest and use the proper product according to label. Spend a minute, save your time and money and get superior results! -BD