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A lawn that goes spongy in September was lost in June. We treat the two problems differently: grubs are prevented on a schedule, and surface feeders are found by walking the lawn on every single visit.
Two problems, two methods
Treating both the same way is why so many lawns get sprayed for insects that were never there, and miss the ones that were.
Root feeders
Prevent
Beetles lay eggs in early summer. A long-residual product applied in June sits in the top few inches of soil and kills larvae as they hatch, when they are small and easy to reach. Wait until the fall damage is visible and the grubs are large, deeper, and far harder to kill — and the roots are already gone.
Round 03 · June
Surface feeders
Scout
These arrive when conditions suit them, not when the calendar says. Armyworms migrate in and can strip a lawn in two days — no preventive product covers that. So we inspect on every visit: pull back turf at the hot edges, run a soap flush where the damage pattern warrants it, and treat only what is confirmed.
Rounds 03 through 06
Before you assume grubs
Grub damage gets blamed for a lot of drought, disease and dog urine. It is worth checking before anyone treats your lawn for it.
If the turf holds firm, the problem is something else, and we will tell you so rather than sell you an insect treatment.
Pest identifier
Six turf pests, what each one does to the grass, the damage pattern that gives it away, and how it is handled in the program.
Scarab larvae
Turf feels spongy underfoot and peels back like loose carpet because the roots are gone. Skunks, raccoons and birds tearing up the lawn overnight is the other giveaway.
Preventive, always. A long-residual product goes into the root zone in round 03 and kills larvae as they hatch. By the time fall damage shows, the grubs are large and much harder to kill.
Blissus leucopterus
Irregular yellow patches in the hottest, sunniest strips that keep expanding no matter how much you water. Adults are a fifth of an inch, black with white wings folded in an X.
Found by scouting in rounds 03 and 04, then treated curatively. Watering more looks like the fix and makes the diagnosis worse.
Crambus spp.
Pencil-width holes in the turf, blades chewed off at an angle, and small tan moths flying in a zig-zag just above the lawn at dusk.
Curative. Confirmed by a soap flush during scouting, then treated the same week — larvae feed at night and damage compounds quickly.
Spodoptera frugiperda
A green front that eats across the lawn and can strip it in a day or two. Larvae are green to brown with stripes and an inverted Y on the head.
They migrate in, so no calendar product prevents them. The answer is scouting and treating the moment caterpillars are confirmed.
Sphenophorus spp.
Stems snap cleanly at the crown with fine sawdust-like frass at the break. Damage is often mistaken for drought that never recovers.
Adults are targeted in late spring; larvae are covered by the round 03 preventive, which handles billbugs and grubs in one pass.
Perimeter pests
Not a turf problem — a yard-use problem. They breed in standing water, leaf litter and the shaded border where nobody looks.
Optional add-on. Monthly barrier treatment of the shrub line, fence rows and shaded harbourage from April through October.
Kids, pets and the label
Insect control is the service homeowners ask the most questions about, and reasonably so. Here is exactly how we handle it.
Keep going
Weed lane
Pre-emergent + post-emergent
A soil barrier stops weed seed before it germinates. Anything that slips through gets treated by name, not blanket-sprayed by habit.
How it works
Feed lane
Slow-release nutrition
Seven feedings built around a soil test and weighted to fall, when 80% of root growth actually happens. Colour is the side effect; density is the goal.
How it worksNext step
An inspection takes about twenty minutes. You get a soil reading, a written list of what is growing that shouldn’t be, and a price. No obligation, and we will tell you if your lawn does not need us yet.