Know The Good & Bad Insects In Your Lawn

You finally have your dream lawn. As you spend more time outdoors, gardening or entertaining friends with backyard BBQs, or just enjoying your new sod, you’re likely to encounter quite a few garden bugs and insects. While some of these little creatures can be annoying, it’s important to know which ones are beneficial to your landscape and which ones can damage to your lawn.

Who are the Good Guys?

You may be surprised to find out that many bugs serve a purpose and can help protect your lawn and garden from other damaging insects. In fact, most bugs pose little threat to humans.
Take the ground beetle for instance. This predatory beetle is harmless to humans, but great for your lawn and garden. They eat cutworms, snails and slugs that can damage your investment in your yard.

Ladybugs and lacewings help control harmful insect populations through their diet of insect eggs, larvae, mites, aphids and small caterpillars. While they might cause alarm upon sight, spiders, hunting wasps and praying mantis, also eat harmful larvae, including grubs and moth larvae that can damage your lawn and plants.

Beware the Bad Guys

They may be small, but don’t be fooled by their appearance. That cute little caterpillar or worm, brightly colored beetle or little snail can cause a lot of damage in a short amount of time to your lawn and garden. Don’t forget the menacing Japanese Beetle that can ravage a plant in only a few hours. Mosquitoes, ants, chiggers, ticks and fleas can cause painful bites and spread diseases, such as Lymes or West Nile Virus. Ants can also make a wreck of your new lawn.

Stick to using beneficial insects to control harmful insect populations instead of resorting to chemical pesticides, which can prove dangerous to honeybee and other beneficial insects. If you find that you are unable to control harmful insects, be sure to contact a trusted professional. We always want you to be proud of your lawn; we can’t keep insects out but we can help you build it back up.