Every summer I see Chinch bugs and Grasshoppers. "Chinch bugs" can change your green lawn to brown, and "Grasshoppers" can change your green shrubs to no schrubs. Read what Lawn & Landscape, Market Leadership has to say in their article dated May 22,2012 about "Chinch bugs".
Valent battles chinch bugs, Industry news - The bugs are becoming little fighters, but Valent has a new way to knock them out.
Chinch bugs are developing resistance to pyrethroid-based insecticides due to the chronic overuse of such products.
Dr. Eileen Buss, associate professor of turfgrass entomology at the University of Florida, says it’s important to first make sure you have chinch bugs, since damage caused by that pest can be misdiagnosed as scalping damage, herbicide damage, drought stress or even a dog “toilet” area.
To avoid a misdiagnosis, vacuum the affected area and, if chinch bugs are present, you’ll know it. “They’ll get caught in the filter and you can dump them in a bag,” Buss says.
The author is an associate editor at Lawn & Landscape. He can be reached at bhorn@gie.net You can read more @ lawnandlandscape.com.
The lubbers are here! Carrollwood-North Dalepatch, local voice - Lauren Shiner, March 19,2012.
These "cute" little black grasshoppers are a scourge. They grow up to be those 3" long golden, garden ravishing monsters. A biblical plague.
So, how do you get rid of them before they eat everything in sight?
Gardeners in the know use an organic natural remedy. A bacteria called nosema locustae attacks their gut after they eat it and it kills them. An added bonus is that they are cannabals, and when they feast on their dead, they are also infected with the bacteria and die. Nosema locustae does not affect bees or any other beneficial insects. Do not confuse it with the nosema that kills the bees the same way. Nosema ceranae kills the bees.
The only problem is that nosema locustae is hard to get, and the fact that it is hugely expensive. The good part is that after a few years of using it regularly, you greatly reduce the numbers of grasshoppers in the area.
A good plan is to gather a group together and buy in bulk, thus spreading the postage cost across several buyers. That is one of the reasons we started Green-Living-Tampa. We'll meet at Piccadilly in Carrollwood off north Dale Mabry at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20. Grab a tray of food and join us.
