Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Invasion of the Armyworms!!


We had our first outbreak of the year of Fall Armyworms today. You may have noticed them or their activity in yards recently. It usually starts around tree lines and looks like the grass is dry. If you look closely, you will see the worms eating the grass leaves. 
Here is a full grown Armyworm. They are green and have black stripes and they look like they have a black helmet on. 
If you haven't seen them, you have probably noticed their eggs on anything and everything outside. 
This is their eggs on our flags. They have been evident for a few weeks. The armyworms usually "attack" when we get some cooler nights, like last night. 
Here is the start of their activity on #12. You will notice the grass around the trees looks dryer than the rest of the grass. It isn't dry. That is the start of the armyworm invasion. They will eat an entire hole of rough in a day if they aren't sprayed. 
Here is some severe damage across the cartpath on #4. We will be spraying for them tomorrow with a product called Bifenthrin. They are pretty easy to control as long as you catch them early.