Army Worms

Can anyone give me a good description on these little buggers.

Don't think i have them on the lawn as i still have grass, but have a grub
simular to a centipede on the lawn of a night time.

Any help would be appreciated.

Jim.

"Jim" wrote in message
news
Can anyone give me a good description on these little buggers.

Don't think i have them on the lawn as i still have grass, but have a grub
simular to a centipede on the lawn of a night time.

Any help would be appreciated.

Jim.



Hi

Hmmmm, they don't look anything like the centipedes I know.

At it's biggest an army worm is about 4cm long. It does have legs, green,
sorta brown in colour. It has a stripe down it's back and dots either side
of the stripe. There is about 1 dot for each segment of it's body, and the
dots are virtually black. They are the larvae of a moth, not the black
beetle as some people think (including my boss who I had to argue with about
this topic last week). Though black beetle does just as much damage.
They will strip your lawn bare, as if you have put your mower on the lowest
setting, and mowed to the soil.

I know if there is any damage to the lawn, get some soapy water (people
recomend sunlight soap), and pour it on the edge of the damaged area, and
the non damaged area. They come to the surface. However if your lawn is
unaffected, doing this will be a "hit and miss" thing. You might not have
any come to the surface, but they could be in other parts of the lawn. If
you have damage, at least you know they are in that area. I've heard too
putting down a wet hessian bag on the lawn will make them come up too. They
think it's night time.

If you do have them, and decide to spray, then see if you can find a spray
WITHOUT an active constituent(sp?) called "chloropyrifos"(sp??). It is too
toxic for use around the home, and unfortunately we use it at work. I
wouldn't even consider it if I had kids or pets either. It's very effective,
just too toxic. Oh, and also if you do spray, try and rake or blow any
insects that come to the surface (black beetle too). Otherwise birds will
eat them, and possibly die.

Good luck with it


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Thanks for taking the time to explain in detail.

Much appreciated.

By the way,
My lawn is fine, forgot to add that originally.

Thanks again.
Jim.

"Andrew G" wrote in message
...
"Jim" wrote in message
news
Can anyone give me a good description on these little buggers.

Don't think i have them on the lawn as i still have grass, but have a
grub
simular to a centipede on the lawn of a night time.

Any help would be appreciated.

Jim.



Hi

Hmmmm, they don't look anything like the centipedes I know.

At it's biggest an army worm is about 4cm long. It does have legs, green,
sorta brown in colour. It has a stripe down it's back and dots either side
of the stripe. There is about 1 dot for each segment of it's body, and the
dots are virtually black. They are the larvae of a moth, not the black
beetle as some people think (including my boss who I had to argue with
about
this topic last week). Though black beetle does just as much damage.
They will strip your lawn bare, as if you have put your mower on the
lowest
setting, and mowed to the soil.

I know if there is any damage to the lawn, get some soapy water (people
recomend sunlight soap), and pour it on the edge of the damaged area, and
the non damaged area. They come to the surface. However if your lawn is
unaffected, doing this will be a "hit and miss" thing. You might not have
any come to the surface, but they could be in other parts of the lawn. If
you have damage, at least you know they are in that area. I've heard too
putting down a wet hessian bag on the lawn will make them come up too.
They
think it's night time.

If you do have them, and decide to spray, then see if you can find a spray
WITHOUT an active constituent(sp?) called "chloropyrifos"(sp??). It is too
toxic for use around the home, and unfortunately we use it at work. I
wouldn't even consider it if I had kids or pets either. It's very
effective,
just too toxic. Oh, and also if you do spray, try and rake or blow any
insects that come to the surface (black beetle too). Otherwise birds will
eat them, and possibly die.

Good luck with it


--
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