She who must be obeyed would like to know about Army Worms. Stuff me if I
know why but as she asked????


Jim

"SG1" wrote in message
. ..
She who must be obeyed would like to know about Army Worms. Stuff me if I
know why but as she asked????


Jim


They are grubs/worms, that will destroy your lawn overnight, the past 4 or 5
months being the time they strike.
They are kinda skinny, about 2inches long, dark green, in colour, segmented
body with black dots running the length of the body down the middle and
either side.
Usually you will see the leaves of the grass eaten, but signs of dying grass
also happens as the roots are eaten. Pulling on the damaged grass is a good
test too, if it comes out easy, it's been chewed.
The best test
If you think you have them, then get some soapy water, made with water (of
course) and sunlight soap or other "cake" type soap. Sunlight is best
though, dishwashing liquid may work too.
Half a bucket of water will do, just keep swishing the soap and water
together 'till it becomes soapy.
Find a section of damaged lawn where it meets a non-damaged section as they
will be lurking there, ready for "tonights attack". Pour the soapy water and
see if they come up, if they do you have them. Try a few areas if it fails,
just to be sure.
ANother method I've heard of, try a wet hessian bag, thrown on the lawn.
They think it's night and will come up.
Control can be using an above method, then squishing them, though it'd take
a while.

Other control invovles chemical spraying. "Lorsban", is one, so is
"termiticide" and Fortune(could be a number after that). Any insecticide
with an active constituent (sp?) of Chlorpyrifos (sp?). There may be others
too. Toxic though, so be real careful.
There is an organic spray we had, made of tea tree oil and such, but can't
recall it at the moment.


--
Remove "not" from start of email address to reply

Thanks will pass it on

Andrew G wrote in message
...
"SG1" wrote in message
. ..
She who must be obeyed would like to know about Army Worms. Stuff me if
I
know why but as she asked????


Jim


They are grubs/worms, that will destroy your lawn overnight, the past 4 or
5
months being the time they strike.
They are kinda skinny, about 2inches long, dark green, in colour,
segmented
body with black dots running the length of the body down the middle and
either side.
Usually you will see the leaves of the grass eaten, but signs of dying
grass
also happens as the roots are eaten. Pulling on the damaged grass is a
good
test too, if it comes out easy, it's been chewed.
The best test
If you think you have them, then get some soapy water, made with water (of
course) and sunlight soap or other "cake" type soap. Sunlight is best
though, dishwashing liquid may work too.
Half a bucket of water will do, just keep swishing the soap and water
together 'till it becomes soapy.
Find a section of damaged lawn where it meets a non-damaged section as
they
will be lurking there, ready for "tonights attack". Pour the soapy water
and
see if they come up, if they do you have them. Try a few areas if it
fails,
just to be sure.
ANother method I've heard of, try a wet hessian bag, thrown on the lawn.
They think it's night and will come up.
Control can be using an above method, then squishing them, though it'd
take
a while.

Other control invovles chemical spraying. "Lorsban", is one, so is
"termiticide" and Fortune(could be a number after that). Any insecticide
with an active constituent (sp?) of Chlorpyrifos (sp?). There may be
others
too. Toxic though, so be real careful.
There is an organic spray we had, made of tea tree oil and such, but can't
recall it at the moment.


--
Remove "not" from start of email address to reply

On Mon, 28 Apr 2003 17:07:12 +1000, "Andrew G"
wrote:

"SG1" wrote in message
...
She who must be obeyed would like to know about Army Worms. Stuff me if I
know why but as she asked????

Jim

They are grubs/worms, that will destroy your lawn overnight, the past 4 or 5
months being the time they strike.
They are kinda skinny, about 2inches long, dark green, in colour, segmented
body with black dots running the length of the body down the middle and
either side.

[good advice snipped]

Further to this, they are the caterpillars of moths - the exact
species of which will depend on where you are within Australia.

Because they are moth caterpillars, they *might* be susceptible to Bt
sprays (marketed under the name of Dipel). It might be worth trying
this if you have a positively-identified armyworm problem as it is
toxic *only* to moths and butterflies and completely non-toxic to
mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, frogs, and most other insects (as far
as I know - I'm not a toxicologist).

HTH
Tish

You will know why if you ever have them, twenty thousand gardeners can't be
wrong!

p.s. can I have your better half's phone number?


China
'Goa Way'
Wingham
NSW