Are armyworms destroying your lawn and garden?
Armyworms are notorious for chewing up everything in their path. They can destroy gardens, lawns, and crops, and their march across your property can seem relentless. If not dealt with quickly, a swarm of armyworms can destroy foliage all over your property.
Armyworms can lay eggs in your lawn
Armyworms lay eggs on dry grass and leaves around your property. When they enter their pupa stage, they hide in the soil while they grow. When armyworms do hatch they are usually nocturnal, so you might not see them around your property. The only thing you will see is the destruction they cause.
Preventative Measures
- If you want to get rid of the armyworms in your lawn or garden it would be in your best interest to look into pest control in your local area. That way, you can take care of the problem thoroughly in one fell swoop.
- Once the initial pest problem is taken care of, it's important that you don't use harmful pesticides that would kill insects that feed on armyworms.
- Look for catapillers and eggs on the underside of leafs. Drop them into soappy water to kill them.
- If you're worried that armyworm eggs could be in your soil, you can release nematodes into your soil, and these microscopic organisms will feast on the armyworm eggs.
Armyworm eggs
A single armyworm moth can lay hundreds of eggs at a time, and these eggs only take a couple of days to hatch. Because of the large number of eggs laid and how quickly they progress through their lifecycle, armyworm infestations can get out of control quickly.
Armyworms destroy everything in their path
Armyworms got their name from their relentless march across a landscape. They can cause huge profit losses for farmers when they eat their crops. They can also ruin fields, golf courses, and lawns.
Interesting Facts About Armyworms
The Armyworm lives in central and eastern North America, and it can pass the winter by staying as a partially grown larva that lives under the soil. When conditions become more favorable as summer approaches, they emerge from the soil as caterpillars and begin to feast on all types of plant matter for 14 days. When they become moths, they can lay thousands of eggs around the area so the process can start over again.
- Armyworms travel at night to avoid predators.
- Freezing temperatures will kill them.
- Armyworms have been known to engage in cannibalism.