Gentlemen,
I manage the lawns at my work facility. I am not a LCO, but am certified pesticide applicator and have some schooling and experience in lawn management that overlaps my career (my polite way to say that I respect you guys that do this daily as professionals and have lots of real world experience).
Some years ago I diagnosed grub damage and have done some Merit applications, but tried to get away from doing it annually as a prophylactic strategy.
Last year, in spite of Merit applied to just some isolated trouble areas (south facing, dry slopes), I had some significant areas that didn't green up after our mid summer drought.
I brought in one of our turf experts and he diagnosed sod webworm as the problem.
I can't find much on webworm management other that just applying contact insecticide. And, the timing is not clear.
Shouldn't the Merit applied late June/early July control them? I prefer to follow good IPM methods and not just blast the soil every year in anticipation that I "might" have a problem.
Any help on sod webworm strategy is appreciated. Am I missing something in my Google searches?
This is non-irrigated turf and I apply fertilizer on a "low to medium" management priority rate. Bluegrass/fescue/rye blend mowed high (3.5"). I'm seeing a number of off white moths already flying while mowing, which I assume are adult webworms, which concerns me (need to verify, learned my lesson).
Thanks, all.
I manage the lawns at my work facility. I am not a LCO, but am certified pesticide applicator and have some schooling and experience in lawn management that overlaps my career (my polite way to say that I respect you guys that do this daily as professionals and have lots of real world experience).
Some years ago I diagnosed grub damage and have done some Merit applications, but tried to get away from doing it annually as a prophylactic strategy.
Last year, in spite of Merit applied to just some isolated trouble areas (south facing, dry slopes), I had some significant areas that didn't green up after our mid summer drought.
I brought in one of our turf experts and he diagnosed sod webworm as the problem.
I can't find much on webworm management other that just applying contact insecticide. And, the timing is not clear.
Shouldn't the Merit applied late June/early July control them? I prefer to follow good IPM methods and not just blast the soil every year in anticipation that I "might" have a problem.
Any help on sod webworm strategy is appreciated. Am I missing something in my Google searches?
This is non-irrigated turf and I apply fertilizer on a "low to medium" management priority rate. Bluegrass/fescue/rye blend mowed high (3.5"). I'm seeing a number of off white moths already flying while mowing, which I assume are adult webworms, which concerns me (need to verify, learned my lesson).
Thanks, all.
