Insects are classified as to how they damage the grass plants
There are “chewing” insects like grubs, armyworms and sod webworms. There are “sucking” insects like chinch bugs, aphids and spittle bugs. To design an effective treatment plan for any insect, one needs to understand how they damage the plant and their life cycle. Grubs are the larval stage of different types of beetles (Japanese, Masked Chaffer, June). Beetles have what is called a complete life cycle; egg, larvae, pupae and adult. The larvae stage is the only stage that presents an opportunity for effective control. When the larvae (grubs) are actively chewing on the roots (fall and early spring) they are susceptible. They cannot be controlled in the egg, pupae or adult stages.
Insect control is included in the monthly and standard programs
At Plant It Earth, insect control is included in the monthly and standard programs. We do utilize strict guidelines for using insecticides. Our technicians must find populations of insects in sufficient numbers to cause turf damage. Take grubs for example: dig up any square foot of turf in Charlotte and you will find a grub or two present. A few grubs in the soil can actually be beneficial as they can loosen the soil and allow better absorption of moisture. If we find 6-8 grubs per square foot, a treatment will be made as this many will cause damage.
We use systemic products to control turf damaging insects so as to avoid reducing populations of beneficial insects found in your lawn. At Plant It Earth we never use organophosphate insecticides.
Please note that fire ant control is included as needed in our monthly program only and is an additional charge in all other instances.
Key Benefits of the Service
Our technicians are trained to inspect each lawn for signs of turf damaging insects during every visit. Since we have two technicians on every truck, you can have confidence that no damaging insect population will escape detection and treatment.
We inspect for signs of turf damaging insects during every visit
We never use organophosphate insecticides
We avoid reducing populations of beneficial insects
Included in the monthly and standard programs