How to Monitor Chinch Bug Activity in Calgary

Chinch Bug Calgary: A Complete Guide to Managing These Pesky Lawn Invaders

As a homeowner, one of the top things that you’re likely to be concerned about is how well your yard looks. Chinch bugs are small but mighty and could take your green paradise and turn it into a brown disaster.

No matter how tiny, they can still be a nuisance to your lawn, especially in very warm and dry-summer places, which characterizes Calgary.

In this article, we go over everything you need to know about chinch bugs in Calgary. We go into the biology, signs of its infestation, and effective methods for its management.

If you’re an advanced gardener, or just simply want a healthy lawn, this article provides all the knowledge you need to fight the little guys.

Chinch bugs are small, winged insects in the family Blissidae. Although there are numerous species of chinch bugs, by far the most common species to affect Calgary lawns is the hairy chinch bug (Blissus leucopterus hirtus).

While small-usually no larger than 4 millimeters in length-their collective impact on a lawn can be disastrous.

What are Chinch Bugs?

Chinch bugs feed by sucking the sap out of the grass blades, thereby killing the grass. The worst part is that while feeding, they inject a toxin into the grass to hasten the damage and change the color of the grass to yellow then brown.

Why Is Calgary a Hotspot for Chinch Bug Infestations?

The major reasons why chinch bugs get such an opportunity to thrive in Calgary is due to its climate. With summers not being over moist, this gives the chinch bugs ultimate conditions to reproduce.

Warm and dry conditions allow the chinch bug to breed rapidly; infestations will often go out of hand during summer when lawns are at their peak of stress from heat and lack of moisture.

Another reason Calgary lawns suffer from chinch bug infestation so often is that the top turf varieties used in lawns today, specifically Kentucky bluegrass, is also the most susceptible to chinch bug damage.

As attractive and thick this type of grass may be, it’s sadly an ideal feeding ground for these little critters.

Identifying Chinch Bugs in Your Calgary Lawn

The first step in managing chinch bugs is identification. Here’s how you can identify a chinch bug infestation in your Calgary lawn:

1. Patchy Brown Spots: The most evident manifestation of chinch bug damage is the irregular, patchy brown area on your lawn. These patches often look like drought stress, which is why many homeowners don’t realize they have a chinch bug problem in the first place.

2. Chinch Bugs Themselves: Since they are so minuscule, chinch bugs are difficult to locate. On the other hand, a close look at the base of your grass blades, especially in the sunnier parts of your lawn, might reward you with a glimpse of them moving. They have an entirely black body with folded white wings over their back.

3. Water Test: One of the easiest confirmations of a chinch bug infestation is the water test. Take an empty can, like a coffee can, that is open on both ends and push one end into the suspected area of the chinch bug infestation. Fill the can with water and wait about 10 minutes. If they are there, the chinch bugs will float to the top.

4. Peeling of Turf: During heavy outbreaks, the grass easily comes off the soil because of the undermined root system. When your lawn is brittle and easily lifted, it could be a chinch bug problem.

The Chinch Bug Life Cycle

Knowledge of the chinch bug life cycle is essential for its effective control. The chinch bugs have incomplete metamorphosis; that is, they have only three life stages: egg, nymph, and adult.

1. Egg Stage: Adults chinch bug lay eggs in the soil or at the base of grass blades. These eggs are very small, often too difficult to see. In Calgary, eggs hatch during late spring and early summer with rising temperatures.

2. Nymph Stage: After hatching, chinch bugs undergo five stages of nymph, with each larger than the last. In their youngest stage, they are bright red with a white band across their back. They grow darker as they get older until they resemble the adults.

3. Adult Stage: Adult chinch bugs are roughly 4 millimeters in length and have a black body with white wings. Adults continue to feed on grass and lay more eggs, continuing the infestation, so to say.

Depending on weather conditions, there can be as many as two generations of chinch bugs in one summer here in Calgary. The result is an extremely quick population increase, which demands early detection and intervention.

The Impact of Chinch Bugs to Calgary Lawns

Chinch bug damage can quickly spiral out of control, particularly during warm summer months in Calgary. You may notice a few small brown spots on your lawn to start; however, as the infestation gets worse, those spots will gradually grow together, turning entire parts of your lawn brown and dead.

Unlike drought stress, where the whole lawn can become uniform in their show of stress, chinch bug damage is usually more irregular. You get to see patchy areas of dead grass surrounded by healthy grass, something that may make many homeowners scratch their heads. These dead areas usually first show up in the sunny parts of your lawn since chinch bugs are normally not active in shady, moist areas.

Left untreated, the chinch bug damage can get severe enough that large sections of your lawn will have to be replaced.

Natural Predators and Beneficial Insects

In nature, chinch bugs have numerous natural enemies that help keep their populations balanced.

Insect predators, such as ladybugs, bigeyed bugs, and parasitic wasps, feed on chinch bugs and can provide a certain level of control of an infestation when encouraged in the garden.

However, most often the number of natural predators is not enough to prevent a full-scale chinch bug invasion when the reproductive conditions of chinch bugs are right.

Once you have determined that chinch bugs are the culprit of your lawn problems, the next action would be how to control them.

There are several methods one can apply depending on the intensity and personal or organic reasons for pest control.

Cultural controls involve altering your lawn care practices to create a less favorable environment for chinch bugs. Often, these are the first methods of control and can be quite effective for prevention and maintenance of light infestations.

Proper Watering: Proper watering is perhaps the most efficient way to prevent chinch bugs. Chinch bugs love dry conditions; hence, it would be difficult for them to infest a well-watered lawn. In turn, though, avoid overwatering, as excess moisture is even worse, with problems such as fungal diseases.

Mowing Height: Correct height mowing is very vital in lawn maintenance. Most lawns in Calgary should have an ideal mowing height of about 2.5-3 inches high. Taller grass shades the soil, thus discouraging chinch bugs from settling.

Fertilization: A well-fertilized lawn has a better resistance against chinch bugs. A balanced fertilizer should be used. Avoid over-fertilization with too much nitrogen because this will result in a rich, tender growth that is just too hard for chinch bugs to resist.

Aeration: Aerating the lawn improves the health of the soil and helps roots grow deeper inside the earth to make the grass tougher against pest damage.

2. Biological Control Methods

Biological control means controlling the pests by means of living organisms. In your case, you introduce insects that feed on them into the environment. Chinch bugs have natural predators like ladybugs, which can be found in any garden store, or even ordered online. This does not work sometimes, but it will reduce the number of chinch bugs and help not to let them get out of control.

3. Methods of Chemical Control

In cases of a grave infestation, there will be the need for methods involving the use of chemicals. Quite a number of insecticides effective against chinch bugs are available, but their application should be judicious to avoid harm to useful insects and the environment.

The insecticidal soaps remain, by far, the safer alternative option. They may prove effective if applied directly to areas of infestation of chinch bugs. Insecticidal soaps usually suffocate the bugs, with very little threat of exposure to beneficial insects.

Synthetic Insecticides: Where the infestation is heavy and probably impossible to control with the natural insecticides, you will have to use the stronger types. The most common products for controlling chinch bugs contain bifenthrin, carbaryl, and lambdacyhalothrin. Always carefully follow label instructions; consider consulting a lawn care professional for proper application advice.

Granular insecticides are applied directly to the lawn and watered in. This should allow the insecticide to make its way into the soil, where chinch bugs are feeding. Granular insecticides have the added benefit of being active for longer but can take longer to show any effect.

Preventing Future Infestations

Now that you’ve worked to get rid of a chinch bug infestation, you will want to take a few steps to help prevent their return. The key in avoiding future chinch bug problems is maintaining a healthy, resistant lawn. Following are a few tips that will help keep them off:

1. Monitor Regularly: On a routine basis, inspect your lawn for chinch bugs, especially during the summer months. Early detection is crucial in keeping them off, and this will eventually prevent widespread damage from occurring.

2. Lawn Care Properly: Adopt the best practices in lawn care regarding its regular watering, fertilizing, and mowing.