Billbugs Cause Major Damage to Lawns (Turf) in the Treasure Valley

Billbugs are small, snouted beetles that belong to the family Curculionidae and are considered to be major pests to lawns in the Treasure Valley. These pests are known for causing significant damage to turf grass and lawns, leading to unsightly brown patches and reduced aesthetic appeal. In this blog, we will discuss what billbugs are, their impact on turf grass, and how to control them using integrated pest management (IPM) methods.

What Are Billbugs?
Billbugs are cylindrical beetles that range in size from 3 to 10 millimeters in length, depending upon life stage. As adults, they have a hard exoskeleton and are usually brown or black in color. Their snout, which is often longer than their body, is used for boring into plant stems. Billbugs undergo a complete metamorphosis, passing through the egg, larval, pupal, and adult stages, with a one-year life cycle (Oregon State University Extension, 2018). The majority of damage from billbugs occurs during the larval stage, as they feed on stems, rhizomes, and crowns, typically just below the soil surface. Damage from billbugs is typically visible in late June or early July each year.

In the Treasure Valley of Idaho, billbugs are particularly abundant in lawns, parks, and golf courses. They feed on the stems and roots of turf grass, causing significant damage to the plant's ability to absorb water and nutrients. This feeding can lead to large areas of grass dying, creating unsightly brown patches that are not only aesthetically unpleasing but also difficult to repair (Idaho State University Extension, 2017).

Impact of Billbugs

The impact of billbugs on turf grass can be significant. In addition to the unsightly brown patches, Billbugs can reduce the health of the grass, leading to reduced aesthetic appeal and causing economic losses for lawn owners (Idaho State University Extension, 2017).

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Integrated pest management (IPM) is a comprehensive approach to managing billbug infestations that involves multiple control methods. This strategy utilizes cultural, biological, and chemical control methods to promote the health of the turf and prevent billbug damage. Cultural control methods involve selecting the proper grass varieties that exhibit resistance to billbug feeding. Several cultivars of Kentucky bluegrass, such as ‘Park’, ‘Arista’, and ‘NuDwarf’, have been proven to exhibit resistance to billbug feeding. Additionally, endophyte-enhanced ryegrasses and fescues display high resistance to billbug feeding (University of Utah). IPM of Billbugs also includes implementing proper irrigation, fertilization, and mowing practices to maintain healthy turf. Biological control methods may involve releasing beneficial insects that feed on billbugs to control their population. Several nonchemical bio-pesticides exist, including purchasing and applying predatory nematodes (Stinernema & Heterorhabditis spp.), as well as a fungal organism (Beauveria bassiana) that are listed and registered for control of billbug larvae in lawns. When necessary, insecticides can be used to control billbugs, but should be used with caution to avoid harming beneficial insects and creating insecticide-resistant billbug populations (The University of Idaho Extension, 2017). 

Properly implemented IPM practices can effectively manage billbugs and maintain healthy turf. 

Stay sharp! Maintaining your lawn care equipment.

To keep your mower in tip-top running condition, have a competent service professional thoroughly inspect your mower at least once a year.

Inspection areas:
Sharpening and balancing the blade - A dull blade tears grass and can leave it prone to disease, and an unbalanced blade can cause your mower excess wear and tear.
Check the air filter - If you are using the mower in dry or dusty conditions, you will need to replace the air filter more often.

Check the spark plug - Always ensure that the spark plug is clean and gapped correctly.
Check the carburetor - and have it adjusted if necessary.
Check the oil - and have it changed if needed.
Check the wheels, bags, and
belts - and replace as needed. Consider blowing off mower after each use.

Your lawn mower is likely the most frequently used piece of outdoor power equipment that you own - here's a maintenance calendar that's handy to use. Proper maintenance is extremely important to maximizing efficiency, reducing emissions, preventing costly repairs and extending the life of your lawn mower. By keeping your mower in proper working order, you can help maintain a healthy environment, pocketbook and lawn.
For more information on lawn care, contact your local University of Idaho Extension office!

Mosquitoes? Consider Your Lawn Watering.

It’s warming up so we are all watering our lawns. With the warm weather and water, come those irritating and possibly disease infested mosquitoes.

What do mosquitoes have to do with yards? When you over water your lawn the earth beneath doesn’t dry out and creates a perfect mosquito habitat. There are certain species of mosquito that will lay eggs in the damp mud and the next time your water comes on; the water sits on top of the earth for a period of time that allows the mosquito eggs to hatch. On warm days it doesn’t take very long for a mosquito to go from egg, larvae, pupae to adult. Once the female adult mosquito hatches, it looks for a blood meal. Yep, you and your family!

Another problem is the water filling up buckets, flower pots, wheel barrows or other items left outside. This water then sits, heats up and then becomes stagnant. Female Culex species of mosquito love to lay their eggs in this water. This species can carry West Nile Virus and transmit it to you and your family with one bite.

You can help keep your family safe by making sure you are watering your yard properly, and that your sprinklers are only watering the things they should be and that they are not leaving puddles below the heads. 

Another thing to consider is a smart sprinkler controller. Many of these come with the ability to track the weather and skip a watering if it isn't needed. It can save water, money, and help avoid standing water.

There are many published articles on the web about how to water your type of grass and how much water is enough...and the kind of pests that can flourish in unhealthy turf. A great publication for Idaho residents to refer to for guidance is The Pacific Northwest Handbook. 

The “Rule of thumb” that is widely used is: water as deeply and as infrequently as possible. This stimulates root growth resulting in healthy drought tolerant and pest resistant turf (like mosquitoes)! A healthy root system produces vigorous turf: rooting depth is determined primarily by genetics and soil condition, not irrigation!

Billbug Cause Major Damage to Lawns (Turf) in the Treasure Valley

Billbugs are small, snouted beetles that belong to the family Curculionidae and are considered to be major pests to lawns in the Treasure Valley. These pests are known for causing significant damage to turf grass and lawns, leading to unsightly brown patches and reduced aesthetic appeal. In this blog, we will discuss what billbugs are, their impact on turf grass, and how to control them using integrated pest management (IPM) methods.

What Are Billbugs?
Billbugs are cylindrical beetles that range in size from 3 to 10 millimeters in length, depending upon life stage. As adults, they have a hard exoskeleton and are usually brown or black in color. Their snout, which is often longer than their body, is used for boring into plant stems. Billbugs undergo a complete metamorphosis, passing through the egg, larval, pupal, and adult stages, with a one-year life cycle (Oregon State University Extension, 2018). The majority of damage from billbugs occurs during the larval stage, as they feed on stems, rhizomes, and crowns, typically just below the soil surface. Damage from billbugs is typically visible in late June or early July each year.

In the Treasure Valley of Idaho, billbugs are particularly abundant in lawns, parks, and golf courses. They feed on the stems and roots of turf grass, causing significant damage to the plant's ability to absorb water and nutrients. This feeding can lead to large areas of grass dying, creating unsightly brown patches that are not only aesthetically unpleasing but also difficult to repair (Idaho State University Extension, 2017).

Impact of Billbugs

The impact of billbugs on turf grass can be significant. In addition to the unsightly brown patches, Billbugs can reduce the health of the grass, leading to reduced aesthetic appeal and causing economic losses for lawn owners (Idaho State University Extension, 2017).

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Integrated pest management (IPM) is a comprehensive approach to managing billbug infestations that involves multiple control methods. This strategy utilizes cultural, biological, and chemical control methods to promote the health of the turf and prevent billbug damage. Cultural control methods involve selecting the proper grass varieties that exhibit resistance to billbug feeding. Several cultivars of Kentucky bluegrass, such as ‘Park’, ‘Arista’, and ‘NuDwarf’, have been proven to exhibit resistance to billbug feeding. Additionally, endophyte-enhanced ryegrasses and fescues display high resistance to billbug feeding (University of Utah). IPM of Billbugs also includes implementing proper irrigation, fertilization, and mowing practices to maintain healthy turf. Biological control methods may involve releasing beneficial insects that feed on billbugs to control their population. Several nonchemical bio-pesticides exist, including purchasing and applying predatory nematodes (Stinernema & Heterorhabditis spp.), as well as a fungal organism (Beauveria bassiana) that are listed and registered for control of billbug larvae in lawns. When necessary, insecticides can be used to control billbugs, but should be used with caution to avoid harming beneficial insects and creating insecticide-resistant billbug populations (The University of Idaho Extension, 2017). 

Properly implemented IPM practices can effectively manage billbugs and maintain healthy turf.

Lawn Tonics By T. Koski.

I get a lot of (mostly) good lawn questions. No big surprise there. More surprising (OK, annoying!) is how many gardening myth questions my Extension colleagues and I get – to include the use of magical, restorative tonics and elixirs for every part of your landscape. Is this yet another example of if “you can find it on the internet”….watch Jerry Baker promote it during PBS fundraising week….or see it on the local news, that it must work? While the list of lawn care myths and remedies is long, let me comment on a particularly annoying one – that of the lawn drought tonic. Tonic promoters claim their cocktail will fertilize the lawn and help eliminate “bugs”, disease and thatch – all while keeping the lawn green with minimal watering. Many websites attribute its origin to a golf course superintendent. Self-proclaimed gardening “expert” Jerry Baker, creator of a myriad of just plain weird landscape tonics, claims the recipes as his. Whatever the source, I assure you that no self-respecting golf super would ever attach his/her name and reputation to such a concoction. If you do an internet search, you can find dozens of sites promoting variations of the lawn tonic. 

A frequently cloned 

No "lite beer"! Would a microbrew
work better?

referenced on many sites is a Denver television station story about the tonic that ran years ago during one of Colorado's droughts. You can read and watch the news video here, However, to save you the time and spare you the aggravation of watching it, here is the lawn tonic recipe. NOTE: Including it here DOES NOT imply any endorsement. To the contrary, I recommend that you don't use it.

  

The "Lawn Tonic"

-One full can of regular pop (any brand, but no diet soda)

-One full can of beer (no light beer)

-1/2 cup of liquid dishwashing soap (do NOT use anti-bacterial dishwashing liquid)

-1/2 cup of household ammonia

-1/2 cup of mouthwash (any brand)

-Pour into 10-gallon hose-end sprayer (other sizes will work too)

-In high heat, apply every three weeks

No "anti-bacterial soap"...even
though ammonia and mouthwash
are antibacterial in nature? Hmmm....?

So…does anything here have any merit when it comes to caring for a lawn? Maybe. But even if there are potentially beneficial ingredients here, one thing I’ve noticed after reviewing many lawn tonic recipes is that the general recommendation is to “apply it to the lawn”. Rarely is there any suggestion as to how large of an area that a single recipe should cover. More importantly, none of the recipes I read gave directions for what setting to use on the hose-end sprayer when applying the tonic.

 

What rate setting to use? How much
lawn area does a "batch" cover?

Another problem with these recipes is that they recommend the use of household ammonia. First, the concentration of household ammonia varies with brand. Second, using household ammonia as a nitrogen source isn’t the best of ideas. The ammonia…the nitrogen…is in a form that is good for cleaning floors, not for fertilizing plants. I will spare you the chemistry, but take my word: it’s not a safe (for plants anyway) fertilizer source. And consider this: the amount of nitrogen (from the ammonia, since nothing else in the recipe contains nitrogen) provided by a single batch applied to ONLY 250 square feet of lawn is equivalent to around 0.1 pound of N per 1000 square feet. Clearly this is not a safe, efficient, or cost-effective way to apply nitrogen to a lawn. 

A REALLY poor nitrogen
source for plants

What about the beer? The claim is that the yeast and other beneficial microbes in it will help thatch decompose and the carbohydrates and microbes in ONE CAN OF BEER will somehow rejuvenate the soil flora of your entire lawn! In reality, the beer provides little more than some extra water and a small amount of sugar, as the yeast and any other microbes in the beer are dead…so there are no yeast or “good” microbes being addedto the lawn. It’s equally ridiculous to believe that the infinitesimally small amount of sugar applied with the soda could provide anything more than an infinitesimally small benefit to the lawn. The dishwashing soap may act as a wetting agent, perhaps relieving some water repellency in a thatchy lawn that has become too dry. Curiously, most lawn tonic recipes warn against using anti-bacterial dish soap – ignoring the fact that the next ingredient in the recipe, mouthwash, is itself anti-bacterial in nature? If the amounts of nitrogen and other potentially beneficial ingredients are present in quantities too small to have a real effect on lawn quality, why do people believe this stuff works? Perhaps it is that anyone who will go through the hassle of mixing up and applying these tonics many times throughout the growing season is someone who is likely to pay closer attention to mowing, watering, and aerating their lawn? And perhaps they are also fertilizing their lawn with other sources (many sites promoting the lawn tonic also encourage the use of natural organic fertilizers!)? Remember that devoted tonic users are also hand-watering their lawn as often as once every 2-3 weeks. This could provide enough water to mask dry spots from poor irrigation system coverage, spots that would be otherwise more apparent during times of watering restrictions. Of course, there is always the “placebo effect” – if you believe that it works…then it works! Clearly no one wants to admit that they are wasting their time (and beer!) spraying a totally ineffective mix of household cleaners, oral care product and party beverages on their lawn. Can using it hurt anything (besides your pride, perhaps, after reading this)? Yes, if basic lawn care practices are ignored under the mistaken belief that using the tonic will provide adequate fertilization and can fix any and all lawn problems. If legitimate, common sense lawn care is practiced by tonic devotees? Then applying the tonic is harmless and little more than recreational lawn care that provides the home gardener with some exercise and the lawn with insignificant amounts of nitrogen and wetting agent. One thing you can bet – anyone who applied lawn tonic before this week’s snowstorm will confidently say over the next few weeks “See…it works!”. The inch or so of slow-release water, return of spring (warmer temperatures and more hours of sun), and release of soil organic N had nothing to do with their lawn greening up…but don’t confuse me with the facts!

Interested in the science behind, and potential benefits of, common home-grown garden remedies and tonics? In his book “The Truth About Garden Remedies – What Works, What Doesn’t & Why”, Dr. Jeff Gilman, a professor and Extension horticulturist at the University of Minnesota, writes about the history and potential benefits of age-old garden remedies. In it he logically debunks any potential value of spraying your yard (or other plants) with beer and soda, and explains why using household ammonia as a fertilizer source is just damn dumb. Jeff is also a frequent contributor to another excellent hort blog that he and 3 university colleagues started a few years ago, The Garden Professors.