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Lawns are very well known in United States where it is maintained at the backyard of the property or at the portico for an aesthetic look. Many people in America have gardening as their passion that includes the lawn care. Maintenance of a lawn is not an easy job for the property owner. It needs regular care for better and healthy appearance. The biggest challenge in maintaining a lawn is the control of serious insects. There exists a wide variety of insects spoiling the nature of lawn grasses. In particular, an insect called Sod web worm which is a larval stage of garden moth is seen in large population and occurs commonly in the United States as well as in southern part of Canada.
The worm is often light brownish in color and the segmented body carries two to three dark spots aligned as a row over each segment. The life cycle of the worm involves the dropping of eggs by the female adult moth while flying over the grass leaves. On later stage, the dropped eggs develop into serious grass feeding worms. They start building a soft channel between the thatches for their hiding place during the daytime. After sunset, they slowly invaded into the lawn and take on the destruction process of grasses.
The damage caused by them is notified by the irregular lawn patches with browning of dead grasses. At mature stage, i.e. after the formation of adult moth, it does not rely on the grass for feeding, but it doesn’t mean that the damage is confined only until the worm stage. The population increases rapidly on further laying of eggs by the adults and this can create an army of worms likely to cover the whole lawn area.
The control is necessary at initial stage for such insects with prior exact identification of the insect in the lawn. Appropriate treatment should be made before the breeding period. Identification involves regular monitoring and locating the infested area of the land followed by the removal of worms either manually or by spraying organic insecticides such as Neem oil.
The application of this organic insecticide can repel the worms from the lawn with the help of its strong foul odor. The sod worms march outside the lawn and are likely to shrink when exposed to sunlight. Mix neem oil with some ml of liquid detergent and one gallon of water to it. Spray during night time because the invasion of the worms is observed to be at night. The owners have to make sure they use neem oil for effective eradication of sod web worms in their lawn.
Author: Adam Teaser - neem
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