Pest Control for Your Lawn — A Complete Guide

A shiny, thick and vibrant green lawn can be the pride and joy of your backyard. Inviting and lush, your lawn is the perfect place to kick back and relax. But when the turf turns patchy and brown due to pest invasion, it’s time to think about an effective treatment plan to control those pesky critters.

What’s Bugging It?

First up, make sure you follow these important steps to keep your lawn in the best shape possible.. There are a few easy and effective ways to help your lawn thrive:

• Eliminate weeds — The holy grail of lawn care is a weed-free lawn that’s beautiful to look at. There are two types of herbicides to control weeds on your grass — liquid and granular products. Liquid products like Celsius for warm season grass and Tenacity for cool season grass works quickly. Depending on temperature, you can see results within seven to ten days.
  
  Granular products, such as Dimension Pre-Emergent, prevent weeds from becoming a problem in the first place. It is also effective against young crabgrass. Products in this category also take longer to take effect (ten to fourteen days) but are easier to apply than liquid herbicides. Scarifying and digging out the weeds manually with weeding tools like weeding forks or grubbers can also help keep weeds away — although you’ll often have to re-seed the lawn afterward.
  
  
• Do a soil test — A quality soil test kit will tell you the soil’s pH level and whether it’s more acidic or alkaline. From this, you’ll know which corrections are appropriate for your soil. Acidic soils need lime, while alkaline soils often benefit from a citric acid or elemental sulfur application. Soil pH also provides insight into which grass and plant species are more suited to the soil’s natural condition.
  
  
• Fertilize it! — Another way to keep your lawn in top condition. Fertilizers promote strong, dense grass growth, and this encourages your grass to recover faster from harsh weather conditions and be less susceptible to weeds and disease. Try a high-quality nitrogen fertilizer to maintain lawn health and color. Use monthly throughout the growing season for the best results.

TOP TIP: Apply your chosen herbicide at the recommended rate or less. The goal is to kill the weeds, not the grass.

For more information on the best ways to kill weeds without killing grass, watch our guide on YouTube.

• Water it! — It sounds obvious, but often folks expect mother nature to attend to their grass. You should water mature turf about once a week, depending on rainfall. When using a sprinkler system, ensure the water is getting into the soil vs. running off your lawn. Depending on the slope of your lawn, you may have to adjust how long zones run to accomplish this.
  
  
• Reseed as necessary — Cool season lawns often benefit from seeding in spring and fall. This will help keep your lawn luscious and patch-free.
  
  
• Avoid infrequent mowing — Long grass clippings resulting from infrequent mowing can promote thatch build-up creating the ideal breeding ground for pests. 

TOP TIP: Grass types — When you’re seeding your lawn for patchy areas, try choosing a grass species you know grows well in your area. Also ensure that the seed you choose will blend well with your existing grass.

The next step is to identify lawn-damaging insects. It’s no use targeting pests when you don’t know what they are. Also, improper use of pesticides can ruin your lawn even more, so let's look at some common pests and how to control them.

Gross Grubs

Grub worms, also known as white grubs, feed on grass roots, and this causes brown patches in the grass. The best way to deal with grubs is to be thorough. Dig into the roots of the grass (around a square foot) with a flat shovel and count the number of grubs you find. More than six grubs is a sign you’ll need to treat your lawn for pest control.

Get Out, Grubs!

To control those nasty grubs, Acelepryn SC Insecticide is our recommendation. It’s a liquid insecticide that provides fantastic pest control from just one application.

What’s more, Acelepryn is one of the safest insecticides out there. An industry standard for years, Golf Course Lawn now offers Acelepryn in an economical 4 oz volume — suitable for residential homeowners. Safe for people and pets, this is the ultimate choice for the environmentally conscious.

Acelepryn contains Chlorantraniliprole, an active ingredient that targets a variety of pests. Grubs, armyworms, caterpillars and billbugs included — this insecticide won’t kill useful pollinators and invertebrates like bees and earthworms.

How to Apply

A single 4 oz bottle covers 10,800-22,200 sq. ft. SC stands for “suspension concentrate,” which means you won’t need to use a lot to control those critters. The recommended rate is to use 0.2 oz per 1000 sq. ft., and markings on the product container will guide you on the correct amount to use.

To apply Acelepryn, you’ll need a calibrated backpack sprayer of your choice with a large droplet spray nozzle. Make sure you’re also geared up with the appropriate safety gear: shoes with socks, long pants, a long-sleeve shirt and gloves. Mix 1 gallon of water with 0.2 oz of Acelepyrn to cover over 1000 sq. ft. For bigger lawns, multiply the Acelepryn by the gallon rate. For example, for 4000 sq. ft., multiply 0.2 oz by 4 to have 0.8 oz of Acelepryn to mix with 4 gallons of water.

Shake the backpack sprayer to mix the Acelepryn and water. This helps integrate the water and insecticide for proper coverage. Make sure to water after application, or simply wait to apply Acelepryn when there’s rain expected within 2 days.. When you’re finished, thoroughly rinse out your spray equipment in preparation for next time.

TOP TIP: When applying liquids to your lawn, wear safety glasses to prevent the chemicals from getting in your eyes.

For a more detailed guide on how to apply Acelepryn to your lawn, check out our step-by-step YouTube video.

When to Apply

The best time to apply Acelepryn is in April/ May. It can be used later in the season with equally good results, but remember to water to let it sink in for maximum product effectiveness.

Maddening Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are universally unpopular. They suck — literally! They’re rampant in the summer months, as they go through their life cycles faster in warmer temperatures. There are a few ways you can prevent mosquitoes from using your backyard as a breeding ground in the first place.

Stagnant water — The favorite breeding ground of these suckers, mosquitoes lay their eggs in standing water like rain gutters, birdbaths, or ponds. Here are a few tips on how to keep unwanted mosquito larvae from infesting your backyard.

• For rain gutters, keep them free of debris to prevent stagnant water from pooling — this will also stop them from blocking up. Two in one!
• Ponds and birdbaths — mosquito dunks are an effective way of killing mosquito larvae without harming birds and squirrels.

TOP TIP: For ponds, it’s a good idea to keep mosquito larvae eating fish like goldfish or koi carp.

To eradicate larvae from mosquitoes, ants, whiteflies, and even spiders — our recommendation is Mirimichi Green Pest Control. This insecticide is made from all organic, non-toxic and natural ingredients — making it safe to spray around people, pets and plants.

By killing larvae on contact, pests won’t develop immunity to this pest control formula. In fact, this product’s effectiveness was tested using standards set by the World Health Organization to have an 80%+ kill rate for larvae and pests in a 24 hour period. Pretty neat, huh? Unlike traditional insecticides, it also repels targeted insects for up to 4 weeks.

Even better, rainfall doesn’t limit the effectiveness of Mirimichi Green Pest Control and after it’s dry, you can immediately apply it again. By killing insect larvae, pest egg cycles are disrupted to prevent outbreaks in the future. This insecticide smells great like citrus and contains carbon which aids ground penetration for great results.

How to Apply

Although you can use a backpack sprayer for this product, it’s best to use a mist sprayer for maximum coverage. A gallon of Mirimichi Green can go a long way through a fogger. 120,000 sq. ft. coverage, to be exact. That’s more than double what you get from a traditional backpack sprayer.

Start by adding one gallon of water to your misting system’s tank. Next, pour 6-8 oz of Mirimichi Green Pest Control into a measuring container. Add the pest control to the tank and give it a good shake to ensure it mixes well.

You can spray shrubs, window frames, the sides of your house and gutters. Making this pest control the best option for targeting where mosquitoes and larvae have taken up residence.

Don’t forget to spray plants that have already suffered insect leaf damage. This insecticide works to also kill existing insects as well as their larvae.

When to Apply

Mirimichi Green Pest Control can be applied all year round, but as pests love hot weather for mating, the optimum time is probably in the summer.

Depending on the severity of your pest infestation, you may have to apply this product again within two weeks. After you’ve got critters under control, a good schedule to follow is application every 3-4 weeks.

TOP TIP: Although this product is all-natural and safe to use, It’s a good idea to wear safety glasses and a mask during application — this is to stop any of the product from getting into your eyes and lungs while you’re applying it.

For a more detailed guide on how to apply Mirimichi Green to your lawn, check out our step-by-step YouTube video.

Lawn and Pest Control for Gardens

A healthy, well-maintained lawn is far less likely to attract insects and pests than neglected grass full of weeds. There’s no foolproof way to keep pests out of your yard completely. But hopefully, this guide has given you more information on how to tackle pests. The best way to keep your luxurious lawn intact, the best way is to keep it healthy and happy before insects get busy and make your garden their lodgings.