Your lawn may be an oasis for you and your family, but it could also be something else – an irresistible temptation for insects. Yes, creepy crawly bugs can infest your lawn, and damage the grass, trees, gardens, and flowers. Lawns infested with insects can turn brown and even die due to the bugs. And these lawn insects can negatively affect not just your grass, but your yard as a whole and even potentially enter your home. They can also be a nuisance or even a danger when it comes to you and your family enjoying your yard. In addition, if your lawn is infested by insects, it could attract even more pests, including skunks, moles and other hungry animals, who feast on the bugs. Needless to say, it is essential to know how to keep insects off your lawn.

A plethora of lawn insects could invade your yard

Some of the insects and other creepy crawly bugs that could potentially affect your lawn include chinch bugs, sod webworms (the larval stage of lawn moths), beetles, including grubs (their larval stages), mites, snow bugs, ants, crickets and earwigs. Spiders are not technically insects – they are arachnids, with eight legs instead of the six that insects have – but they can also be lawn pests, and they can also invade your home, which is a very unpleasant experience. Other bugs that could infest your lawn and yard include sow bugs, carpenter ants, fleas, ticks, centipedes and millipedes, box elder bugs, silverfish, mosquitoes, mealy bugs, fire ants, and clover mites.

While some bugs, like fleas and ticks, do not technically damage lawns, they can cause much pain to people and animals, biting them and making their time outside unpleasant. In addition, ticks can carry Lyme disease, a serious condition which can cause chronic problems for anyone bitten by it.

Some insects, such as ladybugs, may actually be beneficial, but many bugs are just pests, hurting the lawn or the people and animals enjoying the lawn.

What can you do to keep insects off your lawn?

There are a number of steps you can take when it comes to keeping your yard safe from lawn insects and other bugs.  First of all, it is critical to keep your lawn healthy – a well maintained lawn is less likely to be a target of bugs. Mowing regularly, fertilizing and watering your lawn will help keep your grass strong and less susceptible to bugs. You may need to also aerate your lawn to keep it healthy. The stronger your grass is, the more it can fight against any lawn insect infestation.

Also, while watering is important, standing water can attract bugs. So make sure that your lawn’s irrigation system is up to snuff. In addition, proper vigilance – paying attention to all of the areas of your lawn – can also make a difference in nipping a difficult situation in the bud first, before it gets out of control.

Another way to keep insects off your lawn is with Lawn Doctor’s pest management services, including our Perimeter Pest Control program. This can help the health of your lawn – and the health of your family and pets as well, protecting them against insects infesting the lawn, and the home. Simply contact one of our Lawn Doctor Lawn care professionals to learn more.