If you’ve ever wanted to spend a Massachusetts winter tucked comfortably into a luxurious bed, it may give you joy to know that sod webworms are living that life. All winter long, they reside beneath the ground in silk-lined tunnels. But then they wake up, and when they wake up, they’re hungry.
Guess what Sod Webworms like to eat? Just like us, they appreciate having only the best. Sod Webworms feed exclusively on the tenderest shoots of grass, eating the blades at the point where they emerge from the soil. If you only have a few Sod Webworms on your property, it’s likely you’re not even going to notice they’re there. However, if you have quite a few Sod Webworms – say 15 or more within a square yard – the impact will be easy to see. Bare patches of lawn mark the area where Sod Webworms have been feeding.
The good news is that Sod Webworms grow up. They become buff colored Lawn Moths, which (this is the bad news part!) flutter happily around laying eggs so a new generation of Sod Webworms can be born. Depending on the local weather conditions, two or three generations of Sod Webworms can be born over the course of a summer.
What Can Be Done About Sod Webworms?
If your lawn is otherwise relatively healthy, having your lawn service give the grass a little extra TLC may be enough to conquer the Sod Webworm problem. Basically, if the grass is growing in faster than the worms can eat it, you win.
However, if the Sod Webworms have gotten the upper hand – and sometimes they do – having your local lawn service apply the appropriate insecticidal treatment is the right step. You’ll want to have the lawn mowed before treatment is applied, for best results, and avoid watering the lawn for a day or two to let the product do its work.
It is virtually impossible to eliminate Sod Webworms completely, but with the proper lawn management techniques, you can keep their numbers low enough that no one will even know they’re there.
