St. Augustine grass lawns and hot summer days combine for an ideal environment for chinch bugs. These tiny insects are somewhat unique in that they prefer the hot sunny areas of the lawn over shade. Their injury symptoms generally appear in the open lawn first.

The adults of this insect are only about 1/5 of an inch long. They are black with what appears to be a white X across their backs where their wings fold over. The immature nymphs may be pink to brown with a single white line across their backs. Chinch bugs have sucking/piercing mouthparts that they use to feed on the stolons and crowns of the turf. They also inject a toxin into the plants and, under heavy infestations, the lawn will turn yellow to brown and eventually die if the insects are not controlled.

To find these tiny insects you will need to part the turf canopy to the soil surface along the border where there is a change from damaged yellowing turf to healthy green turf. Chinch bugs move rather quickly, so keep an alert eye for their scurrying back into the turf.

Carbaryl, bifenthrin, cyfluthrin, lambda-cyhalothrin and permethrin are labeled insecticides for their control.

While chinch bugs prefer St. Augustinegrass lawns, other turf species may be encountering other insects now such as fall armyworms, white grubs, billbugs and sod webworms.

Rebecca Bates is director of the Lincoln County Cooperative Extension Service. To contact her, call 601-835-3460.