One constant concern in caring for our lawns is the presence of bugs, insects, and pests. This is a common problem, and it requires that the lawn should be periodically checked for bugs and pests.

Here are the top 7  lawn pests and insects that can cause some damage to your lawn:

1. Armyworm: Armyworm larvae go from place to place and feed on the shoots of the grass. They eat at night and sometimes on cloudy days, but they usually hide int he thatch layer during the day. They eat the grass as soon as they are hatched from their eggs. They also move as a group, which makes it imperative to eliminate them as soon as you spot some to stop their spread.

2. Bluegrass Bill Bugs: Simply known as the Bill Bug, this pest feed in the roots, rhizomes, and shoots of the grass. The Billy Bug larvae feed into the stems where there is moisture, and it is here when they cause great damage to the grass. The adults only cause minor damage as compared to the larvae. The larvae are usually hatched and appear in late May and June.

3. European Chafer: The larvae of this species feed on the roots and rhizomes in midsummer. During this time, the grass aren’t able to regenerate well and brown patches will appear.  As they grow (with one year life cycle) they will move to swarm in the trees.

4. Japanese Beetle: The larvae also feed on the roots and rhizomes in the summertime, causing brown patches to appear on the grass.  The adult Japanese Beetle feeds on fruit and on shrubs.

5. June Beetle: The larvae also feed on the roots and rhizomes in the summertime. It is larger than the other larvae pests and has an irregular life cycle. The adult June Beetle feeds on foliage and on shrubs. You can see them at night flying around lights.

6. Hairy Cinch Bug: This bug drinks the juice s from the grass, thus giving the grass irregular yellow or brown patches. The Hairy Cinch Bugs, or Nymphs, first appear in May, then a second generation appears in September.

7. Sod Webworm: The Sod Webworm larvae feed on the shoots of the grass, eating the grass down to soil level. They eat at night. The moths hide in constructed silk-lined tunnels through the thatch layer and into the soil. They usually fly at dusk or when there’s foot traffic in the lawn.

There are specific insecticides and solutions for each of these lawn pests and insects. You might want to consult with a lawn care or gardening expert to learn how to take care of your lawn better against these pests and insects.

To learn how to minimize your lawn pests and insects problems, read Bruce Zimmerman’s Know Your Turf Grass Thugs.

Technically, weeds are annual or perennial plants growing where they are unwanted. As long as soil provides the necessary environment for plants to grow, weeds will grow too. Most soils already contain dormant weed seeds which only need the right germinating conditions to sprout.

Weeds are classified into 2 groups:

Broad-leafed Weeds - The term “broad-leafed weeds” describes all weeds that are not grass-like. Many of these broad-leafed weeds, like chickweed and spotted spurge, have leaves only the size of large freckles.

Grassy Weeds - Any grass that destroys the even texture and uniform color of a lawn is considered a weed grass. The list of these grassy weeds is long. Some of the most common grassy weeds are: annual bluegrass, bermuda grass, crabgrass,dallisgrass, quackgrass, and rye grass. With the exception of Bermuda grass and quackgrass, you can pull grassy weeds by hand or with a steel weed knife. To combat more tenacious grassy weeds, you can choose from an assortment of chemical weed killers.

To treat for weeds in your lawn, you have to understand the type of weed that you have. Since different type weeds require different types of treatment.

The grasses that thrive in cool season areas can withstand cold winters, but most types languish in hot summers. Lawns of these grasses usually started from seed. Some are available as sod. Seeds come either in mixtures and blends of several different grasses or as individual types.

Lawns composed of a single grass type are the most uniform in appearance, giving you the maximum expression of whatever characteristic you select. A fine texture, or a tough play surface. The main disadvantage of a single type grass lawn is that it could be wiped out if that one grass were susceptible to a pest or disease in your area or sensitive to a local environmental condition. A blend of several kinds of compatible grasses is safer.

If you are unsure of the type of grass you want or the best blend for your area, you can have a tour on your neighborhood for you to locate the lawns thet meet your requirements and are suited to your particular climate. Kentucky Bluegrass and Annual Ryegrass is probably the most important cool-season grass . Cool-Season grasses tend to grow best in the cooler conditions and climates. You will commonly find cool-season grasses growing in the northern areas of the U.S. and Canada, as well as moderate coastal areas, damp climates, and higher elevations. Cool-Season grasses are the hardiest of grasses and tend to do best during the spring and fall months when temperatures range from 60-75 degrees F. Conversely, Cool-Season grasses tend to do poorly during the hot and dry summer months and can even brown and go dormant during extreme conditions.

Moreover, drawbacks of cool season grasses is that they could not sustain the extreme summer conditions, specifically the heat and drought. So they needed more water and irrigation to survive. Also, these type of grasses could be use to reseed warm season grasseson winter months when lawns go brown and dormant.

Sometimes there are physical or mechanical problems in a lawn that cause it to look unhealthy. These conditions are usually permanent or repetitive, and they’ll continue to cause trouble until you locate and correct them. Make sure to fertilize & water your lawn properly.

Here is a list of physical problems that can produce lawn troubles:

* Applied Chemical weed killer or pesticides - If spots appear in your lawn after chemicals  have been applied, check whether the shape of the spots bears any relationship to the course you traveled with the dispenser or spreader. Spots that appear as streaks,squares,, or half moons are probably chemical burns. Water the areas heavily to leach the excess chemicals into the ground. The lawn will eventually recover.

* Spot persisted through all the season - sight across the bad spots of the lawn to see if there are any high or low spots. Either of these physical features can bother grass too much water in a low spot or too little water in a high spot.

* Does water stand on the surface or run off? - Compaction by traffic, a build-up of thatch beneath the grass, or just plain soil contrartiness can be responsible for this conditio. Open up the compacted area with a soil corer or aerator.

* Sprinkler system - always check your sprinkler system if it gives enough waterto the area.

* Bad Spots in shady area - If the shade comes from the trees, then thin out the branches to let more light for the grass to grow better. Feed lawns growing under the tree at least three times a year to replace the nutrients taken by the tree. Some trees are moisture robbers. Try watering the grass around the tree more than the rest of the lawn and cut higher grass under trees.

* Female dogs roaming around the premises - They can be responsible for little dead spots often surrounded by a ring of very green grass. Soak the spots with water and grass should begin to grow, if not, ressed the area.

* Something might be wrong underground - Use a soil corer or auger, a soil sampling tube, or a spade to dig down and find the problem. If there is some debris below, remove it. If there is a layer of hard clay, dog it out and replace it with good soil that is similar in texture to the soil above and below the clay layer. After you finish,make a seedbed over the area, sow new grass seed, and treat the spot like a new lawn until the new grass is up and growing.

Reducing or eliminating moles/ ground vole problem in your lawn would take a lot of patience and time.

Lawn moles are animals that live underground. They are about the same size as a chipmunk. They are typically six to eight inches long (about 15 to 20 cm) and weigh only three to six ounces (about 85 to 170 grams). They don’t eat the grass as people think but the burrow tunnels below the soil surface as they forage for grubs worms, earth worms and insects. They destroy the root system of lawn. First signs of lawn moles are the small mountains and pathways they form on the surface of ground as they create and burrow tunnels near the surface.

In the South area, Moles are called as Voles. You can reduce their food source by placing a long lasting grub preventative in your lawn during summer so their activity would reduced too. But this will not guarantee moles to leave but this could definitely help. In addition, you can also try to use mole repelling treatments for your lawn. Designed to drive moles away from lawn.

lawn moles prefer to stay deep underground where their tunnels are not evident from the surface. A lawn that is over watered, however, will cause the insects to move to toward the surface. As a result, the lawn moles will build new tunnels that are closer to the surface in order to hunt for food. Keeping the lawn properly watered helps keep lawn moles far below the surface, where they can benefit the yard rather than damaging it with tunnels.

Stripping is pushing the grass down in one direction then the other as you mow your lawn. Then you can see the effects in two different shades in alternate. In shades of light and dark green. Stripping a lawn could add up a dramatic and attractive effect just like a golf course. Alternating patterns by 90º or 45º adds up to the aesthetic and is good for the grass

How to do it?

A finely tuned reel mower is needed for a bold stripping of a golf course. This mower has rollers in the front and back, first roller sometimes grooved and helps in lining up the grass for an even effect. The reel cuts in a way for the grass to be lining up for an even reel and pushes the grass down in one direction and the rear weighted roller pushes the grass down a final time. Those mowers in golf course and ball fields are commercial reel mowers that creates a more bold stripes and very high tech machines.

Getting it Stripes..

Striping kits are being attached to the rear of the mower or right behind the mowing deck. This can ranged from a weighted back roller assembly to the firm rubber flap to lay the grass down. Another alternate for stripping is the home made attachment made of lumber that could also be used for stripping your lawn. Striping also depends on the grass you have for your lawn. The low growth habit and coarse leaf blade will not allow it to lay over. Bermuda grass may be difficult to trim for stripes since it has a low growing warm season grass.

1. Long Handled Shovel - A shovel is the one everyone thinks of for gardening: a curved head, a long handle, prefect for digging and scooping soil. A long handle gives you better leverage for all of that digging. The curved, somewhat pointed head digs through hard packed soil and lawn with ease. Use this for everything from digging holes for shrubs, to scooping compost or mulch onto your beds.

2. Spade - This is the shovel that has a straight, flat head. This has a very thick steel head and shorter handle, although you can find long handled ones. Short handled could be use for edging beds and removing sod to prepare new beds. In gardening, a spade is a hand tool used to dig or loosen ground, or to break up clumps in the soil. Together with the fork it forms one of the chief implements wielded by the hand in agriculture and horticulture. It is sometimes considered a type of shovel. Its typical shape is a broad flat blade with a sharp lower edge, straight or curved. The upper edge on either side of the handle affords space for the used’s foot, which drives it into the ground. The wooden handle ends in a cross-piece, sometimes T-shaped and sometimes forming a kind of loop for the hand.

3. Hand trowel - This is the most-used tool in my garden shed. Use for: planting annuals, digging out stubborn weeds, potting up containers, and planting bulbs.

4. Hoe - This is the best tool for weeding in established beds. Just run this over the soil, and it cuts all those rotten little weeds off at the soil surface.There are two kinds: the stirrup hoe (which, go figure, looks like a stirrup!) and the regular hoe.

5. Bypass Pruners - These have curving blades that, when you cut, end up next to one another. The other type of pruner is the anvil pruner, where the two blades just meet when you cut. Bypass pruners are perfect for light pruning of trees and shrubs, dead heading perennials and annuals, and cutting flowers for arrangements. They make a nice, clean cut that will heal easily.