Following the devastating Armyworm outbreak of 2021, we introduced our Intensive Insect Preventative treatment—a proactive service designed to protect your lawn from destructive turf-eating caterpillars including Armyworms, Grub Worms, and Sod Webworms.
This preventative treatment shields your lawn from the ground up, offering long-lasting, residual protection against both surface and subsurface pests. It’s effective, economical, and applied with no offensive odor—ensuring your lawn stays beautiful, healthy, and undisturbed.
The Intensive Insect Preventative program from Lawn Doctor of Greater Richmond is your best defense against insect damage that can quickly destroy even the most well-maintained turf. Don’t wait for signs of damage—prevent it before it starts.
Armyworms can chew grass down to stems overnight. Carried by winds from the South, Armyworm moths lay eggs on flat vertical surfaces.
When these eggs hatch, they release clusters of worms that burrow into the soil. During the night, these worms march in formation, chewing the leaves of healthy plants.
The white grub is an immature (larval) form of a scarab beetle. Grubs live in the soil and feed on plant roots, so you may not be aware of them until you see damage. Symptoms of grub damage include a gradual thinning of your lawn despite adequate watering, and scattered irregular dead patches that feel spongy underfoot and can be pulled up or rolled back easily.
Sod webworm damage appears as small, brown patches in grass, which can merge into larger irregular dead areas. Sod webworm larvae, are the caterpillar stage of lawn moths. These nocturnal caterpillars create silken tunnels in the thatch, where they hide during the day and emerge at night to feed on grass blades. The life cycle begins with eggs laid by adult moths, which hatch into larvae that feed and grow before pupating and transforming into moths, repeating the cycle.
