# Lawn getting wiped rapidly out by worms. Need help.



## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

Lawn has went from looking like a golf course to looking like this within a few days it seems. It's been raining a lot and I thought it was just scalping from the rain (I finally got to mow). Upon looking close at the grass, the whole lawn in infested with them. The rains flooded and drown a bunch and brought them to the surface where I could see them.

What are they?


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## viva_oldtrafford (Apr 4, 2018)

Armyworms.

If it's any consolation, my golf course looked like that about 5 weeks ago!

I also see a lot of dollar spot.


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## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

How to kill them? I need the nuclear option.


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## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

viva_oldtrafford said:


> Armyworms.
> 
> If it's any consolation, my golf course looked like that about 5 weeks ago!
> 
> I also see a lot of dollar spot.


Dollar spot has been slow issue for months. These worms have almost wiped out the whole yard in a week.


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## viva_oldtrafford (Apr 4, 2018)

Rockinar said:


> viva_oldtrafford said:
> 
> 
> > Armyworms.
> ...


Sevin SL is a nuclear option. Talstar is a good option too (not my go to for worms). Acelepryn for the nuclear deterrence going forward.

Get some N down to help alleviate the DS.


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## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

The best nuclear option, imo, is the Trident Missile System launched from a submarine. For your worm problem, I like the Talstar option because it's cheap and you may have it on hand for other pests already. Let us know what you decide and how it works.


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

dfw_pilot said:


> The best nuclear option, imo, is the Trident Missile System launched from a submarine.


 :lol: Nice.


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## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

I put out some Ortho Quick Kill last night. That seems to at least have slowed them down. Id like to spray them but it keeps raining. Only a handful of active feeders I saw today. The rest were still alive but not moving. Maybe they are just resting their full belly? I dunno.


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## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

Is it me but in the picture I see more dollar spot damage than army worm damage. 
Be careful with fertilizing during a fungus problem. You will feed the fungus as well


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

viva_oldtrafford said:


> Rockinar said:
> 
> 
> > viva_oldtrafford said:
> ...


Damn, that Acelepryn is pricy! As a homeowner, I assume we could go with an option like Altriset, as it's got the same AI percentage, and just mix with the same ratio (0.34 oz/gal of finished solution). $175 is a lot better than adding a zero at the end of that price tag. I've got to treat for them on my yard, I saw several marching across the driveway this morning, and ran over one with the rear drum of the mower out of spite.


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## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

Tellycoleman said:


> Is it me but in the picture I see more dollar spot damage than army worm damage.
> Be careful with fertilizing during a fungus problem. You will feed the fungus as well


All that brown is where the worms ate the grass down to nothing. There was not just a couple of them here and there. There was thousands across the entire length of the yard and they had worked their way up to about halfway to the house. If you stood in the brown/green transition area and look down, they were everywhere you looked, all of them munching down. I was about to get out the weed burner..,


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## slomo (Jun 22, 2017)

Do it like the master gardener did. Hose end sprayer, dish soap, mouth wash and tobacco juice. Soap to penetrate, mouth wash antiseptic for the dollar spots and tobacco for the worms. Go to a cigarette store and buy a can or two of tobacco. Dump in warm water, mix and save the juice.

slomo


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## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

Seems the granuals did little and my lawn is about 50% gone now. So I went to a DIY pest control place by my house and they gave me something to try. They kept trying to sell me more granuals. Inwas getting mad. I need something I can spray in their face. I was like "No, I need them all dead today". I dont remember what the ingredients were other than 4% Pyrethrin (something like that)


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

Hey I don't if you have this already but Bifen I/T or XTS is labeled to kill armyworms.


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## Chicken Man (Jul 28, 2018)

I'm a little late to the discussion, but I used Tempo WP on my lawn a week ago when those guys showed up.
I talked to my county extension agent and he said they were fall army worms.
The Tempo did a good job on them.
They had quickly eaten a large spot, but it is coming back good now.


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## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

That's great to hear!


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## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

I just did a lawn check. Only found 2 live ones. As opposed to Monday where I could walk to any spot on the back half of the lawn and see dozens of them. So it seems whatever is left, the lawn should be able to handle. Now if it would just quit raining (it's not going to).

I put out some fungicide for the dollar/spot brown patch or whatever that is the other day. Not sure what I'm looking for as far as results? Does it just stop spreading or do the circles go away?

Here's the final army worm damage. Wiped it out in a week. Notice they did not like the Zoysia patch and left it alone for the most part.


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## Chicken Man (Jul 28, 2018)

I have found out that Armyworms and I have two things in common.
We both love Bermuda grass.
And we both hate goosegrass.

The little son of a guns didn't eat any of the goosegrass in my yard.


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## LawnNeighborSam (Aug 14, 2018)

Suburban Jungle Life said:


> dfw_pilot said:
> 
> 
> > The best nuclear option, imo, is the Trident Missile System launched from a submarine.
> ...


😂


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## Reddog90 (Aug 30, 2018)

Rockinar said:


> I just did a lawn check. Only found 2 live ones. As opposed to Monday where I could walk to any spot on the back half of the lawn and see dozens of them. So it seems whatever is left, the lawn should be able to handle. Now if it would just quit raining (it's not going to).
> 
> I put out some fungicide for the dollar/spot brown patch or whatever that is the other day. Not sure what I'm looking for as far as results? Does it just stop spreading or do the circles go away?
> 
> Here's the final army worm damage. Wiped it out in a week. Notice they did not like the Zoysia patch and left it alone for the most part.


Are you in Houston? I have a large brown patch that has appeared just in the last couple of days that I fear is armyworms. I'm going to test with soapy water today. What did you end up spraying? It keeps raining on me here from .1-2" daily, will spray work when the weather is like this?

And do you guys recommend treating my entire yard, or just the affected area plus several feet of buffer?


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## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

Yes, I'm in Houston. I first used Ortho Quick Kill granular from Lowes. I'm unsure if that did anything. I then bought a spray concentrate called Ignite SC from a place called Solutions Pest & Lawn on Mason Rd. Its one of their private label sprays. Either way they seem to be taken care of for the most part. I still find one here and there if I look really close, but not like before. When I first spotted them I could walk out on the lawn and look down to see dozens of them everywhere.


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

dollar spot in bermuda: feed it some Nitrogen and it would help your damage from the pests. other fungal issues, different story.


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