Weeds & Insect Information for Your Lawn

Through the season, your lawn starts to develop weeds and insects if not maintained properly. Weed control starts with better lawn management to keep your lawn healthy. Bermudagrass, centipede grass, zoysia grass, and St. Augustine grass are the most popular warm season turf grasses grown in North Carolina. For more information on weeds or to learn more, please click here. For more information on weeds or to learn more, please click here.

Prevent Chinch Bugs

If you’ve laid Bermuda, Centipede, St. Augustine, or Zoysia sod, the chinch bug loves you. These black, oblong bugs build their populations near the soil surface. Chinch nymphs suck the blades’ plant juices, which is why they are so damaging. If you notice yellow spots on your blades, which then die, you might have chinch bugs.


Female bugs lay between 100 and 300 eggs in spring, and when they hatch, the nymphs begin to feed. As the grass dies, they move to a different spot. Lawn pest management for chinch bugs includes mowing, watering and fertilizing regularly. Inspect for chinch bugs in brown patches and treat any areas with acephate, beauveria bassiana, cyfluthrin or orimidacloprid.

Grass with Family Cut of Paper — Wilmington, NC — Turf Masters Sod Farms
Grass with Family Cut of Paper — Wilmington, NC — Turf Masters Sod Farms

Get Rid of Mole Crickets

Mole crickets damage your grass in the winter by tunneling under it, and they continue to burrow throughout the year. Springtime is when the males dig deeper so they can call for a mate, so if you notice chambers shaped like funnels in your yard, male mole crickets are digging megaphones to extend their love song.

Once the females are pregnant, they dig chambers down 3 to 10 inches and lay up to 150 eggs. The eggs hatch within 20 days, and this cycle continues through summer. By August, your lawn has an entire colony under it. Winter is when you see the damage, and you should treat the areas with acephate and set up mole cricket baits.

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Grass with Family Cut of Paper — Wilmington, NC — Turf Masters Sod Farms

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Grass with Family Cut of Paper — Wilmington, NC — Turf Masters Sod Farms

We Can Help

Turf Master Sod Farm has been providing sod to Wilmington residents and businesses for over 20 years. If you suspect you have a problem, call us at 910-452-5133.