Chinch bugs can be a significant pest on home lawns of zoysia, bermuda, bahiagrass and centipedegrass.

Chinch bugs

One could not speak of St. Augustine grass without raising an eyebrow due to the Chinch.

A complex insect of three different species, this bug feeds on the sap of grasses. In the thatch area of turf grass stand, they reside while feeding on the lower leaf sheath and crown portion of the plant.

Throughout the country, the chinch bug can be a significant pest on home lawns of zoysia, bermuda, bahiagrass and centipedegrass.

Its mouthparts resemble a straw that penetrates into the plant tissue to suck out the plant juices, and inject chemicals into the plant, clogging the vascular system.

• Their presence can be observed when the area around the puncture turns yellow.

• The damaged portions appear to be irregular patches that grow large as insects disseminate.

• They are most damaging in open and sunny areas.

The most common specie is the hairy chinch bug which has bentgrass as its major preference. The hairy chinch has a maximum length of 5 mm.

Its wings, rest flat on their back have streaks of black and white, and can be long or short. The five nymphal instars of chinch bug vary in size from 1 to 3 mm.

The appearance of first two includes red color with white band across their abdomen. The third and fourth have orange with wing pads beginning to emerge.The fifth is black with easily visible wing pads.

The bugs mate in areas where the temperature reaches 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The eggs can be found on roots, stems, leaves, crevices in nodes, leaf sheath, and other protected areas. The eggs hatch within 2 to 3 weeks.

Its name is derived from Spanish word chinche, which has the meaning ‘pest’. Due to their small size, the bugs are hardly noticeable as they gather on sunny open patches of turfgrass.

The lifespan of Blissus leucopterus, the insect’s scientific name is less than a year.

In the fall, the adult of Blissus leucopterus die off; while the adult of Blissus insularis, a closely-related specie, retreats from the crops to look for winter shelters such as hedgerows, road sides, bushy fence rows, edges of woodlands, under the bark trees, bunch grass, inside field of mice nests, and soybean stubble.

• After hibernating in winter, they emerge and return to the crop fields to feast on the grass and breed before their eventual death.

• The chinch favors dry, hot, and sunny conditions.

They are weakened in conditions such as warm, moist and humid, which promote fungus, especially fatal to them. Also threatening their population are the heavy rains that trap and kill nymphs deep into the soil.

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