The green beneath your feet and how to keep your lawn healthy and a joy to experience.
This helps to keep the soil cooler even though it is surrounded by asphalt and concrete.
Mowing height is so important, yet so many lawns are mowed too short. Yes, I know, golf courses do it all the time, but people pay to walk on their lawns, so they can afford to spend extra $$ on the remedies that are sometimes needed because the lawn is cut too short.
Chinch bugs have spread out on lawns across this area. Chinch bugs thrive during hot summer weather. And, this year, we've had a lot of warm sunny days. People wonder why the chinch bugs attack their lawn. Why don't they go after the guy 2 doors away who never cares for this lawn, has a pile of weeds and yet doesn't have any chinch bugs? I believe the short answer is that chinch bugs like to eat at respectable lawns where the grass is green, the turf is tasty and the lawn is lush. If you were a chinch bug,where would you go for lunch? The reality is that chinch bugs prefer lawns that are cared for. One of the risks of taking pride in your home and lawn is that you are more likely to get chinch bugs than the guy who doesn't care about his lawn. The reason I say this is because of where I found the chinch bugs on a lawn with a septic bed. I was at a house in the summer, out in the country. I see the lawn with brown stripes running up and down the lawn, a few feet apart. Definitely chinch bug, I said to myself. But, let's check. So, I wondered as I walked to the lawn, "Will the chinch bugs be in the lawn that gets fed from the septic tank lines? Or, will the chinch bugs be in the grass in between the septic lines where the lawn is drier and generally grows less?" Well, guess what, the chinch bugs liked the nice lawn that was getting nourished by the septic tank lines. So that's why I think chinch bugs prefer lawns that are well cared for. *Reminds me of that old story, where the art teacher looks at the students blank paper and asks Johnnie what he's drawing. "i'm drawing a picture of a cow eating grass, Ma'am." "Well, where's the grass?" "The cow ate it all up." "Then, where's the cow?" "You can't expect to find a cow where there's no grass, Ma'am." When looking for chinch bugs, don't look in the dead grass, look in the green grass next to the dead grass. |
