🌞 Summer Lawn Insects: Suckers, Chewers, and Root Feeders — What’s Eating Your Grass?

🩸 Suckers: Tiny Vampires in the Turf

These pests don’t chew. They pierce your grass blades and slurp the life right out of them, leaving your lawn looking thirsty and yellow — even when it’s not.

Most common in our area:

• Chinch bugs – The kings of hot, sunny patches. You’ll see irregular yellow and brown spots that keep growing despite watering.

• Billbug larvae – Often mistaken for grubs, these little weevils’ young hollow out grass stems and cause dead patches.

👀 Hot tip: Check the edges of brown patches closely — suckers usually feed on the green grass surrounding the dead spots, causing a distinct border. This can help you tell if insects are the culprit rather than drought or disease.

🐛 Chewers: Ragged Blades and Bare Spots

These pests take bites out of your lawn like it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet. The damage is fast, dramatic, and often shows up overnight.

Most common in our area:

• Sod webworms – Tiny caterpillars that leave grass blades looking chewed and ragged, with thinning patches and little green “pellets” of frass. You might even see small tan moths skimming over the lawn at dusk.

• Armyworms – March through your turf in droves, leaving a path of destruction that looks like someone took a weed whacker to it.

👀 Hot tip: If you see sudden thinning and chewed spots, especially after spotting moths at night, you’ve got chewers.

🌿 Pro tip: Our synthetic lawn care programs include surface insect control in Application #4, targeting both sucking insects like chinch bugs and chewing pests such as sod webworms — giving your lawn broad protection against common summer invaders.

🪱 Root Feeders: Silent Killers Below the Surface

Above-ground pests are bad enough — but what if the damage is coming from below?

Grubs are the larvae of beetles (like Japanese beetles), and they feast on grass roots, leaving wilting, spongey, dead patches behind. You can even roll up your turf like a carpet if there are enough of them.

🌿 Pro tip: All our lawn care programs include grub control to protect your lawn from these underground feeders.

We’ve already covered grubs in depth here 👉 Full Guide to Preventing Lawn Grubs

🕵️‍♂️ How to Know What’s Eating Your Lawn?

It’s easy to confuse drought, disease, and insects — but treating the wrong problem wastes time and money. That’s where we come in.

We’ll inspect your lawn, identify what’s really going on, and recommend the right solution before the damage gets worse.

📞 Don’t wait for your lawn to become their buffet.

Call us today and protect your grass from summer’s hungriest pests. Our comprehensive lawn care program includes insect control in App #4 — sign up with Green Valley today and stay worry- and pest-free all season long!