I can understand the pain of having army worms in our lawn. It will eat up all your grasses and even your plants. There are a lot of companies that will provide you with the service to kill army worms. In this article, I will let you know some practical strategies to get rid of army worms in your lawn.
Before jumping to find the solutions to kill those, it is important to make sure that your lawn or plant is actually damaged by army worms and not something else.
Common signs of armyworms activity in your lawn
- Chewed leaves and grass
- Small brown patches on your lawn
- Caterpillar droppings near damaged plants
- Armyworms on the underside of leaves during early morning or late afternoon
If you can witness the army worms with your own eyes, it will be the best.
If you show laziness you can find your lawn like this:
If you are following my blogs on a regular basis, you already know that I love to keep my garden and lawn chemical-free so I will go with the natural methods first to get rid of these army worms. Try to apply these methods and if that does not work for you due to the excessive army worms, you can follow my next suggested chemicals.
Natural methods I am going to share must be started before army worms attack. So you can say this is more like a precaution rather than a solution.
Natural Methods for Controlling Armyworms
If you can somehow attract birds and beneficial insects, and parasitic wasps then they can help you manage army worms populations.
This is not something that you can achieve over night, but if you follow this, you will never see the army worms come back again in your lawn.
I have created a list of best plants to attract birds. You can check that. (Consider growing nectar-rich flowers like marigolds in your garden. They will attract birds like sparrows)
Besides that, you can also provide water sources, like birdbaths, to attract birds.
The most effective organic way to remove army worms
I have used BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) and it works very well on army worms and caterpillars.
BT actually infects their digestive system and then they die.
I like BT because it's organic and does not harm plants, pets, and humans as well.
I generally apply this every week if I sense any sign of army worms presence.
Chemicals that you can use
Insecticidal soap and neem oil are the only two chemicals that I will suggest. There are other strong chemicals out there, but I am pretty sure these will completely wipe out army worms from your garden and lawn.
Bonus tips:
- Mow your lawn regularly to keep the grass short.
- Clear dead plant material and fallen leaves.
- Check for eggs or caterpillars frequently, especially during warm months.
You can also check my previous article: Get rid of Hornworms
