Garden Pests and Lawn Pests

Pest managers also get involved in dealing with lawn pests, especially ants, lawn grubs and caterpillars, and sometimes deal with plant pests. Some companies take this further and provide combined pest, weed and lawn care services. We have a range of articles focusing on lawncare, lawn and garden insect pests and weed.

Lawncare

Before dealing with any pests or weeds in lawns it is important to understand what type of grass you have in your lawn (as this can impact potential treatments) and also understand the basics of turf care.

Lawn Pests

The main insect pests in lawns include various species of ants, which includes biting ants in lawns, such as the green-head ant and tyrants ants, and other lawn ants, such as the infamous funnel ant.

The other pests that concern lawn care enthusiasts are the various caterpillars pests in lawns (moth larvae) and curl grubs (beetle larvae). If you’re not sure what’s eating your lawn check out our article on lawn caterpillars, worms and grubs.

Homeowners may suffer from mole cricket problems and sometimes can suffer from a “lawn prawn” infestation which can extend from the gardens to inside the house.

Not an insect and difficult to see, the couch mite can cause problems in lawns, causing the plants to develop the witches broom appearance.

Plant Pests

There are of course a wide range of pest that attack plants. We’re starting to build our library of articles, but here is some useful information on mealybugs, stink bugs, passionvine hoppers, sawflies and spitfires, fall armyworm and cluster caterpillars. We also have a great article which covers the main types of caterpillars on plants.

Learn more about which insects produce honeydew and how it can increase ant problems.

Other Pests

There are a range of other pests that can appear in gardens (and sometime invade homes), that aren’t really a concern from a gardening point of view, but still cause concern for the gardener and homeowner. These include the lawn prawn (amphipod), assassin bugs, rove beetles and seed bugs.

Weeds in Lawn

Weeds in lawns are an ongoing issue for home gardeners. Correct identification of the weed is important to determine the best treatment, knowing whether it is a summer annual weed, broadleaf weed or grassy weed is a good start. However, know information on specific weeds is also important, such as bindi and fleabane.

More information on lawn care.