Constant Vigilance!
War. War never changes. And when you’re taking care of your lawn in Utah, you might think sometimes that war never ends. That’s because the secret to a healthy, green lawn in Spring, Summer, and Autumn (as well as keeping it from dying in the Winter), is constant vigilance. Lawngevity can help make sure that you’re utilizing the best lawn care programs available; programs like weeding, raking, aerating, spraying, and seeding.
Thanks to the expertise of our team members, we are able to help you stave off the advancement of weeds, grass, and foliage disease, as well as a dry and suffocated lawn. We can even help promote good vegetation while fighting off those pesky communities of summer insects.
There is one aspect of Utah lawn care that can prove more troublesome than others, however, and that is the persistence of winter insects that live in and around your property. If left unchecked, they will put your lawn in a worse state come Spring.
Winter Pests
When battling bugs in the wintertime, it’s crucial to know what it is you’re looking for so you know where to target your efforts. Most of these insects reside outside for the duration of the season, but some are known to make their way inside to live and thrive in your house plants. Let’s take a look at a few of the worst offenders.
Aphids
One of the most common types of insects found hanging around in wintertime, aphids are notorious for chomping on young plants just shooting up from the ground. They are typically green colored, though there are documented aphid species colored red, yellow, and brown.
- Aphids suck the sap from leaves and stems
- They excrete a sticky substance that causes mold on the plants
- They have been known to lay eggs under leaves
Maggots
The seemingly unkillable insect, maggots fare equally well either feasting on carrion or the leaves of cabbages and weeds. If you have been known to grow stalks of cauliflower or broccoli or any type of cabbage or radish, maggots may well make a home in that plot of soil over the winter months.
- Maggots are tunneling insects that harm the roots of plants and vegetables
- Their tunnels provide a pathway for other insects and/or diseases to take hold in the garden
- Some of the best lawn care one can do to avoid maggots is to clear the grass and garden of anything dead
Scale Bugs
Scale bugs is a wide designation over a few species of insects that look like modern-day trilobites. Some are fitted with armored shells and pick a single place on the plant to stop and gnaw, while others have a flexible exoskeleton and can be seen crawling all over frost-covered greenery.
- Different scale bugs include mealybugs and armored scales
- Scale bugs reproduce at a fast pace and can quickly decimate an entire plot or garden’s worth of plants
- While you can kill individual bugs easily with rubbing alcohol, their communities must be dealt with quickly if you want to save what plants you have. Lawngevity can help with that.
As inhospitable as winter can be to warm- and cold-blooded animals everywhere, many species of insects thrive in the cold, simply by moving little and eating much. If you are worried about how your lawn care is currently holding out in this Utah weather, feel free to give us a call for a free quote today.