Lawn-care companies are swamped as armyworms decimate entire lawns within hours and spread north, in part due to climate change

Armyworms can quickly devastate crops and lawns.

Reuters

• Armyworms can turn a lush green lawn brown seemingly overnight.
• Some lawn-care companies are struggling to deal with the influx of customers due to the pest.
• The worm is spreading to new areas, likely because of climate change.
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The lawns David Bender deals with are often so infested with armyworms that they almost looks like the grass is rippling in waves.

"They completely eat the lawn. It turns a green plush lawn into a brown mushy lawn within hours and days," Bender, the owner of Weeded! Lawn Service, said. "I think they're gross. Thousands of those things are just marching through destroying the entire property."

Though Bender has been in business in Richmond, Virginia, for 20 years, he'd never dealt with armyworms in his area until last week. Now, he and his staff are scrambling as a torrent of clients call for help with the worms invading their lawns.

Bender said it costs clients hundreds of dollars to get rid of the pests and reseed their lawns. Other companies in the area were similarly overwhelmed, with one asking prospective customers to email instead of call since the company's voicemail was full with armyworm inquiries.

An infestation usually begins with patches of bare spots or brown grass before spreading throughout an entire lawn.

-Wes Ory Lawn Coach (@HeritageLawnsKC) August 11, 2021

"The damage to the lawn pictured was done over a TWO DAY time period!" Wes Ory, the owner of Heritage Lawns and Irrigation in Kansas City, tweeted along with a photo of a yellowish-brown yard.

Though armyworms often infest lawns and crop fields throughout the Southeast, the pests' spread to new areas like the Northeast and Midwest might be linked to a warming climate, said Terri Billeisen, an entomologist at North Carolina State University.

Billeisen said the worms prefer eating finer grasses like bermuda and fescue, which are some of the most common grass types for lawns. Armyworms are about 1.5 inches long and are usually dark green or black with a yellow head.

"They do love lush green turf, so irrigated and fertilized warm season turfgrass such as hybrid bermuda grass is a big target in the heat of the summer," said Rick Brandenburg, an entomologist at North Carolina State University. "There is really no way to prevent them."

-Beth Wilson (@hortagentbeth) August 26, 2021

Jeff Herman, editor-in-chief of the national lawn services company LawnStarter, said armyworms are a common nuisance for clients, but haven't posed a bigger problem this year than previous years.

"Armyworm invasions are a common pest people have been dealing with for as long as there have been lawns," Herman said.

Here's what to do if you think you have an armyworm problem:

• Mix soap with water and pour the mixture over a small patch of your yard. If your yard is infested, the caterpillars will rise to the surface.
• Keep a look out for brown patches of grass, tips of grass blades that have been eaten, and birds flocking around your lawn.
• Target the pests when they're small with a liquid insecticide (these can be found online and in lawn and garden stores).

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