What's Eating Your Lawn?
- Mike Balas
- Apr 25
- 2 min read
Annual bluegrass weevils are notorious for destroying nice lawns and messing up golf courses.
Chances are, you've encountered these bugs (although you might not have noticed their tiny bodies) around your yard, playing at the park, or golfing. Now you can put a name to them.
What Do Annual Bluegrass Weevils Look Like?
Annual bluegrass weevils (ABW) are really small -- measuring from 3mm to 5mm in length, which means they are about the size of a small seed or rough grain of sand. Although you can't tell much from just looking at them with the naked eye, they range from reddish-brown to full blackish colorations. They have six legs, antennae, and a snout (thus sometimes called "snout beetles").
ABW overwinter in long grasses, leaf piles, pine needles, and other such places. They emerge in the spring to travel to the nearest short-mown turf. There, they mate, lay eggs, and feed. When the larvae hatch, cream-colored and legless, they begin to feed on the stems in which they were laid. These weevils can produce three or more generations per year, which means that infestations can grow quickly.
Annual Bluegrass Weevils are a relatively new pest to Virginia, only becoming problematic in the late 2000s. Now, they have spread across the entire state and have become a much bigger challenge in the Richmond area in the last six or seven years.
Are Annual Bluegrass Weevils Harmful?
Annual Bluegrass Weevils won't directly harm humans or animals. They will, however, wreak significant havoc on turf. While they prefer bluegrass, they will also feed on other types of short-mown grasses. While these pests are most prevalent on golf courses, they can and will invade other spaces, such as parks and nicely-kept lawns.
Because the larvae and the adults eat the stems of the grasses in which they are living, the grasses will quickly begin to die. At first, the signs of ABW can be mistaken for stressed grass from lack of water. You'll begin to see yellow and brown spots in your grass that tend to grow larger and appear more frequently as the ABW infestation grows.
How Do I Get Rid of Annual Bluegrass Weevils?
According to a recent article in Virginia Turfgrass Journal, "Effective control of ABW is a major challenge." The most effective way to stop them from eating up your lawn is two-fold. First, make sure that your area is well-kept -- meaning: remove piles of leaves and grass clippings, and don't overwater. Second, early and consistent application of professional pesticide. Treatments should begin pre-emergence (early in the spring) and continue in a timely manner throughout the summer and early fall.
We're here to help protect your lawn and all of your living spaces! Call us today!
To learn more about our local common pests in the Central Virginia area, check out our pest library
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