How to Spot and Stop Chinch Bugs

Adult chinch bugs are about a fifth of an inch, black with white wings folded in an X across the back. Nymphs are smaller and bright red-orange with a pale band. You find them at the green-to-brown transition of a patch, not in the fully dead centre.

Identifying the insect

Look at the living margin of the damage rather than the dead middle, because they move on as the grass dies. Part the grass at soil level and watch for movement. The adults are distinctive once you see the X pattern on the back.

Confirming with the float test

A bottomless coffee can pushed two inches into the soil at the damage edge and kept full of water for ten minutes will float them up. More than a handful means a treatable population.

Treatment targets the thatch, not the root zone

Chinch bugs live in the thatch layer at the soil surface, so treatment is aimed there and works best when the turf is not saturated. This is the opposite of grub treatment, which must be watered in to reach the root zone. Getting that backwards wastes the application entirely.

Fixing what invited them

Treatment stops the insect. It does not fix the conditions. Correct watering depth, a slightly higher mowing height and reducing thatch all make turf less attractive to the next generation, which is the difference between treating once and treating every July.

See our lawn insect control program