Integrated Pest Management
Chinch Bugs
Blissus spp.
Pest Description
- adults: 1/10 inch long; black and white with fully developed, or reduced, wings that cross over the back
- nymphs: 1/64 inch long; bright red with a white band across the abdomen
- as nymphs mature, they are orange, brown, then black
- adults and nymphs have piercing-sucking mouthparts
Host Plants, Diet & Damage
- feed on turfgrasses including Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, fescues, bentgrass and zoysiagrass
- cause small to large patches of dead turf in mid- to late-summer; damage resembles drought stress
Biology, Life Cycle & Damaging Life Stage
- overwinter as second generation adults in turf areas
- adults: active in spring and throughout summer
- insert eggs in turf crowns, behind leaf sheaths and in thatch
- second generation adults emerge early to mid-summer
- final generation of adults emerge in the fall
- can have two overlapping generations per year
- nymphs and adults are damaging
IPM Recommendations
- Maintain healthy plants with proper cultural practices.
- Monitor using a flotation trap, where chinch bugs float from the turf in a pool of water created with a metal cylinder (metal can) pushed into the ground.
- Reduce drought-stressed plants with proper irrigation.
- Reduce heavy thatch.
- Consider planting endophyte-enhanced turfgrass.
- Apply a biopesticide containing entomopathogenic nematodes or Beauveria fungal spores to provide suppression.
- Apply an insecticide (neonicitinoid; pyrethroid).