Chinch Bugs

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).