20 Lawn Pests and How to Fight Them

Cutworms are hard to detect in lawns because their damage isn’t very obvious. In a garden, they can have a devastating impact on plantings, which can include fallen plants and holes in leaves. Most cutworms are hairless caterpillars that hide under debris in the day and feed at night.

This hairless green-gray caterpillar with a black head grows up to an inch long and will later transform into the brightly colored fiery skipper butterfly. As a caterpillar, the fiery skipper creates brown spots in lawns that are about 2 inches long. Infestations may occur, showing multiple spots that link together in an irregular patch. Eggs are laid under grass leaves.

While fleas won’t harm lawns, their presence in lawns can create problems for pets and humans using it. Look for small black insects around your ankles and in pet fur.

Adult Green June Beetles are often confused with Japanese Beetles, but these beetles are much larger and mostly green. Adult Green June Beetles are an indication that their grubs may be infesting a lawn. Damage is indirect and caused by tunneling, which dries out soil and makes the soil spongy. Armadillos and skunks may also dig up lawns in search of these cream-colored grubs with orange-brown heads. These grubs don’t always have the distinct C-shape as other larval insects.

Before taking any action to address “bees” that may be infesting your yard, make sure you know the species of “bee” you’re encountering. Yellow Jackets are the most common ground-nesting nuisance stinging insect. Paper wasps are semi-aggressive and may make lawn areas near their nests unusable.

DO NOT KILL HONEYBEES, instead contact a professional bee keeper who may remove the bees for free.

Japanese Beetle Grubs are C-shaped larvae with well-developed legs. They are often about 1 inch long and have a white coloring. Found in the soil, they destroy roots of lawn grasses and attract skunks, crows and moles. Damage is apparent when patches of lawn become brown and spongy.

Though June Beetle Grubs are sometimes called White Grubs, their coloration varies from yellow to black and most are dark brown. Like most grubs, they are C-shaped. Lawn damage occurs as these grubs feed and tunnel through the soil, resulting in yellowed grass. Heavy infestations will cause lawn die-offs that allow the grass to be removed in large patches.

Leafhoppers are rarely a problem on lawns, except when there’s a massive infestation.  They will feed on all grass types, leaving them yellow or “bleached.” Leafhoppers are small, winged, wedge-shaped insects that look a little bit like a grasshopper. While they are usually green, yellow or gray, the candy striped leafhopper is has brilliant blue and orange patterns on its back.

Leafhoppers are very small, and measure only up to a ¼ inch long. It's their small size that makes them easy to ignore. Aside from grass, they may also feed on roses, potato plants, grape vines and apple trees. Some gardeners say their damage looks a lot like spider mites.

Crane Fly Larvae are grub-like with no legs or apparent head and about 1 ½ inches long. They’re called leatherjackets because of their gray-brown coloring. Adult crane flies are easily mistaken for mosquitoes, but they don’t bite or carry diseases. Larvae damage lawns by eating roots and stems, leaving patches of dead grass.

A common underground lawn pest in the southeastern U.S., they may consume grass and their roots while burrowing through the soil. Damage is evident by raised burrows and dead grass. Mole Crickets are a light brown, measure up to 1 ¼ inches long and have spade-like front legs.

Mosquitoes aren’t a lawn damaging insect, but their presence can make a lawn unusable. Aside from their itchy bites, they can also transmit a number of diseases to humans.

Areas of lawn are left brown or completely bare since sod webworms eat foliage only, not roots. Sod webworms are about ¾ of an inch long and have cream-colored bodies with a double-row of spots on their backs. Small bristles sprout from the spots.

Snails and slugs are rarely a pest to lawns, but they often appear in lawns at night to breed or travel to a food source. Snails have a shell and slugs do not. These mollusks often leave a slimy, silvery trail across sidewalks, porches and on leaves.

Ticks are small parasitic arachnids that swell up as they feed on the blood of their hosts. As they feed, their body fills with blood and they become more visible to the naked eye.

While ticks are not a threat to lawn health, their presence can pose risks to people and pets using the lawn.

Several afflictions, including Lyme disease, are transmitted through tick bites. As a result, they are considered a major pest.

It's highly advised to thoroughly check yourself, your family and your pets each day for ticks.

*See individual entries for Chafer/Masked Chafer Grubs, Green June Beetle Grubs, Japanese Beetle Grubs, May/June Bug Grubs.

“White Grub” is a catchall name for a variety of mostly indistinguishable larval forms of a variety of beetles. These grubs are C-shaped, white or cream colored and vary in length from 3/8 to 1½ inches long. White grub infestations create large patches of brown grass after they destroy the roots of grass. The resulting patches become detached from sod and literally can be rolled up like a carpet.

You can check for any of these grubs by digging up a one-foot square patch of unhealthy-looking lawn and counting the grubs you find. If you find more than five, you need to take action.