After two months of rain, I haven’t been thinking much about chinch bugs or sod webworms. But two on-site consultations I did this week showed me that it only took two weeks with no rain and temperatures in the 90s to get infestations of chinch bugs underway.
So, this might be one of the few times I will recommend using a preventive insect control.
If you’re not familiar with Nitro-Phos Bug Out granular insecticide, search it out when looking for a granular Bifenthrin-based product. It’s got the greatest percentage of bifenthrin content of any bagged product on the market. You’ll find that info revealed in the “active ingredient” section on the bag.
Photo: Randy Lemmon
You’ll usually find the active ingredient in small print at the bottom right or left corner of any bag. The percentage is critical in getting the right product at the right price. There are many bifenthrin products on the market, and their content ranges from .05% to .1%. In Bug Out, it’s .2% – the greatest percentage sold. So, if you think you may save a few bucks with a bifenthrin product from a big box store, if it’s only .05% you’ll need to by at least three bags to treat what one bag of Bug Out will.
If you catch chinch bugs or sod webworms in their earliest stages - or if you want to get a preventative jump on them - I’m all for putting down some Bug Out right now, then again in 30 days.
Once you have a fully established infestation of destructive chinch bugs or sod webworms, though, you’ll need to spray a liquid version of bifenthrin three times over two weeks. See this tip sheet for more.
Normally, I’m for “Integrated Pest Management,” fancy terminology from my Texas A&M days which simply means, I don’t put out insecticide just to put out insecticide. I normally only use synthetic pest controls when I know I have a legitimate problem. But if there was any product I would use as a preventative, it would be Nitro-Phos Bug Out.
Photo: Randy Lemmon
And since Bug Out is a Nitro-Phos product, it’s available at the nurseries, feed stores and garden centers I endorse. All the Ace Hardware stores, too. In fact, I took these pictures this week at an Ace store, and you can see they are very well stocked.