Pests, weeds & disease
South Florida lawn & garden pests
Chinch bugs, webworms, whiteflies, lubbers, brown patch, iguanas and mosquitoes.
Pests, weeds & disease
These are the problems we diagnose at the counter every week. Bring a photo or a plastic bag with a sample — it's faster than describing it, and the fix depends on getting it right.
Chinch bugs
What you'll see: Irregular yellow-then-brown patches in the sunniest, driest part of a St. Augustine lawn that keep spreading even after you water.
What we'd do: Confirm with a soap flush, then treat with a labeled lawn insecticide and water it in. Re-treat per the label — one pass rarely finishes them.
Sod webworms
What you'll see: Blades chewed to a notched, ragged edge overnight in late summer, plus small tan moths flying up as you walk.
What we'd do: A Bt or spinosad product in the evening works on the caterpillars without hitting pollinators as hard.
Whiteflies (ficus & gumbo limbo)
What you'll see: Clouds of tiny white insects, sticky leaves and black sooty mold under the hedge.
What we'd do: Systemic soil drench in spring plus an insecticidal soap or horticultural oil on the foliage.
Lubber grasshoppers
What you'll see: Big black-and-yellow nymphs in spring, huge slow adults in summer, and shredded amaryllis and crinum leaves.
What we'd do: Hand-pick the nymphs early — they're easiest and they cluster. Most sprays barely touch full-grown adults.
Brown patch / large patch
What you'll see: Round or crescent brown circles that appear in the wet season when nights stay warm and the grass never dries.
What we'd do: Water in the early morning only, cut back on nitrogen and apply a labeled lawn fungicide.
Take-all root rot
What you'll see: Thinning yellow areas that pull up with no roots. Common in stressed St. Augustine after heavy rains.
What we'd do: Top-dress with peat, ease off nitrogen and use a fungicide labeled for it. Recovery takes a season.
Fire ants
What you'll see: Loose mounds after rain, aggressive stinging when disturbed.
What we'd do: Broadcast bait over the yard for long-term control, then treat individual mounds directly for the fast fix.
Iguanas, raccoons & armadillos
What you'll see: Chewed hibiscus and bougainvillea flowers, dug-up turf and knocked-over pots.
What we'd do: Repellents and physical barriers help; live traps for armadillos and raccoons. Check current Florida rules before removing any animal.
Mosquitoes
What you'll see: Standing water in bromeliads, saucers, gutters and bird baths — they only need a bottle cap's worth.
What we'd do: Dump standing water weekly, drop a Bti briquette in what you can't dump, and use yard fogger or granules before an evening outside.
The label is the law. Check that a product is listed as safe for your grass type before you spray, don't apply in the heat of the day, and keep pets and kids off treated areas for the time the label says.