Chinch bugs - what a nuisance
 

We live south of 44, have St Augustine grass, and have had recurring problems with chinch bug infestations, which devastate our lawn. Despite preventive and real-time treatments by one of the large lawn maintenance companies and self-help based on input from our local hardware folks, we have been unable to rid our lawn of these critters. Has anyone successfully overcome these pests and, if you don’t mind sharing, what did you do to deal with them?

Thanks

Good Luck.
I now it takes a long time to control chinch bugs through timely applications

We had to have Adam's Earth come out and treat, then they added manure or something to help bring the yard back. This was after another large landscaper had treated for bugs for about a year and a half..

Rusty did a video on them a couple days ago. Worth watching.

That liquid spray that Deans and Massey uses doesn't do the trick but you should have a guarantee from whichever one you use. My neighbors that use Massey have lots of damage, I have none. What I do is use Spectracide granular from Sparr. I put it on the first time I see Massey out there spraying and then again as soon as I see the brown spots coming onto my neighbors lawns that use Massey and one more blast around October. No Chinch. Bugs, No grubs, No anthills. This time of the year you would also want to put down a heavy coat of fungicide powder, not liquid. Just follow the instructions, hop in the shower and wash the clothes you were wearing by themselves after using fungicide or pesticide.

New to St. Aug grass here; have been growing centipede in LA for 20 years... So stupid question here.. How do you "know" you have chinch bugs? TIA!!

See post 4.

Rusty has some tips: https://youtu.be/D7PMaf07ajc

Chinch bugs
 

we use triazicide

Chinch bug video w Rusty
 

http://The Chinch Bug is Killing my St. Augustine Lawn and the treatmant I did in The Villages Florida. https://youtu.be/D7PMaf07ajc

There is the link to how I treated the Cinch bug in my lawn. You need to keep on top of your lawn care people. They may only come out once. This has stopped them for me…for now. Lol

We bought an auto mower. Now the lawn cutting services don’t bring in pests (or weeds) from other homes when they cut the grass each week. Almost no weeds or insects since we made the switch.

Limited-time deal: Husqvarna Automower 430XH Robotic Lawn Mower with GPS Assisted Navigation, Automatic Lawn Mower with Self Installation and Ultra-Quiet Smart Mowing Technology for Medium to Large Yards (0.8 Acre) https://a.co/d/28ggViR

I use seven and triazicide. Works great. If you have an infestation I’d re-treat after a few weeks.

Bugs and lawn care
 

Similar to #10. Dean's handles the chemicals (for the last 4 years) and I mow the lawn (last 2 years). With no scientific proof, I think that mowing my own lawn with my own mower prevents "hitchhikers" coming, via lawn services, from other yards. If a patch starts, I hand water the spots and, in conjunction with Dean's regular chemical treatments, the spot goes away.

Chinch bug infestations require at least two applications of pesticide, about 14 days apart. The initial application will get the adults, but not their eggs. #2 targets the offspring.

Chance bugs
 

I have had success using BioAdvanced lawn insect and fire ant killer from from Amazon