If a once-healthy lawn no longer seems to have the dense, lush surface it had (or perhaps “dense” and “lush” are two words that have never been associated with that specific lawn), now is the time to identify the cause of the problem. A lawn must be hardy to survive weed, insect and disease attacks.
“Pesticides” is the broad term for the insecticides, herbicides and fungicides meant to eliminate or control weeds, nonbeneficial insects, fungus and other diseases. Pesticides may be either synthetic or organic and are used to control a pest-be it a weed, insect or disease-problem that has become out of control.
“It is usually a good idea to look closer at your lawn to catch potential pest problems before they become too difficult to manage,” says Parwinder Grewal, Ph.D., the Ohio State University associate professor of entomology, nematology and environment science. “For example, it is too late for grub control when skunks have started digging the turf in search of a nice meal of fully developed juicy grub larvae.”
The first step is to identify the pest and the conditions that led to the pest...