Fall armyworms waging war on some Lorain County lawns

An atypical migration of fall armyworms into Ohio has wreaked havoc on some homeowners' lawns. Landscapers are receiving calls from area residents pointing out brown areas in their grass and sometimes completely brown lawns, said Shaun Keefer, director of Operations at Brian-Kyles Landscapes of Distinction. Brian-Kyles operates in Lorain and Cuyahoga counties. He estimated that among his company's clients, 20 percent to 30 percent of their yards are heavily affected by the armyworms. "If you drive down the street, you'll see it right away, you'll know," Keefer said. "It literally looks like a wildfire went through their front yard." The actual problem is much smaller than a wildfire, although it does have a tendency to spread rapidly. Fall armyworms migrate into Ohio during the summer and could cause problems into late summer, according to a recently published Crop Observation and Recommendation Network newsletter from Ohio State University. The caterpillars can appear greenish, tan or dark brown with stripes along their bodies, but can be distinguished from some similar-looking species by the inverted white "Y" shape behind their heads. They feed on more than 100 different types of plants including grasses, according to the Ohio State newsletter. Jenny Ries, of Elyria, didn't think much of the brown patches in her yard until she was scrolling through Facebook and saw a post about the worms. Another post suggested pouring warm, soapy water on the spots to bring the worms to the surface. Filming it as she did, the soapy brown spot yielded several of the worms to her experiment — much to her 9-year-old son Austin's delight. "It's not crazy yet from what I've seen online, but is it going to get that way?" she asked. Keefer said the fall armyworm does not typically migrate this far north, but said a combination of climate and weather factors this summer probably pushed them farther north. "It's a major issue in a lot of the Southern states. They obviously are used to it and know when to spray for these, because it's a little bit different timing than what we see normally here for grubs," he said. The armyworms like to chew on bluegrass, fescue and ryegrass, Keefer said, but they leave undesirable weeds alone. Although army worms eat the grass above the soil, they leave the roots intact, typically allowing it to bounce back in a few weeks. "Essentially what they're doing is they are mowing it to the soil," Keefer said. He said the most important thing for homeowners who think armyworms may be taking up residence in their turf is to have the problem correctly diagnosed. Spraying pesticides can be a mistake, particularly if a lawn is suffering from a problem that is not the worms. The first step is to peel up a section of the turf and check for armyworms, Keefer said. If there are none, the problem could be something else, such as brown patch lawn disease. Armyworms can be stopped from expanding the area they've damaged by spraying the lawn. Although he has not personally tried it, Keefer said the insects can potentially be brought out of turf by pouring a mixture of dish soap and water. Keefer said as soon as Brian-Kyles started seeing the armyworm migration as a broader issue, the company sent an email update to all its clients letting them know what was happening and what to look for. They will disappear once they enter their next phases of life and become moths, he said. For Ries, the problem is an inconvenience at worst as the worms don't kill the grass, and the upcoming cold weather should kill the worms. "It'll all be fine next year," she said. Contact the reporter Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.