

Therefore, your best bet to see whether your lawn has armyworms or not is to catch them in the act.įor this, you’ll need to grab your torch and go on a hunt at nighttime. When the night falls, they come out to feed. They hide in the thatch and beneath the sand when the sun is out. But if you can identify these insects early on, you can prevent a lot of damage.Īrmyworms are not visible during the day. After this period, the caterpillars turn into moths and fly away, leaving your lawn a wasteland.Īll of this might sound a bit scary and you might think that your lawn doesn’t stand a chance against these insects. This cycle of hiding and feeding continues for 10 days. Once the larvae have emerged, they will hide during the day and sleep during the night. Thus, effectively creating an army of larvae that would emerge as caterpillars 5 to 10 days later. The moth Spodoptera Mauritia begins laying eggs in early summer and continues to lay a whooping 500 eggs every night.Īnd so, over the course of a typical summer month, the moth can lay upwards of 15000 eggs. These caterpillars are called armyworms because they march through your lawns in large numbers just like an army. Armyworms 101: What Are They and How to Identify Them?Īrmyworms are caterpillars of the moth Spodoptera Mauritia.

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