Chinch Bugs_effectiveness of various treatments

[oldgrowth]

One question is about residual effectiveness of most consumer insecticides, labeled for chinch bugs?
Many claim "3 to 6 mo protection". The amount to use for chinch bugs is always the highest for any pest (any chemical or brand).
I've seen little residual effectiveness for several yrs, using diff chemicals each time.

Some articles discuss chinch bug resistance to many common chemicals.
May be part of the recent problems.

* How many times do others have to apply treatment(s) before finally getting them under control?
Which active ingredient(s) do you use?
* Do you have to use more product (or more often) than the label says, to control chinch bugs?
[in past, some main mfgs reduced concentration in products_sometimes by 1/2; it no longer worked on certain pests, but did if I used the old concentration]

After applying (diff brands and/ or active ingred), it may slow chinch bugs for 5 - 7 days (or not). If don't re-apply soon, they'll kill most grass in part sun / sun, in 10 days (give or take).
Often must re-apply 3 or more times, following best advice (university papers,etc.), before damage stops.

Past decades, had few problems w/ chinch bugs (St. Augustine).
Now, can barely stop them.
Until last 3 - 5 yrs (out of 50) , I rarely used insecticides.
I'm technical, follow directions, read dozens of articles.

Everything they say should do, I already am. (I don't mow St. Augustine @ "up to 4", as some universities say).

They now attack lush, well watered St. Augustine.
I always use a long screw driver to check moisture depth after watering (or rain) - that moisture is > just a couple inches.
Right now, they're attacking lush grass w/ moisture 6" or more deep & surface isn't dry.

 

[oneeye]

One question is about residual effectiveness of most consumer insecticides, labeled for chinch bugs?
Many claim "3 to 6 mo protection". The amount to use for chinch bugs is always the highest for any pest (any chemical or brand).
I've seen little residual effectiveness for several yrs, using diff chemicals each time.

Some articles discuss chinch bug resistance to many common chemicals.
May be part of the recent problems.

* How many times do others have to apply treatment(s) before finally getting them under control?
Which active ingredient(s) do you use?
* Do you have to use more product (or more often) than the label says, to control chinch bugs?
[in past, some main mfgs reduced concentration in products_sometimes by 1/2; it no longer worked on certain pests, but did if I used the old concentration]

After applying (diff brands and/ or active ingred), it may slow chinch bugs for 5 - 7 days (or not). If don't re-apply soon, they'll kill most grass in part sun / sun, in 10 days (give or take).
Often must re-apply 3 or more times, following best advice (university papers,etc.), before damage stops.

Past decades, had few problems w/ chinch bugs (St. Augustine).
Now, can barely stop them.
Until last 3 - 5 yrs (out of 50) , I rarely used insecticides.
I'm technical, follow directions, read dozens of articles.

Everything they say should do, I already am. (I don't mow St. Augustine @ "up to 4", as some universities say).

They now attack lush, well watered St. Augustine.
I always use a long screw driver to check moisture depth after watering (or rain) - that moisture is > just a couple inches.
Right now, they're attacking lush grass w/ moisture 6" or more deep & surface isn't dry.

Very interesting friend. I used to use a long screw driver and spent too much time on my knees. I switched to a golf club with the putter cut off to probe the soil so I don't have to bend over so much. I use it to monitor my pecan trees too.

As far as the chinch bugs go your lawn is stressed from over applications of all the stuff you put on it from fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, miticides year after year and all the people before you. I have never seen chinch bugs in a healthy lawn, but have seen a lot in unhealthy ones. What I would do is detox the lawn and don't put anything synthetic on it for a long time. Slowly reintroduce new microbe populations back into the soil to start mending the damage that's been done, because its only going to get worse every year.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Chinch bugs bite so systemics.

Imidacloprid — systemic neonicotinoid insecticide. Sold as Merit, Admire Pro, and the BioAdvanced/Bayer "Tree & Shrub Protect & Feed" drench.
What it's good at: sap-suckers. Aphids, scale, whiteflies, mealybugs, lace bugs, adelgids, plus borers and Japanese beetle grubs in turf. Applied as a soil drench, the plant pulls it up and stays protected for months — one application a season.
What it's bad at: caterpillars, and it can actually flare spider mites by wiping out their predators.
The real catch: it's brutal on bees, and because it's systemic it ends up in nectar and pollen. Soil residue can keep showing up in blooms for a year or more after a single drench. So it has no business on anything flowering, anything bees visit, or vegetables and fruit trees. Some states have tightened up on retail sales for exactly this reason.
Where it earns its keep is a non-blooming ornamental with a scale or borer problem — a drenched crape myrtle in early spring, say. If it's a vegetable garden or fruit tree pest, insecticidal soap, horticultural oil, or spinosad are the safer pragmatic picks.

Credit Claude because it's easy.

 

[oldgrowth]

I was thinking / asking of residual effectiveness of pyrethrins (liquid and / or granules).
Where many brands claim 3 to 6 mo protection.
For those, for chinch bugs, I see almost no residual control beyond 3 - 7 days (often, 7 days is a stretch).
@ oneeye, thanks. Don't do / use any of the mentioned. Except (here), when rains stop_this yr ~ 2nd week in July, AND gets in upper 90's, chinch bugs start immediately. Regardless of lushness of grass or watering. Even if ground still saturated from rains.

Whether over wintered adults or eggs from last yr, or .... If you had them before, likely have them again.
If water every day (in ground system), may be able to thwart them?
Watering regularly w/ sprinklers so grass is green, healthy, growing? They don't seem to care.

When I had more shade (never full shade), never a problem, even w/ minimal watering.
At other houses (same county) w/ lots of sun, rarely had chinch bugs or any lawn pests needed spraying. Were decades I never saw or thought of chinch bugs. And we sure didn't water 2 - 3x / wk, to keep them at bay.

@ DirtMechanic, "Imidacloprid" - yes, read of it, never seen it for sale. Maybe? a licensed exterminator retail store? Only thing I'm spraying is grass - St. Augustine.

Applied as a soil drench

How much would you have to apply (gal per X sq ft), to "drench" soil, so effective for chinch bugs?
What type equip / sprayer / nozzle type & size, needed to "drench" the soil?

BUT, are times when flowering "weeds" or native wildflowers pop up in our lawn (don't use weed killers). For instance, Dandelions are visited by lots of pollinators. They mostly bloom when grass not growing, so not mowed weekly.
Sounds like Imidacloprid's long half life may harm what ever visits those weeds / wild flowers in the lawn?