Controlling Mites In Home Lawns

Mites In Home Lawns

While there are many species of mites which live in lawns and gardens and cause no harm whatsoever, and with many which provide beneficial and natural control of other pests, there are three main types of mite which can cause extreme problems to home turf amongst most grass types. These are the Clover Mites, Banks Grass Mite and the Brown Wheat Mite.

Damage caused by mites is often dependant of their type, Brown Wheat Mites can be found across all areas of turf and usually create small areas of damage where the grass can begin turning brown or even die off. Almost all damage caused by this mite always occurs in the cooler weather of Spring.

Banks Grass Mite is most often green in color and causes a massive amount of damage to lawns whose grass blades become stiff, brown in color and seem to snap off when trodden on. The area of damage can be quite large when attacks suddenly occur which is usually in most warmer weather conditions throughout the growing season.

Clover Mite damage is usually found to be close to homes or trees, and most usually looks like the lawn is drying out in the affected areas, and usually only in Spring. Clover mites are most noticeable for bring about the size of a grain of sand and are red in color, they often invade homes and buildings when the weather starts to warm up. If they are trodden on they produce an awful brown or red stain.

Controlling Mites In Home Lawns

All species of mites can be most easily controlled by ensuring that adequate water is applied throughout the year. This also includes Fall and even Winter if necessary in your particular region. Mites thrive in drier conditions, and often in the cooler seasons when lawns have less requirement for water is when explosions of mite populations can occur.

Most damage can also be controlled by ensuring excellent lawn health from good lawn care practices. In many cases this allows the lawn to out-compete and out-survive any damage caused by mites, quickly repairing itself as the damage is actually occurring so mite damage becomes barely noticeable or not noticeable at all.

There are numerous insecticides available to control many species of mites in lawns, and these can be purchased from the local garden nursery or store. However they are not full effective on all types of mites. Species such as Clover Mites and Banks Grass Mite can be extremely difficult to kill with insecticides, while the other problem mites such as the Brown Wheat Mite can be more easily killed and controlled by these insecticides.