ground pearl control

Thanks for your recent information regarding lawn fungus- we’re getting the PH tested before starting treatment to get the centipede lawn healthy first and then applying a fungicide.

I’ve also been advised that we have a local area on our lawn that has lawn pearls. I’ve seen them attached to the grass roots and I’m prepared to dig out the infected area and put in new sod but we need your advice as how to effectively chemically prepare the sandy soil area to prevent any possible pearl larvae, insects or pearl sacs that might still be in the soil from coming back and infesting the area again after installing the sod.

We appreciate any suggestions or recommendations that you might have, and thanks again for your help.

First, you’re welcome and we hope our advice is leading you in the direction you want to go regarding your landscape and pest control concerns.

Second, there is no need to remove or replace any of your grass if the main reason you want to do this is due to the ground pearls. In fact ground pearls are easy to control and commonly infest turfgrass that’s vulnerable. One of the most common traits we see with ground pearls is that they seem to really like soil with low PH levels (acidic) so if you end up finding your PH is 6.5 or lower, this is where you will want to spend your time and effort: fixing the ph as explained in our article here:

Soil PH:  http://www.soil-ph.com/soil-ph

Now once the PH is fixed, all you’ll need to do is to apply some BIFEN GRANULES every 2 months and this treatment will both kill off what you’ve got now and keep them away for good. Ground pearls are closely related to scale insects and as such they’re both slow moving and easy to control. Bifen granules applied and watered into the turf will remedy the problem. But in the end, it’s the proper PH that will enable your grass to stay free from fungus, ground pearls and other problems because it’s the bad PH that’s making your plants so vulnerable.

Bifen Granules:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/granule/bifenthrin-g-25-lb

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