In my last post about hairy chinch bugs, I mentioned that the only product that could be used against them for homeowners was Steinernema carpocapse . This was a mistake. Thanks to an email from an industry colleague, I was made aware of a new registration. The new insecticide that was registered in late spring of 2013 is an EC formulation of Met52 from Novozymes that has hairy chinch bug on the label. The label claims suppression which is <60% control. They also recommend a repeat application roughly 4 weeks after the first application. If you are going to try this new insecticide the timing for applying it against chinch bugs would be now and a repeat application in 4 weeks if monitoring proves it is necessary. We (my colleagues and I) do not have a lot of experience with this formulation of this active ingredient against hairy chinch bug, but it could prove to be a viable alternative to the nematode treatments.
One thing we have noticed this year is that the chinch bug damage is highly visible because the lawns are not dormant. This makes detecting and diagnosing chinch damage a much easier task than a year like last year. If anyone has used the product so far this season and has any comment, please feel free to post them here on this blog.