Lawn Insect Control in Minnesota & Wisconsin
Your lawn can look perfectly healthy one week and be riddled with brown patches, thinning turf, and unexplained damage the next. In many cases, the culprit isn't disease or drought — it's insects. Lawn-damaging insects are some of the most destructive and least visible threats your turf faces, feeding on roots, stems, and grass blades from below and above the surface before most homeowners ever realize something is wrong.
We've spent over 30 years of experience identifying and eliminating the insects that threaten lawns across the Minneapolis-St. Paul and Milwaukee metro areas. Our insect control treatments are targeted, timely, and built around the organic-based products that protect your lawn without compromising your family or the environment.
What's Included in Our Lawn Insect Control Service
Effective insect control requires more than just applying a product and hoping for the best. It requires knowing which insects are present, understanding their lifecycle, and treating at the right time to intercept them before significant damage occurs. Our insect control program is integrated into our lawn care programs and available as a targeted add-on service for lawns that need more focused attention.
Our lawn insect control service includes:
- Insect Identification and Assessment — Before any treatment is applied, we identify exactly what's going on in your lawn. Different insects require different products and different timing, and treating the wrong pest — or treating at the wrong time — wastes money and leaves the real problem unaddressed.
- Surface Feeding Insect Control — Surface feeders like sod webworms, chinch bugs, and armyworms feed on grass blades and stems at or near the soil surface, causing rapid browning and thinning across large areas of turf. We apply targeted treatments that eliminate surface feeders quickly and protect your lawn from further damage.
- Grub Control (Preventative and Curative) — Grubs are the larvae of beetles, and they feed on grass roots beneath the soil surface, severing the connection between your turf and the moisture and nutrients it needs to survive. We offer both preventative grub control in the spring to stop infestations before they start and curative treatments in the fall to address active grub populations already causing damage.
- Mole Control — Moles don't eat grass, but they follow grubs and earthworms underground, tearing up your turf in the process. Our mole control service addresses the problem with multiple targeted treatments to eliminate mole activity and protect the structure of your lawn.
- Ongoing Monitoring — Insect pressure changes throughout the season. Our technicians keep a close eye on your lawn at every visit and respond quickly when signs of new activity appear.
Your Lawn Deserves Lasting Results
At L.C.S. Lawn & Tree Service, Inc., we stand firmly behind our work. That's why we offer a satisfaction guarantee on our lawn care programs. If you're not thrilled with the results, we'll come back and re-treat at no extra cost. No questions asked.
We believe you deserve a lush, healthy lawn that lasts. Our guarantee ensures you get the value and peace of mind you're looking for, without any hassle or hidden fees.
What to Expect When You Work With Us
- Lawn Evaluation and Pest Identification: When insect damage is suspected, we start with a thorough assessment of your lawn. We look for the telltale signs of both surface and subsurface insect activity — irregular brown patches, thinning turf, spongy or lifting grass, visible tunneling, and more. Accurate identification is the first and most important step in effective treatment.
- Targeted Treatment Application: Once we know what we're dealing with, we apply the right product at the right rate and at the right time in the insect's lifecycle. Timing matters enormously in insect control — grub preventives, for example, need to be applied before eggs hatch to be fully effective, while curative treatments are applied when active grub populations are confirmed.
- Mole Control Treatments: For lawns with mole activity, we offer baiting or repellents across the affected areas to eliminate mole populations and prevent new activity.
- Follow-Up Monitoring: Insect populations can rebound, and new pressure can develop throughout the season. We monitor your lawn at every subsequent visit to ensure your issues are properly addressed
Common Lawn Insects in Minnesota and Wisconsin
The upper Midwest is home to a wide range of turf-damaging insects, many of which are most active during the warm, humid months of summer. Here are some of the most common lawn insects we treat for across our service area — and what to watch for:
- White Grubs — The larvae of Japanese beetles, June bugs, and other beetle species, white grubs are one of the most destructive lawn pests in the region. They feed on grass roots just below the soil surface, causing irregular brown patches that peel back like a loose carpet. Grub damage typically becomes visible in late summer and fall.
- Chinch Bugs — Small but destructive, chinch bugs feed on grass blades by extracting plant fluids and injecting a toxin that causes grass to wilt and die. Damage appears as irregular yellow or brown patches that expand outward from sunny, dry areas of the lawn during hot summer months.
- Sod Webworms — The larvae of lawn moths, sod webworms feed on grass blades and stems near the soil surface, creating ragged brown patches that can spread quickly during warm, dry weather. Adult moths flying in a zigzag pattern over the lawn at dusk are often the first sign of an infestation.
- Armyworms — Fast-moving and highly destructive, armyworms feed in large groups and can strip large sections of turf in a very short time. They're most active in late summer and early fall, and damage can appear almost overnight during peak feeding periods.
- Billbugs — Billbug larvae feed on grass stems and roots, causing dead patches that look similar to drought stress or grub damage. Adults are most visible in late spring, but larval damage becomes apparent in midsummer.
- European Chafer Grubs — Similar in behavior to white grubs, European Chafer larvae feed on grass roots and cause significant turf damage. Secondary damage from birds, skunks, and raccoons digging for grubs can be just as destructive as the insects themselves.
- Moles — While technically not insects, moles are one of the most common and frustrating lawn pests in the upper Midwest. They tunnel through the root zone in search of grubs and earthworms, heaving the soil surface and destroying the structure of your turf as they go.
Early identification and timely treatment are the keys to keeping these pests from doing lasting damage. The longer an infestation goes unaddressed, the more extensive — and expensive — the recovery becomes.
