Bugs thrive in Calgary amid summer heat, water restrictions

Calgarians who notice brown spots on their lawns may presume it's because of a lack of moisture, but it could actually be caused by chinch bugs.

"We're going into our second heatwave now," explained James Szojka, owner of Yard Dawgs Lawn Care,

"It's been very hot, not a lot of rain, and if we combine that with the current water restrictions that (we have in Calgary)… chinch bugs are just starting to go absolutely crazy in residential lawns and commercial lawns throughout the entire city."

Nathan Tobias, operations manager at Yard Dawgs Lawn Care, inspects client's lawns to see if chinch bugs are present.

He says the small pest can do a lot of damage if left unchecked.

"They inject a toxin into the grass, suck out all the nutrients, and that toxin is actually what then kills the grass," he said.

"They're quite deadly. They spread from lawn to lawn. They will go through an entire neighborhood, an entire street."

Szojka says this spring, the rain kept chinch bugs at bay for a short time because they don't like wet weather.

The tiny chinch bug may look harmless, but it sucks out nutrients from grass and injects it with a toxin, killing an entire lawn if left unchecked. But when the heat came, the bugs began to thrive.

Szojka says a few years ago, the pests were isolated to the deep southeast quadrant of the city, but today, they are all over the city and in surrounding communities.

"They migrate. They go from lawn to lawn, either through the ground or they fly, and they have a very far distance to go," he said.

"People ask me, 'What can I do to help prevent them?' My go-to used to be you just keep your lawn hydrated, keep it wet, keep it cold, and it will take care of itself but since people haven't been able to water for nearly six weeks now, we found that people feel stuck about what they can actually do to take matters into their own hands."

Tobias says chinch bugs over winter in Calgary yards under bushes, so he says it's important to address them as soon as possible.

"Once the bugs come in and do the damage, that lawn is done," he said. "So the reality is, is you don't take care of it, you could end up re-sodding your entire lawn."

"It's really important that you are aware of the damage; what it looks like, what the bugs look like, what to look for it… because finding that damage, getting it taken care of and taking care of the pests before they've ruined your entire lawn is absolutely crucial."

Greengate Garden Centre in the city's south has a variety of products to help homeowners battle yard pests.

Riley MacDonald says most people are looking for help to get rid of aphids.

"It seems the insect of the year is aphids, they have been absolutely horrible," he said.

"It seems like they're almost everywhere, and that's what the stickiness on the ground beneath the trees is."

MacDonald says aphids also thrive in hot, dry weather, and that where there are aphids, you'll likely find ants.

"The ants basically farm the aphids' secretion, which is like that shiny, sticky honey dew-like substance," he said.

"The ants will go to where the aphids are, so if you see the ants going up the tree, they're looking for aphids."

MacDonald says the products they sell will curb the aphid problem in Calgary yards, but it has to come in contact with the pests for it to be effective.

However, he says there is another option.

"Ladybugs are a natural predator of aphids, and they control aphids relatively well," he said.

"We sell them in these little packages, where they come 250 per bag, and then you release the ladybugs into your yard beneath the tree and then they'll go up into the tree and that's where they'll feed until there's no more food left."

MacDonald says customers are also concerned about spiders in their yards, but he says wasps are not a big problem now; they usually start bothering Calgarians later in the summer.