Chinch Bugs

Color: gray-black in color and covered with fine hair

Size: adults are approximately 3.5 mm long and 0.75 mm wide

Feeding & Habits: Mustard family plants, such as radish, canola, and mustard greens are particularly favored by false chinch bugs. spends the winter among winter annual mustards. Flixweed, a common weed associated with alfalfa fields and agricultural field margins, is an important winter host for this insect in eastern Colorado. When late winter/early spring temperatures warm sufficiently to allow development, eggs are laid around the base of plants.

Spring and fall brings invasions of box elder bugs, army cutworms (which are the larvae of the miller moth) and other insects that come from lawns, trees and other plants. In many cases, lawn and tree experts can assist in treating problem areas.

These insects are usually found feeding and nesting on plants, in the ground or in your lawn. But, when a change in season occurs, they seek shelter in cracks, crevices and voids to survive. By accident, they become pests inside structures and can become very annoying to deal with.

If any of these insects are seeking shelter where they are not wanted, PestRite can apply our $mart (Green) solution at each change in season.