For those concerned about lawns, waiting may be the answer. There are two ways to deal with an infestation: Wait it out, or fight. Each year they invade more northern regions until cold weather ends their occupation. This moth survives year-round in warmer locales, from the tip of South America to the southern U.S. It’s native to the Americas and is extremely adaptable, thriving everywhere from lush forests to arid regions and in pristine, disturbed, and urban landscapes. It’s a striped caterpillar, the larvae of an ordinary and benign brown moth.

The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, isn’t a worm.

They are called armyworms because of their habit of marching across the landscape. These voracious feeders are destroying lawns and grasses, attacking golf courses, pastures, football, and soccer fields – and they can completely defoliate rice, soybean, alfalfa, and other crop fields within days. (THE CONVERSATION) Across the Northeast, Midwest, South, and Southwest United States, homeowners are watching with horror as their lawns turn from green to brown, sometimes in less than 48 hours, and wondering, “What happened this year – and how did it happen so fast?”Īs an entomologist, I can attest that their appearance is nothing new: They’re an annual problem, but the scale of this year’s invasion is unprecedented.

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