Worms Are Eating East Texas Football Fields

It's a huge problem right now.  If you're seeing brown spots on football fields and golf courses around East Texas, blame those nasty armyworms.

Armyworms are actually caterpillars that attack yards and chew up grass, and they aren't very good at setting boundaries for themselves so they don't hold back when it comes to football fields or golf courses.  Green grass is a buffet for them, and the more it rains the happier they are.

KTRE said armyworm moths can lay up to two thousand eggs that hatch in about three days, and they can eat up entire fields or pastures in just a few days.

Lufkin athletic fields have big spots of dead brown grass from the armyworms, and Pine Springs golf course in Tyler reports the same problem.  Parks and rec managers and golf course crews have been treating the grass with a special spray that takes care of the problem temporarily, but it doesn't seem to be a permanent solution because the brown spots continue to pop up in new places.

The best news is, the grass will recover on its own after the caterpillars retreat to turn into moths, according to NBC 5 in Dallas.  Until then, high school football players might be stepping on some dead patches, and golfers might have to hit off of those drab-looking spots too.

If you have armyworms in your yard, there are some insecticides that you can get from home improvement stores to treat the problem, and some birds and wasps will swoop in and help you out too.  That will should get us by until, well...next fall.