Beauveria bassiana for chinch bugs
Chinch bug is on the BotaniGard ES / Mycotrol ES label, and the fungus does occur naturally in lawns: Penn State says hairy chinch bugs are sometimes found covered in its white, cottony growth. But Penn State adds that it rarely kills enough chinch bugs to bring them below the damage threshold, and no university trial of the commercial product on home lawns was found. Treat it as unproven, conserve the big-eyed bugs that do prey on chinch bugs, and start with the cultural fixes on the chinch bug page.
Before you order
Spores of an insect-killing fungus, sprayed on to the pest. They stick, germinate and grow through the insect's skin, so coverage is everything. It is slow, working over 7–10 days, and must start while numbers are low. It can also infect some beneficial insects. How it works, how to tell it has established and the supplier list are on the full Beauveria bassiana strain GHA profile.
Other controls for chinch bugs
- Big-eyed bugsWild predator · Wild — conserve the ones already in the lawn; not in commercial production as of Cornell's 2011 guide