Home › Lawn-Damaging Insects › How to Identify, Prevent & Eliminate Billbugs in North Texas

Treatment and Prevention of Billbugs in North Texas

While billbugs may be small, they can cause big problems for lawns across North Texas. With top-notch lawn care services from Green Top Lawn Care, we can treat your billbug problem with ease. These sneaky pests often go unnoticed until brown, dying patches start spreading through your once-green grass. Understanding what billbugs are (and how to spot the signs early) can help you protect your lawn from extensive damage and costly repairs.

Wherever warm-season grasses like St. Augustine grow, they face a threat from the billbug, a type of weevil known for causing serious turf damage. Homeowners throughout Southlake, Euless, and surrounding North Texas areas should watch out for these pests, and take preventive measures through a professional turf insect management program to ensure a healthy lawn.

What Is a Billbug?

Billbugs are small beetles belonging to the weevil family (Curculionidae) and are among the most destructive pests faced by warm-season turfgrasses like St. Augustine, Zoysia and Bermuda. Named for their distinctive “bill” or snout, these insects use their elongated mouthparts to chew and bore into grass stems, where they lay their eggs.

When the eggs hatch, the legless white larvae first feed inside the stems, eventually moving into the soil to consume the roots. This dual feeding behavior—first above ground and then below—makes billbug damage especially difficult to identify until it’s widespread.

Adult billbugs are typically ¼ inch long, gray to black, and slow-moving. They overwinter in the thatch or soil and become active in late spring and early summer, laying eggs as temperatures rise. Over time, their activity leads to patches of yellowing, wilting or dead grass, often mistaken for drought stress or disease. As a result, many homeowners are unaware of the pest problem until the damage becomes extensive.

Identifying Billbugs in Your Lawn

Early detection is key to saving your lawn from severe damage. You’ll often first notice dry, straw-colored patches in sunny, high-traffic or drought-prone areas. When you pull on affected grass, the blades may break easily at the crown and reveal a fine, sawdust-like residue—a clear sign of billbug feeding.

The larvae (which do the most harm) are small, white, C-shaped grubs with brown heads and no legs. As they chew through stems and roots they disrupt the flow of nutrients, causing the turf to thin and die. Left untreated, billbugs can create large dead areas that spread quickly across your lawn.

How to Identify & Eliminate Billbugs

Effective control of billbugs begins with early detection and consistent lawn care practices. Treatments may include the following.

Targeted insecticide applications in spring to eliminate overwintering adults before they lay eggs.
Follow-up treatments in early summer to address emerging larvae.
Reducing thatch buildup through annual aeration, as thick thatch provides an ideal habitat for billbugs.
Regular watering and fertilization help the grass recover from stress and resist pest damage.

Be mindful that timing is critical—applying pest control treatments too late in the season, after larvae have burrowed into the soil, can reduce effectiveness.

Call the Experts for Billbug Treatment

Having a problem with lawn pests? Our team can accurately identify the issue and design a customized billbug treatment plan to restore the health and beauty of your lawn. If you suspect billbug activity in your lawn, contact Green Top Lawn Care at (817) 684-4044 or request a free quote.