Why Do Blades of Grass Twitch?
If you're sitting in on your lawn on a windless day and see a blade or two of grass twitching, you may wonder how it happens. While grass itself doesn't have the capability to twitch, there is an entire world of unseen animals living in and under your lawn that can make it move. Does this Spark an idea?
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Moles
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Moles are small mammals between 4 and 8 inches in length. They are related to bats and shrews and are actually beneficial to homeowners. They live under lawns and create tunnels that mix and aerate soils as they search for food. Moles eat a variety of lawn pests that include grubs, snails and slugs. Moles do not directly feed on your lawn but they do displace it as they tunnel. Twitching blades of grass may mean a mole is passing underneath.
Spiders
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Several types of spiders live and hunt in grass. Some, like the grass spider, spin webs nestled in the lawn and wait for prey to come along. Others are more active and wander through blades of grass in search of unwary bugs. Wolf spiders, crab spiders and sac spiders are examples of actively hunting spiders that might cause twitching blades of grass.
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Non-Damaging Insects
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There are some insects that live in the lawn that don't do any damage. Some of them feed on other plants and some feed on other insects. According to the University of Tennessee, snails and slugs often hide in the grass during the day. Other insects like earwigs, pillbugs, sowbugs, centipedes and millipedes also live in the grass and the soil under the lawn.
Damaging Insects
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Some of the twitching blades you see may be due to the feeding of lawn pests. Moth larvae like cutworms, sod webworms and armyworms feed on blades of grass and move through the lawn as they feed. Beetles like the billbug can cut grass blades off at the roots. Other insects like the mole cricket, grasshoppers, cinch bugs and spittlebugs live in and feed on lawns.
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References
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