Insect and Spider Identification: Tropika Turf dying, 4 by boony124

boony124 wrote:
Hi there I am Jason from Australia.

I got some turf - Tropika Blue (Digitaria didactyla var. swazilandensi) layed in the start of October. Therefore it is nearly 4 months old.

Come about mid to late December parts of the lawn started to deteriorate. It only seemed to be the parts in the sun so I increased the watering. I got back from work this week and have seen it take a turn for the worse. I thought it was just the turf settling in and the heat knocking it about (30-40Celsius) days. So I have been watering in morning every 2nd day.

So I pulled a few weeds out and checked how moist the soil was and found HEAPS of these little critters... What are they? And are they the cause of my issues.. I have parts on my lawn close to the house that is protected by the shade 50% and it is bright green with NO trace of these bugs?

It only seems to be higher on the slope that gets 80-90% sun during the day.

Thanks,
Jason.