Roaches in the Lawn

This post is a little late, given that we've now had some good rain and your lawns should be drinking up that good soak and looking a little better.

But, in the past several weeks, I was getting samples and pictures into the office for identification of a cockroach called a Surinam cockroach.  These cockroaches are burrowers and when you water in dry, dead spots of the lawn, they come running out.  The coincidence of an insect and dead grass in the same spot, naturally makes one think that the insect is causing the problem.  In fact, it is not.

Surinam cockroaches are eating decaying organic matter and scavenging.  They really aren't interested in your lawn so much.  There is no reason to worry about them in the landscape, they are a very normal insect to find.  Especially when its really dry and their burrows aren't so comfortable to live in.

They can be found occasionally indoors, but they are searching for water or cooler temperatures.  They are not a structurally infesting cockroach and their presence in the bathroom is no more worrisome than finding a grasshopper who accidentally made it's way indoors.

Photo courtesy of J. Woods