A soap flush is a mixture of 3 tablespoons of liquid dish soap with 1 gallon of water. We find that lemon-scented dish soap is the most effective.
Pour the mixture into a 3' x 3' area and watch the action. The soap will agitate the caterpillars' skin and they will come to the surface - you can see them and then you will know to treat for them immediately.
Soap Flush Test Recipe
We recommend scouting for fall armyworms from July until the first good frost in autumn.
If the soap flush doesn't flush out any caterpillars, try it again under different circumstances such as :
This test also works for many other destructive insects.
If you have fall armyworms, read our article focusing on what to do about them: Fall Armyworms in Lawns.
This is an example of what you'll see in the soap flush test: armyworms will come to the surface so you can verify that you have an infestation.
Mark in Georgia purchased 2 pallets of Bermuda on August 17th. On September 12th we discovered Mark had fall armyworms. To confirm that was the problem, he performed the Soap Flush Test we recommend.
The test was positive, so he applied armyworm insecticide, and this is what it looks like now! Mark stated that “Your tip on the army worms was a lifesaver! I showed the pics to several people and they also never knew about those armyworms (and how to test for them!)”
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