By John Howell Sr.

Armyworms have made an early appearance in lawns and hayfields around Batesville, entomologist Chip Hardy said.

Hardy said he first made the discovery in the yard of his Dogwood Hills home following a mowing. The voracious consumers of grass work from the ground up, he said. The mowing cut away the uneaten tops, exposing brown underneath.

“It looked like it had been scalped,” Hardy said.

Hardy said the discovery prompted him to look at nearby yards, and he found signs of infestation in every yard he checked in Dogwood Hills and on Marie Street.

“It’s worse in fertilized yards,” Hardy said. “And the same way in the hay fields.”

The armyworms have also shown up in agricultural fields where beans were planted immediately following the wheat harvest. “We’ve had to spray a lot of those.”

Armyworms are more easily controlled when they are small, the entomologist said.