Armyworms are marching and munching across lawns

Ohio State University Extension offices in counties across the Buckeye State have been receiving phone calls, emails and text messages about caterpillars causing havoc in agricultural fields, on golf courses and sports turf fields, in roadside grassy areas and residential lawns. The caterpillar culprit causing the damage appears to be the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), although there is also the yellowstriped armyworm (S. ornithogalli) and the common armyworm (Mythimna convecta). All three are caterpillars.