Originally Submitted: June 23, 2021
There have been many reports by homeowners of birds pulling out white, cigarette-looking tubes from their lawns (Figure 1). These tubes are silken tunnel linings created by the cigarette paper webworm. The tubes are very distinctive as they are white with dark ends and look out of place on a lawn.
Cigarette paper webworms consume grass blades at night and create vertical tunnels to feed from. When the burrowing webworms reach their later growth stages, they construct very-thick, silken tunnel liners. It is also during this time that the webworms are often preyed upon by birds. The birds will pull out the liner, eat the developing webworm inside and leave the empty liner on the grass.
Management
Feeding by cigarette paper webworms can sometimes result in brown patches of grass. Typically, this issue can be resolved simply by watering the lawn to encourage regrowth. Cigarette paper webworm populations are controlled naturally through bird predation. Therefore, insecticide applications are often unnecessary for this minor turf pest.
