Reddit reviews Bug Sales 50 Million Live Beneficial Nematodes Hb - Soil Pest Exterminator

You probably have billbugs eating the roots. I had patches of them and just like you said - one hot day would make it look like it was suffering from drought. Pesticides weren't very effective. I used beneficial nematodes and it helped a bunch. It took a few weeks for the roots to recover, but those patches of my yard are much, much better now.

These are the ones I bought.

Very common and this year seems particularly bad. They’re usually spread by field mice, not deer, so spraying will target your perimeter where they come in and out. My strategy for his year is as follows:

1. Tick Tubes that contain cotton bedding soaked in pesticide that mice will take to build their nests.
   
2. Beneficial Nematodes that will eat ticks and other pests on the soil.
   
3. Traditional Spraying that I tried to avoid this year because of the cost but since the others take time to work I might just bite the bullet and do one treatment.
   
   Tick Tubes are often used by professional sprayers as a supplement. The concept / science seems pretty legitimate and it’s fairly inexpensive.
   
   Nematodes are also inexpensive but they’re controversial. Not all people believe they work and you need to wait for a rainy day to apply them, and do it each spring. My current thinking is that it’s the only solution that targets ticks on the ground and under leaves once they’re in your yard already, so it’s part of a balanced approach. The other two methods target ticks being carried by mice, either across a sprayed permitter or inside their nests.
   
   Spraying alone seems to be effective but it needs to be done 4-5 times each year, and each time is between $150 - $200 an application so it really adds up. I’m trying to strike a balance between cost and effectiveness with my approach, but it definitely takes more effort.
   
   TL;DR - I’d say at the very least if you spray, also add on tick tubes. They’re not expensive and are easy to put out. Also if you do find a tick on you, send it to your local health department for Lyme disease testing. You can find instructions here. And find a good GP doctor that is paranoid about Lyme and will test you if you start experiencing symptoms. If you get it you’re much better off treating it early.