Active ingredient
Bifenthrin
Pyrethroid (sodium channel modulator)
A contact insecticide, and the cheapest and most widely sold active in lawn insect control.
What it does
Kills insects it touches at or near the surface — chinch bugs, mole crickets, ants, and adult beetles feeding on foliage. On surface chewers such as armyworms and sod webworms it is genuinely one of the recommended options.
What it does not do
It does not reach white grubs, whatever the bag says. Pyrethroids bind tightly to thatch and soil organic matter and lose activity before reaching a larva feeding several inches down. Penn State lists them for adult scarab beetles rather than with the grub actives.
The label constraint people miss
Several bifenthrin bags print 'grubs' on the front. That word is earned by a pest somewhere on the label, not by the ability to solve the problem you bought it for.
Products we review that contain it
Every product below is here because we opened its label — on EPA's own database or the registrant's — and read Bifenthrin in the ingredient statement. Registration numbers are on each product's page.
Fertilizer + Insecticide
Scotts Turf Builder SummerGuard Lawn Food with Insect Control
★★★★☆ (3.9/5)
A summer feeding and a surface-insect treatment in one pass. Convenient when scouting has already confirmed an insect problem — and the wrong choice when it hasn't.
Best for: Summer feeding on a lawn with a confirmed surface-insect problem
$47–$57
View on Amazon
Surface Insecticide Concentrate
Atticus Talak 7.9% Bifenthrin Concentrate
★★★★☆ (4/5)
Professional-strength bifenthrin at a fraction of the cost per treated square foot — for the pests that live at the surface, which does not include grubs.
Best for: Confirmed surface-feeding insects, treated as a spot job rather than a whole-lawn spray
$26 (32 oz) – $41 (1 gal)
View on Amazon
Surface Insecticide (granular)
Ortho BugClear Lawn Insect Killer1 Granules
★★★☆☆ (2.8/5)
Enormous coverage for the money, and the one pest on the front of the bag it will not deliver on is the one people buy it for.
Best for: Cheap whole-lawn coverage against surface insects — not for grubs, whatever the bag says
$9–$14
View on Amazon
Professional Surface Insecticide (microencapsulated)
Syngenta Demand CS Insecticide Concentrate
★★★★☆ (4.1/5)
A professional microencapsulated pyrethroid — excellent at what pest-control operators buy it for, which is structures and perimeters rather than lawns.
Best for: Perimeter and structural pest work around the house, not whole-lawn or grub treatment
$36–$44 (8 oz)
View on Amazon
Guides that use Bifenthrin
- Mosquitoes in the Yard: Four Days of Water Is All
- Ticks in the Yard: What the Spray Does Not Do
- Grub Preventer vs Grub Killer: The Bag May Be Neither
- How to Read a Pesticide Label: The Registration Number First
- Do Japanese Beetle Traps Work? Three Services Say No
- Armyworms and Sod Webworms: Which Ate Your Lawn?
Buy for the active, then read the label anyway. Two products with the same active are not interchangeable — concentration, labelled sites and species tolerances all vary, and a three-part registration number means a narrowed label. How to read one in two minutes. Where our page and your container disagree, the container is the legal authority.