Turfgrass managers regularly fertilize St. Augustinegrass to produce dark green and dense southern lawns. It has been presumed that keeping turf healthy reduces its susceptibility to key insect pests and their damage. However, the importance of nitrogen to southern chinch bug, Blissus insularis Barber, population dynamics has not been clearly demonstrated. Five rates of nitrogen (0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 lbs N/1000 sq. ft.) in a soluble fertilizer (NPK: 16-4-8) were applied in a randomized complete block design with five replications to 3 x 3 ft plots of ‘Floratam’ St. Augustinegrass located in Citra, FL, once a month. Leaf tissue was periodically collected to assess total nitrogen content for each treatment. In the first test, first instars (<24 hr old) were given turf cores from each plot, and survival and development time were determined after 3 weeks. As they emerged, adults were separated by the fertilizer rate at which they had developed. Two adult pairs of the same nitrogen rate were placed on stolons that received the same nitrogen rate as that on which the chinch bugs developed. The number of eggs laid were counted weekly. Similarly, two adult B. insularis (<7 days old) pairs that were field collected as fifth instars and temporarily placed into colony were given stolons from the different treatments to assess the short-term effect of nitrogen on fecundity.