Lawn Pests

Towards the end of last year (September time) you may have noticed loads of cranefly, or daddy longlegs as they are commonly known.
If you did, there is a good chance that they laid their eggs in your lawn and the larvae (called Leatherjackets) are currently munching their way through the roots and young shoots.
If your lawn starts deteriorating quickly it could be you have these bugs in your lawn. They will devastate it if you don't get it treated.
It is a major problem across the country at the moment, which is being made worse by the mild winters we have had over the last couple of years.

 

What treatment do you recommend, Lawn Man? Will improving drainage and the general condition of the lawn help, or do they have to be removed somehow? I'm not keen on chemicals, so I'd be looking for alternatives..... It would be a bit hard to locate each and every one and dig them up.....

I haven't come across them as a problem up here, but they were beginning to be a problem in open grass areas in the area of Herts where I used to live.

 

Aeration will help to prevent attacks, but if too late there are various treatments, some with chemicals, carbaryl, will help. I had a customer who had a really bad case of leatherjackets. to the extent that any part of his lawn could be lifted literally, like loose carpet. He was totally opposed to chemicals, so i spiked the lawn, spread sand over and then every morning he spread breadcrumbs over the lawn, which inturn encouraged starlings that also ate the leatherjackets as they moved home, they hate sand. Last i heard, he was trying to find a cure from starlings. No leatherjackets, but plenty of birdy pooh on jags.

 

Love it!!!!

But that sounds a good procedure, despite the change of one problem for another......

 

I'm afraid there are no alternatives to using chemicals - although there are a number of lawn care firms who may have some other solutions - here's some info on Leatherjackets .

 

Starlings and blackbirds will keep leather jackets under control. Chemicals kill friends and foes indiscriminately and will make your garden a wildlife-free zone. You will be ever more dependent on poisons and locked into an arms race that you can never win.