Managing Lawn Pests
You may be wondering which pests cause the most damage
- Leather-jackets, the larvae of the crane fly
- Chafer grubs, the larvae of garden chafer beetle
- Birds, badgers and foxes dig for these grubs causing extensive lawn damage
Why are chafer grubs in my lawn? What can I do about leather jackets? How do you kill lawn pests? When can I treat my lawn for chafer grubs?
Prevention is the best way to avoid insect damage in lawns
A healthy lawn is the best way to prevent chafer grub or leather jacket damage:
- Ensure your lawn is healthy and the grass is growing well through correct nutrition
- Control moss to reduce the chances of insect infestation in lawns
- Improve drainage through aeration
- Scarify to reduce thatch to eliminate the conditions these insects like to live in
Maybe you’re wondering why it isn’t easier to kill these lawn pests
Well, the answer is simple;
We need to work with nature to keep our gardens beautiful. Pests should be discouraged but not destroyed
Insects are part of our eco-system we need the correct management to prevent damage;
Reasons why the damage is caused;
- Poorly managed lawns create ideal conditions for insect populations to explode in numbers
- These lawn pests live on thatch and the roots of your lawn grass
- Other animals like to eat the grubs so dig up your lawn to find them
- Once the turf is damaged it usually needs complete removal and re-laying or re-seeding
Moss and thatch is a major contributor to these problems. So how do you get rid of moss in lawns?
Follow these simple steps;
- Identify the reasons for your mossy lawn
- Treat moss with a liquid moss-killer and wetting agent to aid penetration
- Remove dead moss but not grass by raking, or scarify larger lawns – it’s hard work
- Re-seed bare lawn areas
- Consider the best time of year to weed and feed a lawn
- Improve lawn drainage and shade issues
- Apply preventative moss treatments annually
Want to know the best part?
Save yourself time and money on lawn care;
It’s more cost effective to pay a lawn care professional and achieve the best results than to do it yourself!