Gardening pests - Leatherjackets

Colm O

Hi

Each night small pests known as leatherjackets appear on my lawn - they eventually turn into daddy-long-legs but at the moment all they want to do is eat my grass! Baby Bio used to have a product called Pravado but I believe they have taken it off the market in Ireland. Anyone know if I can get this product in the Dublin/Louth area or any other ideas on how to get rid of these pests?

Thanks

Irish Gardener

Hello Colm O.
To the best of my knowledge there is no effective product available to home gardeners for the control of leatherjackets.
If your lawn is a reasonable size though, you could try this control measure....

Cut your lawn at the lowest setting on your mower.
Then pray for heavy rain or else water your lawn well with a sprinkler.
That night cover the grass with a sheet of black polythene (silage plastic) and keep it in place with some well placed rocks.
The next morning remove the cover and you should be staring at masses of leatherjackets that have come to the surface.
Pick them, sweep them or my personal favourite use a high powered garden vacuum to suck them up.
Enjoy.....

MargeS

oooh! I have the exact same problem. Buggers are EVERYWHERE. They will turn into DaddyLonglegs around August time apparently, and then the whole cycle starts again. I went looking for a product recently and was told the same thing - no product available.

GreeBo

Try Here

Colm O

Thanks for all your replies - nice to know they're not just picking on me!

GreeBo - I've checked that site out thanks.

Colm