A leatherjacket infestation can wreak havoc on your lawn and leave it looking tired, worn, and patchy. If you’ve recently been a victim of a leatherjacket infestation, good news – your lawn can be saved!
What are leatherjackets?
Leatherjackets are the grubs of European crane flies (also commonly known as daddy-long-legs). In the late summer craneflies lay their eggs in the ground, and the maggots that hatch are what’s known as leatherjackets.
Leatherjacket grubs eat the grass stems and roots just below the surface of the lawn where they nest, until the summer rolls back around and they emerge as craneflies.
Repairing lawn after leatherjacket infestation
A leatherjacket infestation can leave your lawn patchy, thin, and vulnerable to weeds and other pests. If your lawn has been damaged by a leatherjacket infestation, the following treatments can help repair your lawn:
Scarification
Leatherjackets can leave your lawn vulnerable to thatch build up and moss, which can in turn further weaken your lawn. Following a leatherjacket infestation, scarification may sometimes be necessary to remove this build up.
Lawn Scarification
Aeration
Lawn aeration is a great way to improve ventilation, which can help strengthen weakened grass roots by making it easier for water and essential nutrients to reach them. Aeration also helps reduce compaction, which can sometimes occur following a leatherjacket infestation.
Lawn Aeration
Top dressing
Top dressing is a mix of materials typically including a blend of sand, soil, and loam, of which a combination is usually selected to be a good match with the composition with the existing soil. Top dressing provides many benefits to a lawn, including protecting newly seeded and other vulnerable areas of your lawn, controlling and reducing the build-up of future thatch, encouraging greater rooting, and stimulating new grass growth, all of which is vital when repairing a lawn ravaged by leatherjackets.
Top Dressing
Overseeding
Overseeding involves the application of fresh grass seeds to your lawn to help encourage lush, thick grass growth where it has thinned out. Leatherjackets eat away at your grass roots and leave your lawn wispy and patchy; in many cases, overseeding is necessary following a leatherjacket infestation.
Lawn Overseeding
If you currently have a leatherjacket infestation in your lawn and are looking for professional assistance in returning your lawn to its former glory, Lawn & Weed Expert are lawn care and pest control experts, and have decades of dealing with leatherjackets beneath their belts.
If you’d like to read more about leatherjackets and how we can help you, head on over to our leatherjacket control page!
Leatherjacket Control Services
If your lawn is in need of some TLC following a leather jacket infestation, Lawn & Weed Expert offer a wide range of services that can help restore your lawn.
If you’re not sure which treatment method is best suited to your lawn in its current state, why not reach out to Lawn & Weed Expert today for your FREE lawn survey? One of our lawn care professionals will survey your lawn and offer their expert opinion as to which lawn care treatments will best revitalise your lawn, along with a no-nonsense quote.
What have you got to lose? Reach out and arrange your free lawn survey today!
Free Lawn Survey
Read More: Lawn Damage Caused by Leatherjackets
