This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Grubs in turf
Suzemuze
Posts: 8
We had new turf laid about 6 weeks ago and foxes seemed to attack it immediately.. It's now covered in little dug up holes and irregular patches of brown grass. The damage was more apparent when we cut it. From what I've read, it's most likely the foxes are digging for grubs, and the areas of browning grass are caused by the grubs? I've just bought some nematodes and will then repair the holes with soil and new seed.. But my question is - should I touch the larger patches of browning grass? Is it likely to recover once the suspected infestation has gone or do I need to rake it away and reseed? (Which will be a little disheartening).. There aren't defined areas of totally dead grass - just certain patches where there's a lot of brown grass as well as the green.. Not really sure what to do - any advice would be greatly appreciated!
0
Posts
If you've bought treatment for leatherjackets, which I'm assuming is the problem, I think it's best to apply nematodes as directed and let them do their job, but I'm not an expert on them at all. The browning grass will be the areas where the LJs have done the damage so I don't think it's worth doing much with those areas until the problem's dealt with. It may mean waiting till spring unfortunately.
Sorry - that's probably not much help, but this will bump the thread up for you and someone more experienced with nematodes will be able to help
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Whoever supplied the turf gave you a dud lot!. Treat with the nematodes first, they will take a while to work, 2 weeks after treatment, you can resow the affected patches.
The lawn won't establish properly till next spring /summer, so be patient. If it's still looking ragged in spring, scarify the affected patches and resow them. Lawns are a lot of work and quality of turf can make a huge difference. Your's doesn't sound to be too great, so I'd whinge like hell at whoever sold it too you.
I knew someone like you would come along to help Dave!
I must admit , I didn't really take note of Suze saying it was new turf.
I agree though - that's pretty poor, but it might be difficult to get rectified by whoever supplied it. You know what some of these suppliers are like
Dave - will seed germinate well at that time of year, or is it that I'm sceptical because I'm further north, and it would be pretty cold by end of September for grass to germinate readily?
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Sorry - our posts crossed Suze. Do you have a pic of the grubs? That will help with the advice. I always think of leatherjackets first I'm afraid
Chafer grubs are quite small compared to LJs which are dark - grey/brown - and about an inch long if that's any help.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
If you click on the little tree icon on the toolbar and follow the instructions, that will get your pix on the site. I think with the time of year the problem occurred, it could well be chafers rather than LJs. I had a little look online too! We tend to only get LJ damage here.
Failing that - perhaps you could google images of both grub and it may jog your memory in case you've seen them but not realised what they are.
It's probably best to identify which grub you have before spending more money on nematodes which you may not need though. Maybe you could take a look at night and see if you can see any grubs. With LJs, you can peg down a piece of black polythene down at night and it brings them to the surface in the morning. That might be worth trying too.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Here's a couple of images of the damage. I had a brief look and couldn't see any grubs.. is there a possibility something else has caused this? I know for a fact we've had foxes on there most nights, and they are definitely digging holes in the soil.. that behaviour, coupled with the brown grass led me to the conclusion that there was some sort of infestation.. Could I be wrong...?
Fairygirl, seeding at anytime in September is ok even up north, unless the weather turns suddenly frost and really low temps don't hit us till end of October or November. As for the damage, it's leather jackets causing that. Water in the right nematodes then treat as described. Foxes will dig at new turf as its easy to move, but as I said before the people who sold you the turf need shooting, it's poor quality turf and shouldn't have contained leather jackets. It's certainly grounds for asking for a refund or new turf without the passengers.