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Disappearing lawn!
Chris1982
Posts: 5
Every winter my lawn disappears, it's clay soil and always seems wet even when it hasn't rained for a few days (no surface water even when it rains). Every spring I seed it and it grows back and by the summer it's a lovely green lawn, and then it dies off in the winter and so the cycle repeats. Any idea whats causing this and what can be done to resolve it? Upon closer inspection you can see the ground is not compact and it would seem there are plenty of worms as there seems to be lots of holes and the soil disrupted, is this a good thing?
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I'd agree with Verdun, treat by applying nematodes in spring.
I haven't noticed any, my neighbors lawn which is directly the other side of the fence seems to be fine, would they not also have the same problem? I haven't noticed an unusual amount of birds in the garden, however in the summer when i left the lawn for several weeks to allow the seed to take hold before mowing it I had lots or crane flys in my lawn, is there a way to tell for sure if thats what it is?
Crane flies in the lawn is a bit of a clue, as well as the time of year that your grass is disappearing.
I'd try using nematodes https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=651
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
As the lawn is in such a state, I was thinking of rotavating it and starting over with it as it is a little uneven, My plan was in the spring, rotavate it then seed it, or should I treat the leatherjackets issue in the autumn first?
As you can probably tell I'm no expert when gardening so please excuse my ignorance!
Defiantly looks like Leatherjackets, they come out onto the patio in early morning or evening and when it rains, also the grass is still being killed off, I think due to the mild temperatures they're still active, is there anyway I can treat them now? I'm worried they'll spread to next doors garden and if I treat mine as soon as my lawn is nice again they'll be back!
Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it, I'm not convinced they won't spread to next door, the only thing separating our lawn from theirs is a fence which is slightly off the ground (enough of a gap for the leatherjackets to fit through) and they are still very much active, early in the morning, in the evening and when it rains we have a good hundred + crawling on our patio slabs! For some reason we don't seem to have any interest from any birds, maybe due to living in a fairly build up area, i've got some bird seed to put on the lawn (or where it was!) to encourage them to eat the leatherjackets!
I'm thinking of getting a lawn specialist in to treat it but worried it'll be pointless if next door end up with them and they just come back next year