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Dead Lawn
Howard Cogan
Posts: 5
My lawn which was seeded in 2013 and has been well tended since has died off almost completely over the autumn . Up until October I have been very pleased with its appearance . During October I lightly scarified it and gave it an autumn dressing .
It now is almost bare earth . Any ideas on the cause and what to do to reclaim it welcomed .
My neighbors lawns are all fine , although I have considered salt spray as I live close to the sea and it has been very windy .
Has anybody else experienced this ?
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Posts
If your neighbours lawns are OK then I'd consider having a dig around and look for leather jackets as the main cause. I presume your neighbouring lawns have similar exposure to salt spray and as it initially took and grew well drainage wouldn't be an issue.
Thanks , I should have said , I have dug four samples and examined the subsoil , no sign of leatherjackets or cockchafer grubs .
What did you use for the autumn dressing? Any chance that could be the cause?
Once leather jackets have fed they go deeper into the ground to escape predators. I'm not surprised you can't find any they've eaten their fill. So as Verdun has said treat it in late summer after the crane flies have have laid their eggs it should help, although a repeat application a month later will achieve best results.
Thanks Verdun but my question related to Howard's original post where he said he scarified then gave an autumn dressing. I don't know anything much about lawns but I just wondered if he might have accidentally used the wrong product or the wrong dosage which then caused the grass to die off.
No problem
They (leatherjackets) seem to have been particularly noticeable this year. The mild weather?
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...