The drought is not the lawn’s only threat this year
Lawns are still struggling with the effects of the summer heatwave and lack of rain but another, even more damaging prospect, lays in wait – birds and animals rotovating the grass in search of the larvae of leatherjackets and chafer grubs.
Throughout the summer, up until the end of October, garden lawns will be subjected to attack from magpies, crows, badgers and foxes, who start their hunt for some of their favourite snacks – garden chafer grubs and leatherjackets. The larvae live just below the surface of the lawn and the animals and birds will scrape and dig in search of them, destroying the lawn in the process.
The drought is not the lawn’s only threat this year
If this doesn’t decimate the lawn, then the grubs themselves will. Both leatherjackets and garden chafer grubs attack grass roots resulting in slow growth and yellow patches, leaving it easy to pull up, with little or no roots.
To stop this damaging activity, treat lawns with Nemasys Biological Garden Chafer Grub Killer and Nemasys Biological Leatherjacket Killer, releasing millions of microscopic nematodes that will penetrate the soil, seek out the pests and kill them.
Nematodes occur naturally in soil and BASF breeds specific types that each seek out and kill particular prey.
Leatherjackets are about 25mm long, brown, legless and with no distinct head. They are the larval stage of daddy long legs, which can be first spotted in Spring, and lay eggs within days.
Garden chafer grubs are creamy coloured, about 15mm in length and ‘C’ shaped with distinctive legs.
Chafer Grub and Leatherjacket larvae typically hatch from late July and stay underground until they pupate the following April/May. They remain reasonably close to the lawn surface until the colder weather, when they burrow down deeper for protection from the cold and the birds and animals, which encourages their prey to dig deep down to reach them.
Nemasys Garden Chafer Grub Killer and Nemasys Leatherjacket Killer are easily applied. They arrive in the form of a fibrous paste, which you then disperse in water (following mixing guidelines). The watery mix can then be applied via a watering can with a coarse rose for a small lawn or with a hose-end feeder for larger lawns.
Once the garden chafer grub and leatherjacket population has been reduced by the nematodes, the large amount of nematodes applied will die back to their original numbers found naturally in the soil.
An entire season’s worth of pest control can be purchased now via online stockists, to be delivered fresh, straight to your door.
To find out more about how nematodes work, take a look at this short video – https://youtu.be/JHNG1KSluh0
For further information please visit https://www.nemasysinfo.co.uk/ and follow basf_nemasys_uk on Instagram.
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