Insect Control

The insects we are controlling are the European Crane Fly (Tipula paludosa) and European Chafer Beetle (Amphimallon majale). Both insects can cause significant damage to a lawn in their larval phase, which is why preventative action is important to protect your lawn.

These insects cause the most damage from December through April. Before this time the larvae are young, vulnerable and easy to kill with only a small amount of Insect Control, which we include with our late Fall Fertilizer application.

The crane fly larvae are also known as ‘Leatherjackets’ because of the thick outer skin they eventually develop. Both crane fly and chafer beetle larvae feed on turfgrass roots, shoots, and crowns. They hatch in late summer and begin feeding from Fall through Spring, leaving areas of your lawn thin and susceptible to weed or moss invasion.

One way to spot infestations is the presence of lawn damage due to animals feeding on the larvae. Small pencil sized holes in thin or missing areas of the lawn show where birds pull crane fly larvae out of the ground, and skunks or raccoons may dig up the lawn to reach chafer beetle larvae.

If a lawn has already suffered damage from infestation we recommend aeration, dethatching, lime application and over-seeding in addition to regular fertilizer to encourage dense turfgrass regrowth.

After every application we recommend staying off the lawn for 2-4 hours to give the fertilizer time to dry/make its way down to the root zone. This prevents the risk of transfer as well as allowing the lawn time to absorb the nutrients. Our technicians are licensed and receive ongoing training; our equipment is seasonally calibrated and cleaned.