Insect Control

The insect we are controlling is the European Crane Fly. (ECF)(Tipula paludosa)

The larvae, called Leatherjackets, because of the thick outer jacket it develops, hatch in the late Summer and begin feeding on the shoots and crowns of turfgrass through Winter and into Spring, leaving areas of your lawn thin or missing.  

One of the tell tales of (ECF) infestation is the presence of birds feeding on the abundant larvae. Holes in thin or missing areas of the lawn, about the diameter of a pencil, shows where the birds beak pulled the larvae out of the ground.

Most damage occurs from December thru April, so timing is everything. We include Insect Control with our late Fall Fertilizer application. The larvae are young, without the leather jacket and easy to control with a very small amount of Insect Control.  

We repair the damage with fertilizer, aeration, thatching, lime application and over-seeding with insect resistant grass seed.