With warmer, sunnier days just around the corner, a beautifully kept lawn is essential for creating that ideal space for sunbathing, BBQs, or garden parties. However, pests can wreak havoc to our precious lawns and cause unsightly damage. To help keep your garden healthy and thriving, we’ve highlighted the key warning signs to look out for, and some ideas for reclaiming your lawn and getting it back to its best!
- The Destructive Diggers!
Moles are ground-dwelling mammals known for their ability to create intricate tunnelling systems that can leave your lawn in a huge mess. Moles live off insects and grubs so they hunt where soil is moist, and they can find plenty of food. Despite their size, they can dig at a whopping 4m an hour! Signs that you have this garden guest go beyond simple molehills that you might expect – they also include damaged grass, raised ridges of soil or spongy ground underfoot.
Moles aren’t a harmful pest, in fact, they aerate your soil, provide free fertiliser, and help build a healthy and robust lawn. Nevertheless, they can leave you with a messy looking landscape, so we’ve got several strategies to prevent them from making your garden their next home.
As moles are attracted to moist soil where they can find the most grubs, watering your lawn less will make the earth harder for moles to dig through and reduce the amount of food for them to eat. If you’d like to pre-plan for this garden visitor, or if you know your area is particularly prone to moles, you can put down mole netting before laying your turf. This will prevent them coming to the surface and creating those unsightly mole hills.
Moles are also extremely sensitive to sound so you can buy electronic deterrents that are placed on your lawn and make a buzzing sound. Alternatively, encourage children or pets to run around and create some noise, we’re sure they’d be happy to help! Moles also have an acute sense of smell. Scatter your lawn with coffee or cayenne pepper, or grow potent plants such as Daffodils, Marigolds or Caper Spurge along the border of your lawn.
Unfortunately, while it might seem a great solution and quick fix, patting down a mole hill without an added deterrent would be a waste of time as the mole will just dig more tunnels. Re-fill and collapse any surface tunnels alongside the above steps to regain a level lawn. You can even use any excess soil to refill potted plants.
A mole will only leave your lawn alone when they run out of food or are encouraged to move elsewhere so follow the above steps to send them packing!
2. Leatherjackets
Leatherjackets are the larvae of Crane Flies (otherwise known as daddy long-legs) and damage lawns by eating grass roots under the surface. These critters can cause yellow or brown patches of grass and even kill sections of your lawn. The grubs are a greyish colour and have elongated, tubular bodies up to 30mm long. They are easy to spot by lifting the top layer of soil, as they roam around at surface level. Since 2016, all effective pesticides to control Leatherjackets have been banned in the UK so you won’t be able to use any chemical control methods. Instead, we recommend nematodes, microscopic parasites that infect the grubs with bacterial diseases. They can be watered into the ground between August and October when the earth is still warm and moist. Steinernema feltiae, are the best nematodes for Leatherjackets and are perfectly safe for gardens shared with children, pets, and other wildlife. Scarification and aeration are often enough to rejuvenate a lawn affected by these pests but if it has become extremely bare, you may have to returf or reseed.
3. Chafer Grubs (June Bug)
Similarly, to leatherjackets, these grubs cause yellow patches and can kill sections of your lawn. Their presence attracts birds (especially crows), badgers, hedgehogs and foxes who all dig up turf to feed on them, so an influx of other animals or damaged ground is the easiest way to spot an infestation. They are found under the surface, in areas with loose soil. They are easily identifiable with stout white bodies, light brown heads and are up to 18mm long.
The best way to get rid of these grubs is again with pathogenic nematodes, specifically Heterorhabditis bacteriophora which can be applied from July to September. Use our powerful SA32E electric scarifier to quickly refresh your top layer of lawn and prevent any beetle larvae from settling. We also recommend planting intensely fragrant plants or herbs such as garlic and lemongrass to help deter Chafer Grubs.
Once you’ve removed or killed these pests, repair the damage to your lawn by re-sowing with grass seed.
4. Small but powerful…
Although they can be a nuisance, ants should be tolerated as much as possible as they are an important aspect of your garden’s biodiversity. They help to aerate your soil and eat other pests such as mites or larvae.
Ants do not class as a lawn pest as such, but there’s nothing worse than a summer picnic ruined by an ant invasion!
It may sound off, but we recommend dissolving peppermint essence in vodka, mixing the solution with a pint of water, and using a spray bottle to generously coat the nest. Spray 2-3 times a day, for a couple of days to encourage the colony to move elsewhere. Otherwise, just brush away the excess soil from the ant hill as this won’t hurt the ants underground but will help keep your lawn looking tidy.
Avoid pouring boiling water on an ant’s nest as you will kill essential grass and soil microbes in the process. If your ant invasion is becoming a serious issue, you could use Steinernema feltiae nematodes and we recommend regularly aerating and scarifying your lawn.
5. Your Pets!
Obviously, we can’t class our beloved pets as pests, but dog urine can actually destroy your lawn because of its high nitrogen content. Damaged grass will turn yellow and may even kill grass roots.
We recommend encouraging your dog to stick to a designated toilet spot on stones and gravel, or somewhere out of sight from your main garden. If your dog urinates on your lawn, immediately spray the area with water to dilute the nitrogen and reduce the risk of it burning your grass. A lawn repair treatment can also flush out nitrogen and stimulate grass root growth but be careful as some of these can be harmful to pets too.
6. Fungal Diseases
There are multiple lawn diseases that can grow in the UK including Red Thread, Snow Mould, Fairy Rings and Dry Patch. Infections are most likely to occur during warm and wet months and attack the grass plant’s root structure resulting in visible discoloration and deterioration.
Some lawn diseases can look similar and therefore be hard to identify. A Snow Mould infection results in white fluffy patches and Red Thread fungi turns grass a red or pink colour. Fairy Rings leave brown circles approximately 4.5m-9m in diameter and Dry Patch results in spots of dead, dry soil.
Unfortunately, there are no permanent cures for lawn diseases, but some can be controlled with fungicides. Preventive measures are key. By maintaining good gardening practices, you can reduce the likelihood of an attack. Ensure your lawn has sufficient sunlight and airflow, prevent over compacting, and reduce thatch levels.
If you’ve lost some grass in a fungal attack, rake out any damaged areas, spike over the areas to relieve compaction and apply lawn seed and top dressing to start regrowth.
cobragarden.wordpress.com 