This blog is a couple of weeks old but thought l would share, as many greenkeepers and groundsman are still struggling with damage from animals digging, especially with leather jacket damage.

It’s easter bank Holiday weekend and I’ve had a crazy amount of messages all about the same thing! Leather Jackets coming out of the ground in their hundreds. To the point where they are pouring into bunkers.

I’m not sure I remember a situation like this ever – The images people are sending me are frightening.

So why are we seeing this countrywide surfacing of Leather Jackets? To be honest I don’t know – but the benefit of PestTracker data is we saw last year that the spring hatch was pretty big and we can begin to see how close we are to a spring hatch and I suspect that with this weather we’re only a few days away.

I would guess again that they are pretty close to pupating and something different (and let’s face it this is a very different year to normal) is going on enabling them to come to the surface.

So if this is different phenomenome then why is it happening?

• Different watering pattern?
• Different feed program?
• Lack of foot traffic?
• Less mowing?
• Something else?

Let me know your thoughts – I’d be fascinated to know what you think – you never know this could be a clue into getting to grips with this .

Click here if you wish to log your findings-https://greencastadvisory.net/2020/04/10/leather-jacket-explosion/

One great question I did get was – do you think I can overseed? I’m worried about seedlings getting eaten.

My best guess is the the Leather Jacket damage your seeing are about to go into their pupae stage and will be hatching sometime in the next 2 weeks. So I would make the most of this period of no golf and go for it. Particularly if you’ve seen significant damage – you should have some open spaces for the seed to germinate in. By the time seed pops I think we’ll be clear of the feeding.

So after a winter of flooding, A droughted Spring, an infestation of Leather Jackets and a pandemic that no-one could of predicted – it’s all starting to sound a little biblical – My money is on Boris walking out of hospital on Easter Monday – Could anyone have written this script?

Stay Safe.

Glenn

To read the article in full go to-https://greencastadvisory.net/2020/04/10/leather-jacket-explosion/

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