Leatherjackets

[Deleted Member 1156]

These pesky little creatures are a major problem on many courses especially since the chemical used to treat them was banned a few years ago. Our greenkeepers are putting tarpaulins on our greens in the evenings to draw them out then collecting them up. The results are staggering. These pictures are from just 1 green!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1384768207203053576

 

[backwoodsman]

Remarkable!

As an aside: once theyve collected them, do you know what they do to dispose of the critters?

 

[rulefan]

There is a treatment for leather jacket and chafer grub infestation which I have used successfully. Nematodes.
The chemical treatment is still available in the USA.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Some years ago, the crows on our course learned how to dig them out and eat them. What a mess! Luckily, happened mostly on fairways than on the greens. Not sure what the greens staff do now, I shall have to ask.

 

[rosecott]

Remarkable!

As an aside: once theyve collected them, do you know what they do to dispose of the critters?

Fried quickly on a high heat with some crushed garlic.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

There is a treatment for leather jacket and chafer grub infestation which I have used successfully. Nematodes.
The chemical treatment is still available in the USA.

Scroll down through the replies in the tweet, there is a picture of the greenkeepers dogs eating ??

 

[clubchamp98]

Fried quickly on a high heat with some crushed garlic.

Well with global warming and asking us to eat less meat that might not be to far from the truth.

 

[jim8flog]

There is a treatment for leather jacket and chafer grub infestation which I have used successfully. Nematodes.
The chemical treatment is still available in the USA.

Lots of chemical treatments are still available in America eg the one for fusarium. Their chemical industry lobbyists are probably more successful than the Europe's. There is a reason they get banned here.

 

[jim8flog]

We tried the tarpaulin method. Lot of work and it really did not make that much difference in the long run.

 

[Orikoru]

I really thought this was going be a thread about someone wearing a leather jacket on the course and whether it should be allowed or not.

 

[chrisd]

We've got them big time and re using the tarpaulin way to draw them out. Now we are out of the EU I wonder whether permission to use the old treatment will be ok'd ?

This is a copy and paste from an email received yesterday from my Club

We have also placed an order with https://bionema.com/ that have developed a nematode worm that feed on Leather Jackets, this is a fairly new science which we will trial over the coming months.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

We have them as well but they appear to be dying away

We used the sheets as well

There are some treatments to use but at the moment greenkeepers are unsure on when is the best time to use them and it’s very expensive for one treatment

 

[backwoodsman]

We've got them big time and re using the tarpaulin way to draw them out. Now we are out of the EU I wonder whether permission to use the old treatment will be ok'd ?

This is a copy and paste from an email received yesterday from my Club

We have also placed an order with https://bionema.com/ that have developed a nematode worm that feed on Leather Jackets, this is a fairly new science which we will trial over the coming months.

General opinion in the horticultural industries is that "withdrawn permissions" are unlikely to be reinstated now that we're "out".

 

[rulefan]

We have them as well but they appear to be dying away

We used the sheets as well

There are some treatments to use but at the moment greenkeepers are unsure on when is the best time to use them and it’s very expensive for one treatment

Domestic prices are about £20 for 100sq/ms (Leather Jacket) and £30 for Chafer Grub/Fly. Applications are done in spring and autumn

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Domestic prices are about £20 for 100sq/ms (Leather Jacket) and £30 for Chafer Grub/Fly. Applications are done in spring and autumn

Then best inform the greenkeepers association of your time table because right now there are still a lot of discussions - and “spring and autumn” are long periods.

It’s still very much experimental

 

[BubbaP]

Some years ago, the crows on our course learned how to dig them out and eat them. What a mess! Luckily, happened mostly on fairways than on the greens. Not sure what the greens staff do now, I shall have to ask.

Has happened where I play, bit of a losing battle, especially when the course was closed.

 

[rulefan]

Then best inform the greenkeepers association of your time table because right now there are still a lot of discussions - and “spring and autumn” are long periods.

It’s still very much experimental

Lawns in this part of my town have been devastated by the chafer grub for a few years now. An airline pilot friend brought me a few cans of the USA treatment for a couple of years and then he retired. I was attacked the following year. Then I was pointed to nematodes and haven't had a problem for four or five years since. But many of my neighbours still suffer badly from the crows digging for grubs in the late spring and eggs in late summer.
Oddly, golf courses tend to suffer more from crows (and badgers) digging for daddy long legs larva (leather jackets) normally in the autumn and when the ground warms up in the spring

 

[richart]

We don't have a problem so much with the leatherjackets, it is the badgers that keep digging them up that iis our problem. Couple of years back badgers dug up the whole of our third fairway, though you would never know now. Trouble is they seem to be making their way round the course as they are onto the fourth now. I think there is something you can legally spray put on the greens to stop them. Seem to remember seeing a Dan Hendriksen video with his head greenkeeper. Expense stuff though.

 

[rulefan]

We don't have a problem so much with the leatherjackets, it is the badgers that keep digging them up that iis our problem. Couple of years back badgers dug up the whole of our third fairway, though you would never know now. Trouble is they seem to be making their way round the course as they are onto the fourth now. I think there is something you can legally spray put on the greens to stop them. Seem to remember seeing a Dan Hendriksen video with his head greenkeeper. Expense stuff though.

As said earlier, the spray was made illegal in the EU many years ago.

Some years ago, the crows on our course learned how to dig them out and eat them. What a mess! Luckily, happened mostly on fairways than on the greens. Not sure what the greens staff do now, I shall have to ask.

Very rare to find them under the green surface. There is little or no nutrition for them. Green approaches are ideal.

 

[richart]

As said earlier, the spray was made illegal in the EU many years ago.

Very rare to find them under the green surface. There is little or no nutrition for them. Green approaches are ideal.

Not according to the Torquay head greenkeeper ! Perhaps there is more than one spray that could be used against leatherjackets ?