[Welsh Merf]

Firstly, many and sincere apologies for not being part of this community for such a long time, probably four or more years?

The reason is that I had to give up my allotment, due to extra work commitments (working late shifts, working extra hours, extra days, etc), all because of a promotion  .

However, in the meantime we've revamped the back garden so that we can grow vegetables in pots and containers positioned on crushed slate areas, south-facing against a new garden fence. All is good in that respect. I have Tigrella and Gardner's Delight tomatoes doing quite nicely in small pots, also Sutton and Banyard Exhibition broad beans, Cobra and Tendergreen French beans, and six Heatewave chilli plants. And today my three different varieties of seed potatoes arrived (can't remember the varieties at the moment), together with the containers they'll be grown in.

However (again) part of that horticultural refurbishment last year was to re-turf the front and back gardens (last spring), which was lovely. But now, as I went to give it the first cut of this spring a few weeks ago, I have been led to believe that I've been attacked by "leatherjackets", and both lawns are patchy and look like they've been ridden over with a trials bike!

1. How can I be sure that I've been attacked by the said leatherjackets?
2. If I have, what are my options, short of re-turfing again?

I have put my question in this section, because I'm not sure where to post questions/queries about lawn care.

Hopefully, someone can give me some advice, and many thanks in advance. Also, if any of you have tips about container growing, please feel free to fire them across!

Regards;
Merf.

[jezza]

Hello if you see Starlings pecking at the lawn they're probably eat Ieatherjackets to check if you have them in the lawn dig a square 12inch×12 inch of turf an inch thick turn it up side down and look in the soil the leather jackets will either be in there or in the soil under neath, the reccommended treatment that killed them is no longer available a good heavy roller mower will squash them jezza 

[jezza]

Hello I have just googled leather jackets the only treatment I can see are nematodes also check that it's not chafergrub they do the same root damage but if grass is damaged it can also be magpies,rooks,or even foxes   jezza

[Gardener and Rabbit]

Hi Merf,

My lawn has leatherjackets, I always turn a few up when I'm hand raking the moss out.  I also have starlings feeding on it that are pursuing them, but they only leave small round holes in the turf.

If you haven't seen any, give an affected area a good watering and then cover over with black plastic or similar. Next day lift it, and see if there are any underneath. They are normally close to the surface, so this should bring them up.

If you don't find leatherjackets, then you could try lifting a piece of the turf and seeing what's in the soil beneath.

Animals & birds can rip up the turf in pursuit of both leatherjackets and chafer grubs.  You can get specific biological controls for each, but you need to know which it is first.

Hope this helps, let us know what you find!

G&R

[Yorkie]

Nothing extra to add, but nice to see you WM!

[Welsh Merf]

Thank you all for your advice. It's good to be back!

I am adding some natural fertiliser and seed (mixed), and plenty of watering, and this seems to be changing things slightly. It's starting to look a little better. I guess it's just time from now on.

If this doesn't work in the end, I'll have to think of a Plan B (and possibly a C, D, E, F, etc).

Thanks again - chat soon!
Merf.