The Lawn Doctor

Worm Casts

Allolobophora species of earthworms are responsible for worm casts. These worms feed on decaying vegetation in the soil and deposit their muddy excrement on the lawn surface. They blunt mowers, smother suppressed growth, and cause ideal germination sites for weeds. They also encourage lawn disease, and attract mole populations.

But earthworms can have a beneficial effect on the lawn also as their burrowing activity can help the aerating and drainage on the lawn, also they can incorporate organic matter into the soil.

We find that you have to strike a balance here between removing the problem and causing another one. I have products that will suppress this problem for a few months over the worst period, October - February or can remove it completely if required.

Moss

Probably the most common problem, that customers complain about, or ask our opinion on, is moss. Mosses are very simple plants, which with liverworts are classified together as bryophates. Most are generally lowly plants, which are not seen very easily. They are very common and occur in almost any terrestrial environment where moisture is available. Mosses produce no roots as such, but they do produce structures called rhizoids, which have a purely anchoring function, with water and nutrients being absorbed via the arial part of the plant.

There are approximately 600 species of moss in the UK, of which about 30 plus can occur in turf. There are normally 2 major growth periods for moss during the year, autumn, when spores are produced, and spring, when spores are produced, before dying off.

Lawn doctor use a moss killer that will last for up to a 3-month period, and also have the experience and expertise to keep it away. If you have a major moss problem, or a recurring moss problem, talk to me, and we will explain the best remedy for returning your lawn back to full health.

Leather Jackets

The leatherjacket is the larva of the crane fly, and is 30-40mm in length when fully grown. The crane fly is on the wing between late July and early September. During this time they can lay their eggs below the surface of the turf. The larvae or (leather jackets) hatch 2-3 weeks later, when they start devouring your turf grass roots and stem bases with biting mouthparts. The larvae can then feed right through to the following June.

Damage is not obvious until the springtime when the Leather jackets are growing fast. The first visible signs of damage are seen as straw-coloured patches of turf, which later become bare and can become invaded by weeds. Feeding birds are also a good indication that leather jackets are present.

Dog Urine Damage

Dogs can cause real damage to a lawn when they urinate on it. Urine from a dog or bitch can cause scorching of the turf. There are no simple answers and no magic cures or products on the market that can provide a quick fix.

Apart from training the dog to use one area of your garden with bark laid down, or keeping the dog off the lawn completely there is little you can do. You will stand little chance of weakening the problem by following the dog around with a hose or bucket of water to weaken the impact

Moles

A mole population will wreak havoc on lawns, golf links, racecourses and farms. Moles also endanger racehorses and cattle, wreck farm machinery and damage your lawns. A ban on strychnine, the poison they use under licence has exacerbated the problem.
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The Pest Control Association, have had complaints nation-wide about the population boom of Moles. Mole catchers have been inundated with calls but without poison they must resort to trapping, which is more costly.

Using traps on a large site takes hours because of the increased labour and travel time in laying traps and checking them every 48 hours. Homeowners can temporarily get rid of moles by putting mothballs down their holes or deploying inexpensive mole traps.

If you have tried to remove this problem from your lawn with little or no success then please contact me and I can put you in touch with our pest control specialist.

Chafer Grubs

The chafer grub is probably the most worrying insect that you can ever have in a domestic lawn. You can tell that you have chafer grubs by if:

You can pull the turf up like a wig or roll the turf back like a carpet.

You have dead brown turf areas?

You have birds or other animals digging in your lawn?

If you can answer yes to one of the above you probably have chafer grubs, and you need this problem sorting sooner rather than later. Once the birds discover these in your lawn, it's like ringing the dinner bell, and you will end up with no lawn left in a short space of time.

The life cycle of this pest can be quite long of up to two years, in the colder months from October onwards they start to burrow deeper into the soil of up to 12 inches and go into hibernation, during this winter period they are harder to kill with chemicals.

When the soil temperature rises in the spring they again produce larvae for the next generation, then moving closer to the surface again to destroy the roots of your grass.

There is really only only legal way of removing Chafer Grubs, and that is by using a particular pesticide. Many have also tried using Nematodes as an alternative to a pesticide to deal with this problem. Nematodes find and kill insect by releasing their own unique bacteria that infect the insects. They are non harmful to humans or pets and these products are unrestricted in their use because they are normally harmless to the environment - However, they rarely work! and most revert to a pesticide to remove this problem.

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