Garden Q&A: Crows keep digging up our lawn. What can we do?
Larger If Soil Will The Leatherjackets They Lawn For In The And Dig Know They Are In File Birds Crows Picture That
Crows go mad digging and ruining our lawn, seemingly for leatherjackets leaving deep holes in the lawn.
How do we resolve the problem? Our lawn is also very weedy, would scarifying help?
Leatherjackets is the name given to the larvae of what we call daddy-long-legs or craneflies and they feed on the roots of the grass in our lawns.
They rarely do serious damage and they aren’t something that I would necessarily worry about.
Yes, scarifying would help in the spring or early autumn as the thatch which develops on a lawn can provide a protective layer for the leatherjackets.
Crows and larger birds will dig for them if they know that they are in the soil. However, I don’t really see this as a problem, though the mess can be unsightly for a period. I like to look at it as the birds giving my lawn a mini-scarify!
In your case though, if they are leaving deep holes, you could consider taking action to deter the leatherjackets in the first place, though this can be quite difficult.
Using a nematode as a biological control in late summer or early autumn when the larvae are active can help but it is not foolproof as the nematodes work best during warmer weather and the larvae are normally only a problem when the weather is cooling during the autumn.
They like damp, moist soil and it’s been difficult to find any soil in Ireland which isn’t just that, over the last few years. However, helping to improve the drainage by aerating the lawn and top dressing with sand, should help.
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