Leather Jackets on old grassland.

Limestone Cowboy

Bit of a strange one. Was talking to a neighbor today that told me he has a serious problem with leather jackets on old grassland. I took a look for myself this evening and there's huge patches of dead white grass and I pulled up a few scraws by hand and there was 3-5 under all of them. Never really heard of them being a problem around here before but have a few acres near it in similar condition and think they might be a problem there too. Wondering what the threshold is to know if they are a problem? Thought my place was just gone a bit poor but soil indexs and ph tested well on it last year.

Reggie.

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

Bit of a strange one. Was talking to a neighbor today that told me he has a serious problem with leather jackets on old grassland. I took a look for myself this evening and there's huge patches of dead white grass and I pulled up a few scraws by hand and there was 3-5 under all of them. Never really heard of them being a problem around here before but have a few acres near it in similar condition and think they might be a problem there too. Wondering what the threshold is to know if they are a problem? Thought my place was just gone a bit poor but soil indexs and ph tested well on it last year.

Can't you spray for them

cj maxx

Reggie. wrote: »

Can't you spray for them

Think there's stuff called clinch that you spray

rangler1

cjmc wrote: »

Think there's stuff called clinch that you spray

Are they a problem in old grassland, I thought in new grass that once the grass was protected to a certain stage that it was too tough for them after, seedling are at risk and should be protected but not after that,You shouldn't be too trigger happy with pesticides, you never know how many other species you're wiping out

blue5000

AFAIK they're the larvae of daddy long legs. I agree with Rangler, if you spray God only knows what else you kill. I remember seeing a lot more daddy long legs last autumn, I suppose the weather was warmer than usual.

Could you roll it? I think that was the old time solution in corn. Usually the second year in tillage is worse for them because the first year they have the rotting scraws to live on. It's unusual to have a problem in grass with them, it's just the big explosion in numbers I suppose.

Muckit

My sister is into bees (as a hobby) and all in her club are experiencing problems with weakness in swarms and some dyng. Putting it down to pesticides being sprayed.

I was out spot spraying last few evenings for docks and anything like the toads/frogs jumping out of the way. It made me stop and think. I thought l wouldn't have even noticed anything if l was boom spraying and stuck in cab of tractor.

yosemitesam1

Durban's gone so I don't think there is any other spray available to control them

yosemitesam1

Muckit wrote: »

My sister is into bees (as a hobby) and all in her club are experiencing problems with weakness in swarms and some dyng. Putting it down to pesticides being sprayed.

I was out spot spraying last few evenings for docks and anything like the toads/frogs jumping out of the way. It made me stop and think. I thought l wouldn't have even noticed anything if l was boom spraying and stuck in cab of tractor.

A lot of the problems with insects and birds is mainly down to there being no food at all for them over large areas due to reseeding and poor management of ditches.
The grandfather was running a good few hives here back in the 50's and barely had to work at all to pull reasonable yields off them but there's huge areas around here I wouldn't even consider putting hives in just because it would be a struggle to keep them healthy let alone get a decent yield (very little tillage around here so practically no pesticide pressure on them).

MickeyShtyles

yosemitesam1 wrote: »

Durban's gone so I don't think there is any other spray available to control them

Dursban isn't gone yet.

yosemitesam1

MickeyShtyles wrote: »

Dursban isn't gone yet.

It's gone since march last year

foxy farmer

Draza slug pellets were used on fresh tillage ground to control leather jackets. Used it here on 2 occasions when setting maize in new ground. Taken off the market with 3 yrs I'd say. Had 2 boxes left until last yr when i left it slip to someone setting beet. He nearly broke down my door looking for it. Apparently the replacement chemicals are not as effective and the price has increased dramatically.

Attie

Cowboy we rolled reseed in September at day break which helps to reduce the numbers. In your case on old pasture don't know what you should do but try rolling ???
Have a look at this.

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/cereal-crops/spring-cereals/pests/