Leatherjackets

[organicguy]

Lost a field of spring barley to leatherjackets.
Not being able to use Dursban what are my options to make sure they don't wipe out the grass I want to plant?

 

[Flat 10]

Lost a field of spring barley to leatherjackets.
Not being able to use Dursban what are my options to make sure they don't wipe out the grass I want to plant?

Cultivate it and let the crows eat them....
Ps-dursban was banned for conventional farmers a decade ago.....

 

[Meallydave]

Would the pressure not be off now? I have started to see daddy long legs just the last few days so I presume the damage from leatherjackets will be past?

 

[Great In Grass]

Brassica crop now then sow your grass seed after grazing it off.

 

[APJ]

@Breakthru he’s the chap to advise you. He’s got a product and It does actually work too.

 

[Dave488]

We had a problem with leather jackets in a grass field and after it had an application of digestate on it all you could see was thousands up on thousands of dead ones on the surface, never had a problem since

 

[Breakthru]

@Breakthru he’s the chap to advise you. He’s got a product and It does actually work too.

Thanks for posting that message. There are many others who have used it successfully but unfortunately stay quiet. Regards, B

 

[organicguy]

Thanks for posting that message. There are many others who have used it successfully but unfortunately stay quiet. Regards, B

So spill the beans!

 

[yellow belly]

finding a lot in some fields now notill long term arable
may have been an issue in some fields due to cold weather and slow growth

lesson learned soil temperature is very important

 

[ollie989898]

Lost a field of spring barley to leatherjackets.
Not being able to use Dursban what are my options to make sure they don't wipe out the grass I want to plant?

When are you putting the grass in?

By august they will have turned into adults and fudged off?

 

[Great In Grass]

Yeah, he'll only have Wireworm & Frit Fly to worry about then!

 

[ollie989898]

Yeah, he'll only have Wireworm & Frit Fly to worry about then!

If he sprays the remaining greenery off now and leaves it bare for a month the frit fly will have no where to lay any eggs and should be gone by the time he wants to drill.

I'm yet to see serious wireworm damage to a new ley- the seed rate per square metre is just too high.

 

[yellow belly]

Done a bit of digging in the literature
crane fly lay eggs in late summer autumn on land with grasses
my fields that I find them had a lot of spring barley volunteers
will do a bit more investigation in fields

 

[ollie989898]

Done a bit of digging in the literature
crane fly lay eggs in late summer autumn on land with grasses
my fields that I find them had a lot of spring barley volunteers
will do a bit more investigation in fields

In your situation the green bridge may well be the casual factor.

For winter crops, they should be too big and bold by the time leatherjackets wake up in spring.

 

[Great In Grass]

If he sprays the remaining greenery off now and leaves it bare for a month the frit fly will have no where to lay any eggs and should be gone by the time he wants to drill.

I'm yet to see serious wireworm damage to a new ley- the seed rate per square metre is just too high.

Neighbour lost a newly sown ley only two weeks to Wireworm.

 

[ollie989898]

Neighbour lost a newly sown ley only two weeks to Wireworm.

I would like to have seen that.

 

[Great In Grass]

I would like to have seen that.

I've been trying to find the initial photo he sent me of a seedling with a Wireworm firmly attached to the root!

 

[Breakthru]

So spill the beans!

Greenland to go over it again is sold as a crop tonic? Mixture of (a particular Garlic I am told?) and salacylic acid (as in aspirin).
Label states use between 1 and 3tltr/ha even in multiple applications.
5ltr for £100 del plus Vat. I use it at 1.0ltr/ha along with Reactor water conditioner in hard water areas to remove that as a variable.
It takes out Leatherjackets, wireworm, slugs and some nematodes.
It does not control cutworm larvae but there are alternatives for them.
I find it bemusing that some are very averse to trying something new unless it has years of made up data and a big shiny brochure. 80's and 90's veteran where everything got a go.
If I was a conman I would look to sell a pallet of Breakthru for slugs with anecdotal effects on CSFBeetle at £10k plus rather than 5kg at £55 costing circa £4.50/acre, the same with Greenland at £100 for 5 litres. I can assure you after haulage I am making no fortune, I regard this as helping those with a problem.
Started using Greenland a decade ago in Organic situations where we couldn't use Dursban.
Sorry to those that have seen this all before. B

 

[Breakthru]

Neighbour lost a newly sown ley only two weeks to Wireworm.

Greenland has an effect on wireworm as well. How effective, well you never say anything kills nowadays or it will immediately be banned. Lets just say it frightens them and they disappear and leave the crop alone!!!!

 

[solo]

Recreational tillage over the summer will allow corvids to do a useful job. A good lathering of layer manure will help the new seeds with calcium as well as nutrients and make living conditions unfavourable for wireworm and leather jackets. This worked better for me than dursban and gamma HCH back in the early 1990’s.