Tag Archives: Leatherjacket

A leatherjacket is the common name for a small grub which lives in the soil under a lawn. They are the larvae of crane flys. (Tipulidae insect family).

The leatherjacket and your lawn

They are laid by the adult flies during the summer. The eggs then hatch in the soil and the larvae much their way through the roots of the grass.

The damage leatherjackets can cause can be devastating. Entire lawns can be destroyed.

Find out more about these difficult pests and how to control them in these blog posts.

Question: Crane flies for ten years

I received this interesting question in August 2020 about crane flies attacking a lawn year after year. “We’ve had leatherjackets now for ten plus years, gradually getting worse every year. We were of the understanding that crane flies return to where they were larvae.” This is an interesting question about crane flies. Find out more about them and if they return.

Question: Lawn seeding after leatherjacket damage

I received this interesting question in the summer of 2020 about seeding a lawn after it had been destroyed by leatherjackets. The reader asks if the timing of sowing the new grass seed should be delayed to prevent re-infection by the pests. Find out the answer to this interesting lawn question and why there are other factors you should consider.

Leatherjackets in your lawn? Follow these steps …

The spring of 2020 has seen a huge rise in the number of leatherjackets infecting lawns. Two mild winters and a damp summer combined with the eradication of any controls has resulted in an explosion in numbers of the insects. If your lawn looks to be suffering, have a dig around, you may find the culprit. So what do you do if you find leatherjackets in your lawn?