General Chat

you're welcome!


I hope it works for you xx

Sylviain


A big thank you for all your time......such a problem......
I have quite a lot of garden and we are surrounded by farmland and fields as far as one can see, SO no street lights,,,so I guess we would be in a dark area......

I guess all we can try is nematodes ......Your welcome to come and stay If you would like to show me how it's done......
Many-many thanks again for all your help.

Margaret x

Margaret .................


yes, the larvae eat all the roots ...... the raccoons and skunks have an easy time of it when they roll up the grass.

It's also quite funny watching the crows tossing the clumps of grass around ....... that is, if it was so maddening!! <<<<<<< OOPS. I meant to put "if it was NOT so maddening."


I hate to say this .................


nematode spraying is the ONLY thing that has been recommended ............ BUT it is not really all that effective ................ I know several professional gardeners who roll their eyes. Most of them have tried it, but the time line for applying is so tight.

Like you, all the insecticides that would have worked have been taken off the market. There is one insecticide that would do the trick that is still available to professional gardeners for use in certain areas ............. not home gardens!!.

OH is seriously thinking of trying to get some :-)


He is going to dig up what grass is left in the front garden ........... it's only quite a small patch, about 7' x 4', and surrounded by rose beds. He'll kill whatever grubs he finds, leave the soil turned over for a few days, then apply lime and re-seed.


The problem is that we also have some lawn in the back garden, plus we have to take care of grass outside our fences and on the city's boulevard between the sidewalk and the street ................. as we are a corner house that means that we have 2 strips about 3' x 102' and 2 strips about 3' x 30'. There is one huge maple tree on the shorter strip of city boulevard, and 4 flowering cherry trees planted in the long strip .......... and we certainly don't want them to be damaged.

I think we will let our lawn mower man heavily lime all that lot of grass in the next 2 or 3 weeks, and then feed it, and cut the grass to the higher length!


One thing that is apparent here, and I don't know if this applies to you or not.


The worst infestations seem to be at the outer edge of the ring of light cast by street lamps, overhead lighting, outdoor lights etc.

It's interesting, but usually the grass on boulevards and lawns close to such sources is OK, but then it gets worse as you move away from the centre.

There is also less initial infestation in a dark area.

Of course, that effect seems to be gradually overcome as the larvae move through the soil, looking for more and more food.


I don't know much about the biology etc of the cockchafer, but have seen comments that the adults respond to a certain amount of light to lay their eggs.


But there does seem to be a light effect



good luck!

Margee .................... you back easterners are having a rotten winter :-(

My daughter is in NS



I won't rub it in about our weather :-)

Oh you people are making me cry! Temperature here is still -20, ground frozen solid and covered with 2 feet of snow. T'will probably be 2 months before I see the bare ground. Only good thing is it's a beautiful sunny day.

Thank for all that Sylvain,

I must give nematodes a try.........so disheartening, Have you, used this treatment ??

I googled chafer bugs, didn't know they were such a problem. I must order some nematodes. i just hope they work.......we too removed a large patch of turf...didn't need any digging. The grass just rolled up like a carpet.....chafer bugs had eaten all the roots.

I guess we won't be in the running,,,,,for best kept garden.....this year, BUT will try my best to get rid of them........

Margaret.

we have a massive European cockchafer where I live in Canada ................ arvae came in on roots of plants imported by a garden centre from England. They arrived in the neighbouring city about 5 years ago, and now sprad at the rate of 5 -10 miles a year .................. they'll hit the sea soon.


Most lawns and grassy areas are awful .................. raccoons and skunks roll up the grass to get at the grubs. The crows come along, grab tufts of grass in their beaks and then toss to one side so they can get at the grubs


so we have tufts of grass pulled up and thrown all over the grass and any paths, sidewalks, etc etc.


The larvae can remain in the ground for 4-5 years, adults emerge in spring and lay more eggs.


The only solution offered so far is to spray with a nematode solution (the nematodes are parasitic on the larvae) ............. but it has to be done at a certain time of year and at a certain larval stage.


People here have dug up all their grass, picked out all the larvae, then re-seeded or re-sodded ................. only to get more larvae appearing.



The best practice is to keep your lawn well fed, and cut the grass to about 3/4" or 1" in height ............... ie, not very short.

The beetles find it hard to penetrate through a dense mass of well--fed, good growing lawn.

Lovely weather past week in the Dales. I did some dead heading, a little weeding and trimmed the lawn edging. BUT.....I am very worried about my lawn....I have a lot of pale patches. Had a pale area last year, Thought it was where hubby, turned his lawn mower, when weeding/feeding the lawn......BUT alas no...when we delved deeper with my wire rake. I found the grass just came away AND underneath we found large white grubs, looked like shrimps . Granddaughter called them curly K".......Turned out they are chafer bugs. Treated them with Provado,,,but alas this is now banned.. Have any members had a chafer problem ? Does any member know anything about Nematodes.
SO love my garden. Do hope some one can advice.

Largaret

I have to jet wash the paths and recoat the fences

I have planted more sweetpeas in pots,the others I planted earlier.cleaned up the garden took lots of cuttings and have put another 6 roses in. can get on better now I,ve built myself a new greenhouse.16ftx10ft with plenty of shelving,willbe glad when the garden starts to show whats already in there,lots coming up but too early to identify,the fruit trees are starting to bud and GRare playing silly buggers yet again as I am typing,about time they got their B act together. :-( and responded instead of not.its happening more and more lately.

We had a really big clean up and planting sessions in early November, and although teeny our garden looks lovely. Still weeding occasionally.

Have got to finish painting the furniture in the lovely Cuprinol pastel shades and it will look gorgeous for showing when we put the house on the market. Odd we get it looking its best then we move!!!! :-D :-D

my daffs and tulips are already about 6/8 inches above ground :-D :-D

we have bought all the seeds ,pots ,onion sets etc...hubby has started the big clean up .just one bed and rockery to do , he has already dug over the veg garden . spring will soon be here . iris

LOST MY GREEN HOUSE TWO YEARS AGO ,OH PULLED IT DOWN HE HAS PROMISED ME A GRANNIE SHED STILL WAITING ,HAD AGREEMENT WITH GRANDSON I HELPED HIM TO GET A LAPTOP HE HELPED WITH MY TINY GARDEN,SO YESTERDAY I STARTED GET UP ,GET UP,GET UP,,HE GOT UP
WORK WILL BE VERY SLOW MAYBE EVEN SLOWER

I haven't did lots Ann

I just stagger them do some more in two week
then every few weeks after that
:-D :-D :-D

We have done a bit of tidying up out there. pruned the Beuddleia and OH raked the moss out of the lawn and cut back one of the apple tree branches. But we don't usually start the seeds off until March.

I thought if I just did half an hour a day till the weather warms up

I will soon have it done

mind this year we did have a visiting rat
though the cat brought it in dead the other day
thank god
and presented it to my butler


well done Touchwood :-D :-D :-D :-D

I need to start ASAP
Last spring I had my leylandii trimmed, a ceanothus removed.
I stacked the 'trimmings', but never got around to moving the heap of branches etc before winter.
As soon as the insects/reptiles/rodents (or whatever else is under there) have come out of hibernation, I'll have to clear it.

I put everything out the back
in pots and tubs and hanging baskets
as most of its paved and decked

but I do grow some veg in among my flowers and bulbs for the animals to eat :-D

Well I used to LOVE gardening . would spend sunday afternoons mowing lawns back and front gardens and planting and dead heading

Over the years we have altered both back and front gardens to make them more self sufficient BUT still kept my roses in the front even though they are now downgraded to patio roses in a raised bed .

Most of the time now the gardens look after themselves with a bit of jet washing of patios and paved areas

Good job cos although the mind is willing the doing is now weak.

Did do some cutting back of an enormous shrub a couple of weeks ago cos it was impeding the sun canopy movement. have now cut up some of it to go in the wheely bin but still more to do .

My love of my garden is still there BUT sadly my get up and go isnt :-(