Nematodes & How They Work

Nematodes & How They Work

Nematodes are a natural way of controlling pests such as slugs, vine weevil, leatherjackets, chafer grub and many more pests. They will enable you to manage infestations without using harmful and unnatural chemicals. Nematodes microscopic roundworms that can be found in soil. The main benefit of nematodes is that they will be able to eradicate pests in your garden or lawn while being safe for wildlife, humans, plants or pets. This is due to the fact that nematodes are specific to the pest that they are meant to eradicate. For example, if you had a leatherjacket issue, you would require leatherjacket nematodes as these are specific to the infestation that you are having.

Application

When your lawn is looking unhealthy, it may be suitable to apply nematodes to your lawn. If there are brown patches beginning to appear in your lawn, or it is not growing as you would have expected, it is possible you may have an infestation. To apply them to your lawn, simply mix water with the nematodes (the exact amount will be dependent on the nematodes), then sprinkle over your lawn and monitor its progress over a 6 week period. It is important that your lawn does not dry out after the first 2 weeks after application, whether this is due to extreme hot or cold temperatures.

Nematode applicators are a useful way of applying nematodes. The Miracle Gro applicator has a very easy to grip handle, a trigger with a lock which enables one handed control, as well as enabling you to have three spray patterns. All you have to do is follow the instructions provided and watch your lawn recover!

Leatherjackets

A potential infestation that you may have in your lawn is leatherjackets. They look like miniature grey worms that have no distinctive head; what they actually are is the larval stage of the daddy-long-legs or crane fly. This will be visible in your lawn if you do have an infestation. Daddy-long-legs tend to lay their ends around the end of August and this is how they can appear in your lawn. Leatherjackets will feed on the roots of your grass, causing potential extreme damage to your lawn, so it’s important to stop any infestation as soon as possible.

Slugs

Slugs are another common pest that can destroy your plants in your garden. Like the other types of nematodes, slug nematodes will seek out slugs in your garden. They will control all common species of small to medium sized slugs that are up to 8cm long. Although slug nematodes are effective against slugs, they will not work against snails.

Vine Weevil

Vine weevil grubs can attack your plants or lawn. The larvae of the vine weevil are small, cream bugs that look almost in a ‘C’ shape that have brown heads. Similar to the leatherjackets, they will attack the roots of your lawn or plants. Vine weevil nematodes will prevent the damage that can be caused by any potential infestation. They are commonly found in areas where the soil temperature is above 5 degrees Celsius, so they can appear in most months of the year, but common from March to October time.

Chafer Beetle

The larvae of the chafer beetle are small, white looking creates with orange heads. The larvae of the chafer beetle will attack the roots in your grass which will mean that yellow patches will begin to appear in your lawn. They lie dormant in the soil then move into the soil when the temperature begins to arrive in the Springtime. These grubs are a source of food for a lot of wildlife and birds. Foxes, badgers, magpies and crows will look to feed on the beetles, so if many species are appearing in your garden it may be a sign of an infestation.

Additional Information

Further to the nematodes discussed, Gardening Naturally also supplies specific fruit and vegetable, sciarid fly and ant nematodes; all aimed and eradicating any infestation that you may have in your garden. Nematodes come in a variety of different sizes so you will be able to cover any area that you need, large or small.