Cranefly infestation ?

joey_2

My neighbours have a cranefly infestation in their lawn.
Can anyone advise me on what I should be looking for to find out if we have it too? We do have patches of dead grass and also a lot of the grass is completely gone, just mud patches left but I'd assumed that was from all the wet weather as the garden got very very waterlogged well flooded really?
So how can I check wheather the damage was done by all the rain or if we have infestation too? And if we do would there be any point in treating it or would it just come back if all the neighbours have it too?
Would really appreciate any help and advice!!!

GreenNotM

the crane fly larvae is the leatherjeacket

Advice here http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0206/leatherjackets.asp but the pic is a little dark

HTH

joey_2

Thanks GreenNotM, having checked that link out I think I will do this

On small lawns, leatherjackets can be encouraged to come up to the surface where they can be collected. This is done by covering the turf with black polythene or some other light-impermeable material. This should be done when the soil is moist and leatherjackets are feeding close to the surface. Leave the cover on overnight, then in the morning peel it back in stages and collect any leatherjackets that are exposed. Do not uncover too big an area as leatherjackets will soon crawl back into the turf when exposed to daylight.

to find out for sure if we have them and our garden is tiny so if we do we should be able to collect them up yuck!

Has anyone had these and managed to get rid of them?