Leather Jacket Insect Damage. Leather jacket larvae feed on grass roots in spring and summer, creating brown patches. It won’t help your lawn or mine this year, but when the seasons change from winter to spring, this is the time to be keeping an eye on our prized lawns for signs of damage from the leather jacket larvae.
How to id a leather jacket. Leatherjacket pests overwinter in the soil and generally don’t do significant damage until late spring or early summer (or maybe a little earlier if winters are mild). Some species are carnivorous, and others damage the roots of cereal and grass crops.
The amount of damage is related to the number of leatherjackets present and the condition of the grass.
How to id a leather jacket. Since 2016 all effective pesticides to control leather jackets have been banned from the uk in both the horticultural and agricultural sector, therefore there is no longer any chemical control available. Foxes and badgers may also cause extensive damage, as they too will tear up the turf to feed on the leatherjackets. The time to control the insects is when they are in the larval stage, not flies.
