sod webworms

steveconwayukXUXsXhj5

I had a beautiful lawn but it is now decimated by sod webworms all over it.

I want a good insecticide to get on top of it but nothing is available in UK.

Where can I get some?

pansyface

In over sixty years of gardening in UK, I have never heard of this unfortunately named insect.

On looking the name up I find that it relates to an unspecified member of the Crambus species of moth.

Rather than spray your lawn with “a good insecticide” (a unfortunate combination of words) and kill every living thing residing in the grass stone dead, both beneficial and destructive, in the hope that you kill your moths, I would recommend instead that you feed your lawn and build up its own fighting fund of reserves.

steveconwayukXUXsXhj5

Hi Pansyface. I would love to leave it and just let it recover but the damage is extremely extensive and seems to be spreading. I will have no lawn soon! Your suggestion that I feed the lawn and let it get its strength up sounds good but I have been doing this for the past 5 years to get to a healthy sward and it was looking pretty good with strong growth. Unfortunately, this has not stopped these sod**** web worms in fact they seem to have thrived on it.

Obelixx

This site suggests nematodes can help and they would be specific to your moths - https://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/sod-webworms-lawns   Seems to be a US site so no idea where you'd get nematodes but maybe google will find some.

Another site suggest raking off all thatch in the grass, feeding it and never cutting shorter than 2.5cms/1".   It also seems that rye and fescue grasses are more resistant so if you do have to re-sow, choose a seed mix containing those.

pansyface

You spray your lawn. But you can’t spray your neighbours’. Spraying will only be a temporary solution. Moths will fly in from next door, down the road and over the hill. If the moths have two generations per year, as they might do, your triumph will last for a matter of weeks.

In the meantime, you will also have sprayed hover flies, bees, ants, wasps, butterflies and every other thing that finds spray toxic. You might consider this to be a small price to pay, but these insects are food for birds and hedgehogs. They in turn will have less food or be affected by eating poisoned food.

Every action has a reaction.

Obelixx

Not to mention all those good guys also pollinating our own food plants.

steveconwayukXUXsXhj5

We all know this so a helpful comment would be more use, please.

Fire

The above are are useful comments. Why do you think your problem is sod-webworms? I can find barely evidence of them at all in the UK.

pansyface

I tried to offer a helpful comment. Helpful not just to you as one individual living creature on the planet, but helpful to others, to the environment.

None so blind as those who will not hear. 

I have nothing more to offer you. 

josine2302

https://www.planetnatural.com/pest-problem-solver/lawn-pests/sod-webworm-control/

A whole list of options, almost all without having to spray nasty chemicals..

Lyn

In the words of the great Del Boy, ‘ There’s none so blind as them wot won’t listen’