By Tawneyannie
Suffolk,
United Kingdom 
Can anyone offer any advice on dealing with a serious infestation of leatherjackets and chafergrubs? We've been here for two years and the "garden" had been sorely neglected by previous owners. It consisted entirely of mossy, matted dead grass - no plants apart from an oak tree with CPO (and two Scots Pines - thankfully now felled!) We've cleaned up and established some borders but using nemotodes has not been successful in killing the grubs and the grass does not thrive in spite of re-seeding. Any ideas anyone?
21 Sep, 2015
Answers
Do you have strong evidence that there's a problem with leatherjackets/chafer grubs, or are the troubles with the lawn due to something else? If its very shady it won't grow well, maybe its very compacted too, or maybe it has a disease rather than an infestation...
21 Sep, 2015
Sounds like your soil needs to be totally reconditioned. Are there decaying roots left in the ground from the felled Scots Pines and the dead grass? That's what these insects are probably feeding on. They are decomposers. You have a lot of work to do I'm sorry to say. The entire ground needs to be turned over and remove all of the decaying vegetation. Since grass won't thrive, look for alternative ground covers.
21 Sep, 2015
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Go to www.grassclippings.co.uk/grassclippings/controlling-leatherjacket-larvae.html
There is a full Explanation on there as to how to control them
21 Sep, 2015