# WTH.. crane flies



## MikeD (Aug 17, 2017)

Over the years I saw a lot of weird things going on in my lawn but the last 2 months I've noticed a tremendous big amount of crane flies coming out of my lawn. This is a complete renovation only 6 months old at this time I'm thinking the humas compost i mixed in the soil may have had eggs in it?? Or could have it been from the army worms I found when the grass was just germinating and starting to grow. I did not treat because it was baby grass I just picked off a lot of Army worms in the morning and evening. Is this something I should worry about now or wait till June to treat for grubs and armyworms.?


----------



## DanTheMan (Feb 19, 2018)

Army worms can cause serious turf damage. If I were you I would treat it with a product such as 'bug-b-gone' or something similar that is listed to control army worms. Did you notice brown patches in the lawn? Have you seen many torn up blades of grass?


----------



## MikeD (Aug 17, 2017)

Dan, when the grass was just getting established about 2 weeks / 3 weeks old I saw lots of armyworms, they actually borrowed under the peat moss. And ate areas of the grass completely off to where it would not grow no more. I had to re-seed those areas. That was in October last year. I have not seen any sense that time.. now I'm just seeing tons of crane flies come up I'm thinking that maybe they had Borrowed into the dirt and now are hatching.. or they may have been lots of eggs in the humas compost that i Rototilt into the soil. My question now is when to treat this for preventive maintenance now or June.? We always have lots of June bugs in June July.. I purchase some Bayer Advanced that says it will attack grubs, crane flies, armyworms, it's a water in type that stop the cycle. But will not kill anything active right now.


----------



## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

I had good success against crane flies late last summer using Ortho Bug B Gon.


----------



## DanTheMan (Feb 19, 2018)

Ouch! I would treat now and again later in summer. If the infestation is that bad it will probably take multiple applications to resolve the problem. Best of luck! Keep us posted on what happens.


----------



## MikeD (Aug 17, 2017)

Update... I try to wait it out but the crane flies kept coming up. So 4 days ago I threw down Bayer advance.. the next day I noticed pill bugs dying all over the sidewalk.. day #2 crane flies were still coming up.. day 3 and 4 not a single crane fly looks like it worked...


----------



## LawnNerd (Sep 2, 2017)

I would also get down some Scotts GrubEx in May and again in August.

The crane fly's you saw flying around, have probably already laid eggs in your lawn. Those eggs will hatch and begin eating turf, where they will ingest the active ingredient in the grubex, and die. The product will last around 3-4 months, so you'll probably need a 2nd application in august to protect you from june bugs. If you are seeing them in June / July, they are laying their eggs around then, and their eggs will hatch in August, where they will eat turf and ingest said Active Ingredient.

GrubEx is a preventative. the AI. chlorantaniliprole is taken up by the grass roots where it hangs around. Mr. Grubby Larva comes along, and helps himself to all the delicious roots your KBG is using to grow and survive the heat. Well, what Mr. Grubby Larva didn't know, what that you had set a boobie trap for him in the roots of your KBG.


----------

