Crane Flies

[kit5pt0]

I mowed the lawn this past weekend and about a zillion crane flies flew out of the lawn in many different areas. I'm guessing they're laying eggs which plan on eating my roots next spring. Should I do anything about them now, or should I just apply Grub Ex in the Spring?

Thanks!

[WIEITOT28]

When you notice the number of crane flies in the lawn decreasing to almost no activity (which should be very soon) you need to apply dylox (don't wait too long). Bayer sells a "24 hour" product that contains dylox (HD or Lowes in black bag). Trichlorfon is the chemical name for dylox if they don't have the bayer product. Resume with your normal Grub ex app in the Spring as a "preventative". The concept of using the dylox is as a "curative" since the crane flies have mated and layed their eggs. The key to beating the crane fly is to break their life cycle since they tend to lay their eggs in the same area where they come out of the ground. You'll still have some that make it, but don't worry, just like grubs, a few here and there are no problem for the lawn. Also, most of what you saw flying around the yard were male. Did you see any mating? I'm not a voyeur, but in case you were wondering, when they mate, they connect at the tales and look like one of those army helecopters with the double propellers when they fly around.

For what it's worth, after no activity in my area in recent times, I was one of the "lucky" few to sustain major leather jacket (crane fly larva) damage a couple years back. I believe they came from the neighbors yard, but were washed down into my yard where the water normally runs. I lost over 1K square feet. There were thousands of the leather jackets and they ate all my urea-filled roots. Although there are still some crane flies in the area, I was able to break the cycle and haven't had any damage since. In the yards I monitor in my area, I have been lucky to never have any major grub damage at all and certainly not even close to the damage the leather jackets caused, so in my opinion, although I watch for both, I am much more concerned about a crane fly than a japanese beetle!

[GaryCinChicago]

Not often do you get to capture a moment like this in nature.

a crane fly hatching from the larvae stage to adult stage

[GaryCinChicago]

Here's a life cycle FYI to read http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/cepublications/ ... b0856.html

[kit5pt0]

Thanks for the info. I'll pick up some of the Bayer Advanced 24 Hour Grub Killer Plus today. I read that the
active ingredient degrades quickly, but I couldn't find how long the control lasts. Does the timing need to be precise, or would it still work if applied early?

[WIEITOT28]

The dylox is a curative and not a preventative; meaning that you have identified that you have a problem (the crane fly larvae that just hatched) and you want to take them out now. There is very little to no residual value to bayer 24 hour...so you will apply Grub Ex (for grubs) as a preventative in the Spring. As far as "precise" for timing, by waiting till the crane fly activity has decreased to almost nonexistant, you are ensuring that the crane flies are done mating and by applying the dylox you will destroy the larva at their most vulnerable stage of life, prevent them from overwintering (eating your roots), and break the cycle for next year.

Not everybody would need to do this every year, but since you had a "zillion" flying in the yard, you will have larva. I also had to apply this to two lawns this year because of the amount of crane flies I saw and because I found some larva (about a hundred just smaller than rice) in a couple "spot checks" that I made. I skipped applying to another lawn because although there were crane flies, there were not enough to worry about.

[kit5pt0]

Thanks for the info. I wasn't sure if it would lose efficacy applying it sooner than later. After reading your post, I'll put it down when I see almost no activity. These thing are ALL over the place.

[xapabwa]

Resurrecting this one. Last year, I had lots of crane flies flying around whenever I mowed the lawn. I also had moths fleeing the lawn mower. In addition to those, I found some rather healthy grubs while poking around what I though were localized dry spots. I put down Bayer 24 Hour Grub killer on Sept. 10th last year as I read that it would kill grubs, crane fly larvae and sod webworms. I had lots of dead grubs on the surface after watering in, so it must have done something. Early this spring (March 30/April 1), I put down GrubEx (new formula that needs to go down early as it takes longer to get into the soil).

I've been seeing crane flies buzzing around for the past week or two when I mow. I'm not seeing anywhere near the numbers I was seeing last year, but I'm still seeing them. Will the GrubEx I put down this spring kill the crane fly larvae if the adults lay eggs in my soil this season?

Thanks!

[WIEITOT28]

It sounds like you are dealing with the Marsh Crane Fly (which has two generations per year-one that emerges in Spring and one in late Fall) and not the Eupropean Crane Fly (which is most prevalent in my area) as they will not emerge from the leatherjacket stage until late September in my area.

A couple points: The adult crane fly will only live for two-three weeks once it emerges. During that time is when the mating takes place and the eggs are deposited into your soil. If you are in fact seeing crane flies now (and you're sure they are not mosiquitos), I wouldn't trust the now "long activation period" Grub-Ex to take them out. I think they will advance to far too fast for your control. If you're worried, you'll have to go with the curative approach. Keep in mind though, if you didn't have any noticeable damage this Spring, then you don't have a severe crane fly problem. A few crane flies flying around the yard are not going to harm your turf. I make this point in an effort to prevent over applying products to your turf that aren't necessary. You'll have to make the judgment on the amount of mating activity you see (they look like a double helicopter if you haven't seen it before).

[Frogamigo]

I wonder if it would be helpful to let the lawn dry out a little more between watering, definitely only water once per week at most.

My cats love crane flies, about the only prey that those tubbers can catch. Maybe you should get cats haha.

[xapabwa]

Thank you both! Cats - I have more of those than I care to admit. Mine prefer moths, but they'll try to catch and eat anything that happens by them. I've not had to water so far this year, but cutting it high does tend to hold the moisture in.

I did not see any damage this spring and still don't see any damage. Of course, I wrote off the damage I saw last year as dry spots, when it was likely a combination of dry spots, grubs and oppressive heat. I don't like having to use pesticides but decided to put the Bayer 24 Hour Grub Killer down last year any way after find a few very healthy looking ones. I ended up picking up almost 300 of those gross littl things off the soil surface afterward. Lord only knows how many died before making it to the top. The grub invasion last fall is the reason I wanted to get the GrubEx down this spring.

I've not seen many, so I guess I'm just nervous. I've not seen any mating activity either, but I'll keep my eyes open for that.

[oze]

Holy moly, did I have swarms of crane flies in my back yard the last couple of weeks! I read that they typically like wet areas, and that does describe my non-porous soil in the back yard.
I have to admit that it was a bit entertaining to watch them bob up and down from my 2nd story office window, and we definitely saw them mating. My 20 year-old came in from her garden one late afternoon and said, "Daddy, swarms of giant mosquitoes are doing the nasty in your lawn".

Applied the Bayer 24 hour grub killer today...