{"id":378,"date":"2011-03-16T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gsu.eventmedialabs.com\/?p=378"},"modified":"2015-07-20T00:20:28","modified_gmt":"2015-07-19T23:20:28","slug":"wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday Wigglers ~ Leatherjackets"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Leatherjacket\"

Leatherjacket – root eating cranefly larvae<\/p><\/div>\n

How well do you know your veg gardening friends from foes? On Wednesday\u2019s I\u2019ll be trying to highlight our gardening friends and enemies, from now on known as Wednesday Wigglers.\u00a0 First off:<\/p>\n

Leatherjackets<\/h2>\n

Not the ones you wear and definitely pests!<\/p>\n

What are Leatherjackets?<\/h2>\n

Leatherjackets are little grey-brown grubs that are fleshy with no legs that can grow as big as 50mm (the ones in our garden are more usually a couple of centimetres).<\/p>\n

They\u2019re the larvae of the Crane fly, also known as daddy-long-legs.\u00a0 Adult females can usually be seen from late July to September flying around with their lollopy gait. (I\u00a0can attest to\u00a0this as I\u2019m often camping when they\u2019re about and I\u2019m phobic, despite them being harmless!)<\/p>\n

Each female can lay around 300 eggs in the soil surface that hatch about 3 weeks later. As soon as the eggs hatch the larvae start to feed on\u00a0vegetables, root crops and grassland.\u00a0\u00a0If it\u2019s mild they can feed\u00a0throughout the winter, but especially as temperatures warm up in the early spring.<\/p>\n

In late May the larvae pupate in the soil, with the adults emerging during the summer months.<\/p>\n

How do you spot leatherjackets?<\/h2>\n

They\u2019re often first noticed when turfed areas are turned into vegetable (or flower) gardens, or if you allow your patch to be overcome with grassy weeds. \u00a0You might notice that plants don\u2019t look as well as you\u2019d expect them to,\u00a0wilting as their roots are attacked.<\/p>\n

How can you get rid of leatherjackets?<\/h2>\n

When you\u2019re weeding or harvesting keep an eye out for them and remove them immediately (hens and pigs love them).<\/p>\n

They like to live in dark, damp places so you could try\u00a0covering the soil with cardboard or old carpet,\u00a0pulling it\u00a0back in the morning and\u00a0leaving the birds\u00a0to come in and feed on them.<\/p>\n

For an organic solution,\u00a0Supernemos<\/a> can be watered onto wet soil once the soil temperature is over 10\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

You could also try leaving bait around under pieces of bark with bran hidden\u00a0underneath (also works for slugs), picking them off once you find them.<\/p>\n

So good luck in your bug hunt!<\/p>\n

Just for balance, next week we\u2019ll look at a Friend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How well do you know your veg gardening friends from foes? On Wednesday\u2019s I\u2019ll be trying to highlight our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[563],"tags":[288,531,935],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nWednesday Wigglers ~ Leatherjackets - Greenside Up<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Leatherjackets aren't just something to wear, they're also root eating grubs that can destroy seedlings if left unchecked.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Wednesday Wigglers ~ Leatherjackets - Greenside Up\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Leatherjackets aren't just something to wear, they're also root eating grubs that can destroy seedlings if left unchecked.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/leatherjacket1.jpg?fit=1931%2C910&ssl=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Greensideupveg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Greensideupveg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dee Sewell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dee Sewell\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/af9fa70aa2b68d02d41409cc50c16c85\"},\"headline\":\"Wednesday Wigglers ~ Leatherjackets\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-16T10:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-19T23:20:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/\"},\"wordCount\":393,\"commentCount\":7,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/af9fa70aa2b68d02d41409cc50c16c85\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/leatherjacket1.jpg?fit=1931%2C910&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"leatherjackets\",\"Organic\",\"pests\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Vegetable Garden\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/\",\"name\":\"Wednesday Wigglers ~ Leatherjackets - Greenside Up\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/leatherjacket1.jpg?fit=1931%2C910&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-16T10:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-19T23:20:28+00:00\",\"description\":\"Leatherjackets aren't just something to wear, they're also root eating grubs that can destroy seedlings if left unchecked.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/leatherjacket1.jpg?fit=1931%2C910&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/leatherjacket1.jpg?fit=1931%2C910&ssl=1\",\"width\":1931,\"height\":910,\"caption\":\"leatherjacket grub\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Wednesday Wigglers ~ Leatherjackets\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/\",\"name\":\"Greenside Up\",\"description\":\"Creating Gardens for Biodiversity and Communities\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/af9fa70aa2b68d02d41409cc50c16c85\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/af9fa70aa2b68d02d41409cc50c16c85\",\"name\":\"Dee Sewell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/2019-badge-1.jpg?fit=298%2C312&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/2019-badge-1.jpg?fit=298%2C312&ssl=1\",\"width\":298,\"height\":312,\"caption\":\"Dee Sewell\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"description\":\"Hi, I'm Dee Sewell, proprietor of Greenside Up, based in County Carlow, Ireland. I am a horticultural and environmental educator, mentor, consultant and social garden designer and an URBACT expert on Food and the Circular Economy. Since 2009 I have been working with, designing and providing consultancy for many public and private horticultural projects across the country, in person and online. My primary focus is about helping people to create social gardening spaces where communities can grow organic food for themselves and the biodiversity around them. I have seen first-hand how beneficial they are to those who get involved.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.greensideup.ie\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Greensideupveg\",\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/greensideupveg\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/greensideup\/\",\"http:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/greensideup\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Greensideupveg\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/Greensideupveg\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/author\/greensideupveg\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wednesday Wigglers ~ Leatherjackets - Greenside Up","description":"Leatherjackets aren't just something to wear, they're also root eating grubs that can destroy seedlings if left unchecked.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Wednesday Wigglers ~ Leatherjackets - Greenside Up","twitter_description":"Leatherjackets aren't just something to wear, they're also root eating grubs that can destroy seedlings if left unchecked.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/leatherjacket1.jpg?fit=1931%2C910&ssl=1","twitter_creator":"@Greensideupveg","twitter_site":"@Greensideupveg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dee Sewell","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/"},"author":{"name":"Dee Sewell","@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/af9fa70aa2b68d02d41409cc50c16c85"},"headline":"Wednesday Wigglers ~ Leatherjackets","datePublished":"2011-03-16T10:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-19T23:20:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/"},"wordCount":393,"commentCount":7,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/af9fa70aa2b68d02d41409cc50c16c85"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/leatherjacket1.jpg?fit=1931%2C910&ssl=1","keywords":["leatherjackets","Organic","pests"],"articleSection":["Vegetable Garden"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/","url":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/","name":"Wednesday Wigglers ~ Leatherjackets - Greenside Up","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/leatherjacket1.jpg?fit=1931%2C910&ssl=1","datePublished":"2011-03-16T10:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-19T23:20:28+00:00","description":"Leatherjackets aren't just something to wear, they're also root eating grubs that can destroy seedlings if left unchecked.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/leatherjacket1.jpg?fit=1931%2C910&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/leatherjacket1.jpg?fit=1931%2C910&ssl=1","width":1931,"height":910,"caption":"leatherjacket grub"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wednesday-wigglers-leatherjackets\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Wednesday Wigglers ~ Leatherjackets"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/","name":"Greenside Up","description":"Creating Gardens for Biodiversity and Communities","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/af9fa70aa2b68d02d41409cc50c16c85"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/af9fa70aa2b68d02d41409cc50c16c85","name":"Dee Sewell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/2019-badge-1.jpg?fit=298%2C312&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/2019-badge-1.jpg?fit=298%2C312&ssl=1","width":298,"height":312,"caption":"Dee Sewell"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"description":"Hi, I'm Dee Sewell, proprietor of Greenside Up, based in County Carlow, Ireland. I am a horticultural and environmental educator, mentor, consultant and social garden designer and an URBACT expert on Food and the Circular Economy. Since 2009 I have been working with, designing and providing consultancy for many public and private horticultural projects across the country, in person and online. My primary focus is about helping people to create social gardening spaces where communities can grow organic food for themselves and the biodiversity around them. I have seen first-hand how beneficial they are to those who get involved.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.greensideup.ie","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Greensideupveg","http:\/\/instagram.com\/greensideupveg","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/greensideup\/","http:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/greensideup","https:\/\/x.com\/Greensideupveg","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/Greensideupveg"],"url":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/author\/greensideupveg\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greensideup.ie\/media\/leatherjacket1.jpg?fit=1931%2C910&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2jHzH-66","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}