Controlling leatherjackets

This field lab examined ways of controlling leatherjackets, including biological control, now that Dursban (containing chlorpyrifos) has been banned.

Leatherjackets (the larvae of crane-flies, or daddy long-legs, as they are better known) eat the roots and shoots of cereal plants such as barley, oats and wheat, as well as grass. This can have a devastating effect on these crops. The crane-fly lays its eggs in tussocky grass in late summer, so cereal crops sown after grass are very susceptible to leatherjacket attack.

Dursban (which contains organo-phosphate chemical called chlorpyrifos) was the only chemical non-organic farmers could use to control leatherjackets, and it was banned in March 2016. There is very little known about alternative ways to control leatherjackets, and as this is now a problem that affects everyone, we're keen to know more about what could work.

Find out more about this field lab

You can read the reports and materials from the activity below:

• Field lab note: Leatherjacket lifecycle

• Field lab report 1: Leatherjacket control

• Field lab report 2: spring treatments

• Field lab report: November 2017

• Final field lab report