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European
Crane Fly & Common Crane Fly  |
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| By Sharon
Collman, EPA What is a crane fly?  Crane flies are generally beneficial two-winged flies that look a bit like large mosquitoes. Despite their somewhat scary appearance, they don't bite, suck blood, or carry diseases. In fact the adults are harmless and rather comical as they bounce around the landscape and off interior walls. They are also an important food source for birds and other critters. The aquatic larvae of many crane flies are indicators of good stream health, and become fish food. Other crane flies are decomposers and help break down decaying organic matter. So why all the fuss about crane flies? Two species of crane fly have adapted to feeding on grasses and the roots of some plants. There have been cases where, over a period of several years, they became so numerous that lawns were completely stripped of grass. Bare soil, where there was once lawn, made good media headlines and had a strong impact on the minds of turf-conscious gardeners. Gardeners assume crane fly is the cause of any unhealthy looking lawn. However, serious damage only occurs to some lawns in an area; it often builds up over several years. The exception is when it this crane fly is new to an area, or when it arrives with heavily infested sod. There is usually plenty of time to check lawns and intervene if the numbers begin to build. In fact, often even heavy infestations disappear because the eggs dry out or birds, parasitoids, and little organisms in the soil eat larvae. Is there any good news about crane flies? The adults and larvae are great bird food: in fact starlings and robins often completely control lawn populations. There are also a lot of other natural enemies of the larvae that attack them through winter (e.g. native nematodes, microorganisms, parasitoids, frogs, and small insectivorous mammals). Adults are eaten by birds, bats, cats and yellowjackets, etc. Turf researchers in Washington and Oregon, say, "only one in ten lawns will get crane fly, and only one in 100 will need to be treated". With a little effort, you can tell if you have them (see the "numbers game" below) before they get way out of control. When do I look for crane fly larvae and adults?  Larger larvae can be found in the top three inches (3") of turf (and sometimes in flower beds especially near the lawn) in spring. With a shovel, turn over the sod and look. Adults emerge and are weakly attracted to lights in late summer and early fall and may get into the house by mistake. There they soon die. Look for the crane fly larvae from February - to mid May. Search in areas shaded or wet areas, or where lawn health is poor, yellowing or missing. If there are no larvae, then search for the real cause of the poor lawn health.  In August, when the adults emerge, the leathery, shiny pupa cases (leatherjackets) are an indicator of where crane fly larvae were living and where the next eggs are most likely to hatch. The adults mate almost immediately after they emerge. The females lay most of their eggs before they make their first flights and that's why they can build up rapidly in one area. Once they are airborne, there is no reason to try to control them. What do I look for? That's pretty easy. Just go out and look. The larvae are in the top three inches of sod, so just dig up a bit of sod and look through the roots and thatch for the blunt-ended, greyish-brown larvae. 
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In this article...
Introduction  Making
Decisions |
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See also: "They
don't drive Harleys" - by Craig MacConnell
"Managing ECF in Whatcom Co." - by Todd Murray and Scarlet
Tang"ECF-
Management History & the loss of Dursban" - Antonelli
and Stahnke |
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