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European
Crane Fly  |
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| CURRENT
MANAGEMENT PRACTICES It has been recommended that crane flies be controlled between April 1 and 15 if larval populations exceed 25/ft2. This was a threshold set by Campbell in the 1970's. It can vary with the thriftiness of the lawn. Both authors have seen turf where numbers exceeded 40/ft2 with no apparent damage in well-maintained turf. Conversely, damage has been observed in unthrifty lawns with as few as 15/ft2 (Goss, R. pers. Com.). The application dates mentioned above reflect "normal" years and, as such, are generalizations. There have been years when temperatures in December and January were unseasonably warm, and since European Crane Fly undergoes a weak hibernation, prolonged warm periods can awaken them. Such warm periods result in early feeding that leads to serious lawn damage at that time of year. Therefore, if warm winters occur, watch the lawn carefully for damage development, particularly if the area has had a history of crane fly problems. Preventive fall applications (between October 1 and October 31) have been successful. This is the time when most of the eggs have hatched and the larvae are small and vulnerable. This application period is encouraged for turf/sod industries to prevent possible shipment of crane fly to uninfested areas, and for golf greens, which are extremely expensive to repair. If a fall application is made, application should not be needed the following spring (Antonelli and Stahnke, 1998). With the introduction of T. oleracea, fall applications may become more common, since such applications will surely eliminate both species. MONITORING LARVAL POPULATIONS Perhaps the weakest link in pest management for crane fly is monitoring. Four-inch diameter cup cutter cores are examined by manually pulling apart the contents. It is difficult to convince homeowners to do this before spraying. Hence many applications are preventive in nature. There have been many attempts in substituting a quicker method for core sampling. Gasoline was used by Jackson and Campbell, 1975. It had an irritating effect on the larvae such that they would exit the sod almost immediately. Orthodichlozobenzene had a similar effect (Barnes, 1941). These are impractical and environmentally damaging if not illegal, however. Dish soap solutions, insecticidal soaps, ammonia, and bleach as well as Dursban solutions have been tried and none except Dursban produce even near 50% of true populations that manual examination of cores demonstrate (Stahnke and Antonelli, 1995). |
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In this
paper:
Introduction
Life Cycle  Current
Management Practices Management
Techniques - Past & Current Bibliography
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See also: "They
don't drive Harleys" - by Craig MacConnell"ECF
& CCF" - by Sharon Collman
"Managing ECF in Whatcom Co." - by Todd Murray and Scarlet
Tang |
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