green damage by crows

[rover]

have had problems in the past in summer with birds digging for leatherjackets (daddy long legs larva)
but we have same problem this early. possibly wet weather has led to a glut of worms.
has anyone else got this problem or a suggested solution?

[happymrjames]

Massive problem for everyone - golf clubs too. I'd never suggest this - there are some stocks of illegal chemicals (that weren't illegal that long ago) that are still out there, if you happened upon the right people then you might have a solution - not that you could ever doing anything with it, as it would be illegal.

[john haydock]

have had problems in the past in summer with birds digging for leatherjackets (daddy long legs larva)
but we have same problem this early. possibly wet weather has led to a glut of worms.
has anyone else got this problem or a suggested solution?

Could they be digging for chafers, the pesticide which used to be available is banned now, nemotodes may work

[fed4ever]

Sounds like a Harry Potter plot, "don't mention the nameless one"

[saspinall]

Could somebody pm the name of the banned pesticide...also..has anyone exoerience of the product detailed in the attached picture....

Stu

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

[john haydock]

Could somebody pm the name of the banned pesticide...also..has anyone exoerience of the product detailed in the attached picture....

Stu

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

Not completely sure but i think the commercial product was called Merit Turf.The chemical name is Imidacloprid,

[overthehillandfaraway]

Stu

My understanding is that Acelepryn was only approved for use on certain sports surfaces and unfortunately bowls was not on the approved list so it would be illegal to apply. Any reputable supplier would not sell it if it was known to be for bowls green use.

[David South]

have had problems in the past in summer with birds digging for leatherjackets (daddy long legs larva)
but we have same problem this early. possibly wet weather has led to a glut of worms.
has anyone else got this problem or a suggested solution?

We had problems with Cockatoos and crows damaging the green at Howitt Park club in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. We did two things, which have worked perfectly.

1 We installed a Birdguard machine. It was made in the US, but is available in Australia, so no doubt you could get one. It cost A$345 here. It emits recorded predator bird calls. You can select which predator birds, and vary the volume so as not annoy neighbours too much. It can be turned off when there are people around, and set to only come on in daylight hours. Runs off mains power or a battery. The Australian company is at birdguard.com.au.

2 We also strung fishing lines over the whole green 2.5 metres high, and a metre apart.

Don't know whether both of these approaches were needed - I suspect the bird noise machine itself is enough. But we have the fishing line up now, and it isn't in anyone's way, so we might as well leave it up.

David South

[David South]

The machine is called the BirdXpeller Pro. The US website is Bird-x.com