Grass Clippings - Lawn Advice From a Team of Lawn and Turf Experts

Chafer Beetle Larvae control blamed for demise of Honeybee population

Honeybees are being wiped out by a new generation of pesticides that has left them far more vulnerable to disease, according to the U.S. government's leading bee researcher reports The Daily Mail today.

The active ingredient Imidacloprid, of the popular 'Bayer Lawn Grub Killer' under the trade name of 'Provado' is a relatively new pesticide compound so this and other new active ingredients might explain the sudden collapse of bee colonies internationally according to the bee researcher.

Dr Jeffrey Pettis discovered that chemicals routinely used on maize, oil seep rape and garden plants, including lawns are weakening colonies.  He presented his findings to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bee Research. 

Help your lawn recover from the ravages of Winter

With the majority of lawns in the Britain currently covered under a layer of frost the lawn is the last thing on your mind.  The prolonged snow just ahead of Christmas would have taken its toll on the turf grasses and the wet start to January will encourage lawn disease and the general thinning of the sward.

A one degree increase in temperature will double the metabolic rate of growth of garden plants so a really cold winter will assist in the promotion of growth of the grass plants and other garden plants as soon as the temperature warms up a bit.

Once we reach higher air temperatures and a general thaw, please be careful to keep off the lawn, even once the frost has gone.