Fixing A Chafer Grub Damaged Lawn

How to fix a Chafer grub damaged lawn, in easy steps.

1. You need to deal with the grubs first however you can. In this video the customer purchased some Nematodes for Chafer grubs (like these ones on Amazon: https://amzn.to/43bilhX), and watered them daily for 2 weeks as per instructions. Then during the renovation I applied some Turfsolv (available here: https://lawnright.co.uk/product/turfs.... Both of these methods are organic approaches, as most pesticides are banned in the Uk, however professional users have more opportunities.

2. Then next step was to get everything cut as short as possible due to the fact that the customer would not be needing to mow the lawn for at least 3 to 4 weeks. A strip around the edges followed by a short mow.

3. The next step was to heavily scarify the lawn. I am using the Stihl RL540 machine which is semi professional but priced around £500 to £600. You can go for something a little less expensive like the Hyundai at around £140 (here on Amazon https://amzn.to/439urbv). It's electric but has solid reviews. The upgraded Hyundai Petrol scarifier has variable height adjustment for the better quality finish (here on Amazon https://amzn.to/3C04PSA), and would be my choice - petrol and variable heights of scarification).. Finally pop to screw fix or Aldi as they do a very basic budget model for under £70.. It'll take longer and you might need to let it rest every 30 minutes but it will get there if you're in no rush.

4. Then I carried out lawn aeration. I am using a machine. The Camon LA25 - a professional machine around £2500, designed for hard work, but you can find cheaper second hand models out there on eBay for example. if you don't want to pay out too much, you can actually manually aerate the whole lawn with a garden fork or by using a manual hollow tine lawn aerator. It does the same job but just takes longer to carry out. I carried out a side by side review of some of the best, here:    • Testing 4 BEST Manual Lawn Aerator Tools  

5. Then I overseeded the lawn. Don't sweat this part too much.. Any lawn seed will be fine for most gardens. Just throw it down, or use a spreader. Don't let it form piles or clumps where you can't see soil between each seed. Although I used the hand spreader in this video (its called the handy spreader and is available on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/45M1WT5), some seeds don't easily flow through it, some do.. It's pot luck! A much better option is to use a drop spreader like I showed in the video. The Scots drop spreader (here on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3N1SKCF) puts down a good coverage. You do sometimes have to go over the lawn twice but its far more accurate, but will likely take a little longer than the hand spreader. In hindsight I wish I had used it on this lawn!

6. Then I applied a thin layer of compost to the whole lawn. If your lawn isn't too big, just grab some between your hands and rub it over the seeds. You will happily and easily do this in a short period of time. For larger lawns you might need some help. if you've got a lot of existing grass you can dump piles of any multipurpose compost every 6 to 10 feet roughly and use a brush or rake to work it back and forth, flat, and nestled in down between the existing grass blades without smothering the existing grass. If there is. a lot of bare soil, doing this would move the seeds, so you either do it by hand or consider something like a compost spreader like this Landzie one I used (available here from garden imports: https://www.gardenimports.co.uk/produ...)

7. Then I used an ordinary garden roller to press down the seeds/compost to improve the seed to soil contact. Finally an application of Turfsolv was carried out before a final watering in.


Other tools used: Wolf Garten scarifying rake head https://amzn.to/3BObhvu and handle: https://amzn.to/3odHSIj

Camera gear used:

GoPro hero 8 (available here on Amazon https://amzn.to/3oHrMql)
Amazon Tripod https://amzn.to/3MKhpua
Rode wireless Mic https://amzn.to/429yHq6