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Saturday, February 9, 2013
10 Lawn Care Questions About Your Lawn.
1. How does lawn fertilizer affect grass clippings and thatch? It’s important to try and avoid fertilization with cheap quick release fertilizers. These cheap fertilizers release quickly and cause an exorbitant amount of grass growth. This causes excessive grass clippings and contributes to thatch accumulation. Proper mowing and irrigation practices will also help reduce immoderate grass clippings and thatch accumulation.
2. What is thatch? Thatch is a layer of undecomposed and partly decomposed organic material. It’s located above the soil surface and just below the base of the turfgrass. It is a poor nutrient and water holding medium and has more potential to environmental stresses such as drought. It is also more prone to insect and disease infestations.
3. If I have an excessive accumulation of thatch; what should I do? I would advise you to have your lawn dethached. This is very beneficial to your lawn. Follow this with avoiding excessive cheap fast release fertilizers and have a yearly core aerification on your lawn.
4. Can I just not fertilize the lawn? Turfgrass vigor and color will be poor without fertilization.
5. How high should the lawn grow before I mow? The rule of thumb is termed the 1/3rd rule. You never want to mow more than 1/3rd of the leaf blade off at any one time. The turfgrass green color is located at the middle to end portion of the leaf blade and removing more than 1/3rd of this will cause you to lose the color in the turfgrass. Excessive removal will give it a whitish brown appearance. It is alright to mow more frequently and remove less than 1/3rd of the leaf blade. For example; if you maintain your lawn at a 2” height; you would want to mow no later than when the turf reaches 3” in height. Think of it this way; mow the lawn no later than when it reaches 50% higher than the desired height you want to maintain the lawn.
6. Is there a wrong time to mow the lawn? Turfgrass can be mowed anytime and even at night. It’s important to avoid mowing when it is really wet. This ensures a good quality cut of the turfgrass. Heavy dew can also lead to clumps of clippings left on the lawn.
7. Are there tips on mowing the right way? Try changing the mowing pattern each time the lawn is mowed. This will help keep the grass from growing at an angle from being repeatedly mowed in the same direction. It also helps prevent grooves forming in your lawn and compaction.
8. Is it a good practice to allow the grass to “go to seed”? No; the majority of lawns were laid by sod. Most warm season turf is vegetatively propagated and the seed is sterile; therefore; the seed will not germinate. Allowing the lawn to seed diverts vital nutrients away from shoot and root growth.
9. How do I handle shaded areas in my lawn? Bermuda grass will not tolerate shade and begins to get thin, leggy, and then dies to form bare areas. Zoysia and fescue tolerate more shade but, if the shade is dense enough they will also begin to thin and eventually die. To combat shade raise the mowing height and try to minimize the traffic. Limb up any low hanging tree limbs to help increase sunlight. If this is ineffective you will need to replace the grass with a more shade tolerant variety. A better option may involve expanding natural areas or shrub beds to include these thin, bare areas. These areas can then be planted with shrubs, mondo grass, liriope, or other shade tolerant ground covers.
10. What is a soil analysis? Below your lawn is a chemistry lab. The quality of turf depends on this understanding. A soil analysis is a sampling of soil cores pulled from your lawn and sent to a lab for analysis. The result will detail information about soil nutrient levels. These nutrient levels include phosphorus, potassium, calcium, manganese, and zinc.
The nutrient levels are important to customize a fertilization program for your lawn. For example, without proper potassium levels nitrogen can’t be properly taken up. The soil analysis also provides a soil pH level that determines your soils alkalinity or acidity based on a logarithmic scale of 0-14. The pH level of 6.5 to 6.8 is an ideal level for most turfgrass. Primarily all lawns in this area are acid and have a low pH level. Lime is applied to raise the pH level to an ideal range. This allows your turf to have nutrients at the greatest availability for uptake and use.
David W. Boggan is the owner of Tree and Horticultural Management Services in Birmingham, Alabama. To find out more information about your lawn care needs; please visit www.thms-expectmore.com
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Why High Quality Fertilizers Are Good For Your Lawn and Environmentally Responsible
Fertilizer is one of the most expensive products in a lawn care program. Some lawn care services try to be cost competive by using cheap fertilizers. High quality fertilizers can cost 2 or 3 times more and have significant advantages over cheap, low grade fertilizers.
Low cost fertilizers release nitrogen quickly which is partially taken up by the lawn. What isn't taken up is wasted and is more prone to nitrogen run-off or leaching into your ground water supply. If not properly water in after application these fertilizers will burn your lawn causing orange brown spots to appear all over your lawn. Low grade fertilizers can also burn your annual flowers or ornamental shrubs.
Cheap fertilizers promote rapid growth of the lawn. The excessive grass growth can cause more insect and disease infestations, additional water requirements, and excessive grass clippings. The end result is more money actually spent for cheap fertilizers and a lawn that is greenish brown for 3-4 days after each mowing because all the green growth was mowed out of the lawn due to the rapid growth of lawn.
The benefits of high quality slow release fertilizers are:
- No growth surge which eliminates the need to bag clippings or double cut lawn.
- No worries about mowing the green out of your lawn with regularly scheduled mowings.
- Greatly reduces the potential of nitrogen runoff or leaching into ground water. Best option for the local environment.
- Longer slow release of nitrogen that provides a even and consistent dark green lawn with no lime green periods between fertilizer applications.
- Lawn uses less water.
- Lawn less prone to insect and disease problems.
- Lawn is healthier due to the form of nitrogen available to the turfgrass which promotes a thicker, tighter lawn.
- Very low burn potential. So no orange areas in lawn due to fertilizer not being watered in effectively. No ornamental shrub or annual flowers damaged by fertilizer.
lawn care service in the Birmingham, AL area.You can find out more lawn care information at
www.thms-expectmore.com
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
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