lawn care tips

Introduction

Maintaining a healthy lawn involves using good maintenance practices throughout the growing season. These include:

ü  Proper mowing,

ü  fertilizing,

ü  irrigation and

ü  thatch control

Result:

Provide a dense, healthy, high-quality lawn

Mowing

¡  The importance of good mowing practices is often overlooked.

¡  Mowing has a major influence on the turf

¡  density,

¡  uniformity and

¡  aesthetic quality of lawn.

¡  It is also the most repetitious and time-consuming maintenance practice

But often done incorrectly.

Frequency and Height

Turf can be mowed frequently, provided no more than one-third of the grass blade is removed in a single mowing.

ü  Mow as high as possible.

ü  Lower mowing produces a shallow root system.

ü  Shallow grass roots cannot take up enough water and nutrients, making the lawn susceptible to drought stress.

ü  Low mowing encourages broadleaf weed invasion such as creeping bent grass and annual blue-grass

ü  It is best to mow a lawn when the leaves are dry

ü  Dry grass cuts cleanly, and clippings distribute more evenly.

Clippings

Simply clippings refer to the lawn waste resulting from mowing

ü  Leave clippings on the lawn.

ü  If they are excessively heavy, rake them up and remove them.

ü  Clippings contain nutrients and water, breakdown rapidly

ü  You can cut down your fertilizer (especially nitrogen) by 20%-35% by leaving the clippings on.

Fertility maintenance

Understanding and implementing a well balanced fertilizer program is one of the most crucial factors in maintaining an attractive healthy lawn.

The three main nutrients required by lawns are:

¡  nitrogen (N)- promotes dark green colour, leaf blade development, and density of the turf

¡  phosphorus (P) Phosphorus is important for good root and rhizome development and promotes plant maturity

¡  potassium (K) Potassium contributes to the general vigor of the plant and promotes wear, drought tolerance and winter hardiness.

Nutrients requirements

The amount of nutrients required by a home lawn is best determined by soil testing. A soil test will provide the amount of phosphorus, potassium, sulphur or lime required.

ü  Generally, 1.5-2 kg/100 m² of actual nitrogen can be applied throughout the season, split into 2-4 applications.

ü  In the absence of a soil test, a 4-1-2 ratio (N-P-K) such as 20-5-10 is recommended

ü  Nitrogen has to be applied every year, while phosphorus and potassium are relatively stable in the soil

ü  If the lawn is on sandy soil, higher potash or more frequent applications may be required because it may leach

ü  On newly established lawns, higher levels of phosphorus and potash may be required.

Fertilizers application timings

Late-fall fertilization with a quick-release nitrogen fertilizer is beneficial for lawns. Apply when the lawn has stopped growing but is still green. It:

ü  increases fall and spring root growth

ü  promotes a thicker lawn

ü  results in an early spring green-up

--an even application of lawn fertilizers is very important for achieving a uniform green lawn

--the lawn will green up earlier in the spring and will not give the rapid flush of shoot growth that occurs with spring-applied nitrogen.

Irrigation

When normal rainfall fails to provide enough moisture, grass goes dormant and turns brown.

                To ensure a high-quality lawn, the lawn must be watered.

                Signs that a lawn needs water include:

•       footprints remain while walking across the lawn

•       a slight change in color to dark blue-green

•       grass blades folding inward

Frequency and Timing

ü  Water in the early morning when there is little or no wind

ü  Water before midday, when the evaporation rate is the lowest

ü  Watering can be done in the evening, but this may encourage disease development- fungi require several hours of leaf wetness for infections and disease to occur.

Amount Of  Water

Too much water can cause

Ø  Thatch

Ø  fertilizer leaching,

Ø  increased disease or grassy weed problems such as creeping bent grass, annual bluegrass or rough bluegrass.

                Too little water applied frequently can cause

Ø  shallow rooting of the turf, which makes the lawn susceptible to disease

Ø  drought stress

Ø  winter injury. 

Ø  wet the entire area to a depth of 10-20 cm

Ø  run the irrigation or sprinkler for 15 minutes.

Ø  Check the water level in the can -approximately 2.5-4 cm of water in the can corresponds to an adequate irrigation of the lawn.

Ø  If the sprinkler delivered 0.5 cm in 15 minutes, you will need to water for 1.25 hours to get the required 2.5 cm.

Ø  Areas needs more water include slopes, areas near buildings, sidewalks and light soils. Low-lying areas, shaded areas and heavy soils may not need as frequent irrigation.

Irrigation Equipment

Hose watering is suitable for small areas only. A sprinkler

attachment provides adequate coverage for an average-size lawn

An underground irrigation system is the most expensive, but also the most efficient method, and may be considered for very large lawns or industrial properties.

During extended dry periods, a lawn may turn brown and go

dormant. A lawn can survive from 4-6 weeks in a dormant state

during summer dry periods. Once the rains return, the lawn will

green up in 7-10 days.

If the lawn is dormant:

l  Keep traffic off.

l  Stop mowing

l  Do not fertilize

Insect pest and disease management