SUPPLY
GARDEN
Garden talk
i
By Leon Macha
t’s well known among turf research
specialists that we homeowners often
love our lawns to death. We do too
much of everything and wonder why we run
out of time for the fun activities we really enjoy.
These excesses cost money and cause
problems:
Too much fertilizer
Too much irrigation
Too much drought stress
Too short mowing height
Too much raking and bagging
Too much shade
… and the list goes on.
Fertilizer
More is not better. All you want to accomplish is decent green color without encouraging rank growth. Lush growth results in
more mowing, more clippings and more cool
season fungal disease like Brown Patch.
One uniform application of a time-release
turf fertilizer (micro-nutrients included) in
spring is likely to be all you need for the year.
We are blessed with good soils here, unless
your house and lot received an excess of
“blow sand” fill soil when built.
I personally have used no nitrogen fertilizer on my turf for four years and am on a
mission to see how long that can continue.
My neighbor and turf producer, Steve Cooper, has done the same with his lawn.
I am using Ironite (iron & micronutrient source) and Epsom Salts (magnesium
Smart lawn practices save you
time and money
source) to maintain green color and moderate growth rate.
population of such insects in residence all
summer, but outgrows the attack.
Irrigation
Owners of an automatic sprinkler system
have a helpful assistant in turf care. However,
many systems are improperly programmed
and the spray heads are poorly adjusted for
even coverage.
Chinch bug populations and damage
explode when the stress is just right.
Systems that turn on every day or two for
a short duration are inviting turf problems.
Become familiar with your system controller and set it for once or twice per week for a
long duration per zone.
Frequency of irrigation may have to be
increased under extreme drought conditions
like last summer, or if you have many large
trees sucking your soil dry.
Realize that water needs for each zone are
not the same. Watch all parts of your system go
through its cycle. See if each spray head works.
Call your irrigation contractor for help.
Pay attention to the amount of natural
rainfall received. Feel comfortable with
cutting your system off when we get into a
sustained rainy season.
Turf grass is healthiest when it endures
some drought stress between waterings. The
lack of excess water encourages the root
system to grow more deeply in search of
moisture.
Drought stress
Extreme drought stress makes St. Augustine turf very susceptible to killing attack by
chinch bugs. Healthy turf likely has a small
Mowing height
Adjust your mower at or near its tallest height. Your grass benefits from having
full, long leaves and plenty of them. More
leaf surface equals more energy production through photosynthesis. More energy
equals healthier plants that are more capable
of overcoming stressful times, and the attacks of insects and diseases. If you employ
a mowing crew, insist that they adjust their
mowers to your specification.
Raking and bagging
This is a no-brainer. Raking and bagging
lawn clippings is hard work. It removes organic matter that contains fertility elements
that you just paid to add to your yard. It fills
our landfills with organic matter that belongs
in your soil.
Mowing high and having a mower with a
sharp, effective mulching blade will eliminate
this work and the waste.
Excess shade
As previously mentioned, good turf is
grass loaded with energy. The dense shade
and competition for water and fertility
provided by trees creates a nearly impossible
situation for grass growth. Trimming lower
branches and sky-lighting branches helps
by providing more light for photosynthesis.
Add proper moisture and fertility, and grass
begins to have a fighting chance.
We do too much of everything and
wonder why we run out of time for
the fun activities we really enjoy.
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