Tips to Maintain a Healthy Lawn
Everyone wants to have a beautiful lawn, and everyone who has a beautiful lawn wants to keep it that way. The following five tips will help you create and maintain a healthy lawn.
Proper and Timely Lawn Mowing
While this one seems as though it should be a no-brainer, it is often overlooked. In order to maintain a healthy lawn, you cannot allow it to become overgrown. Sometimes people just do not realize the importance. Grass only grows if it has a healthy and deep root structure. This allows the lawn to absorb more water and nutrients. Aggressive cutting or scalping of your lawn causes your grass to focus on re-growing instead of developing roots, grass should only have the top 1/3rd of its blades cut, average cut is 4 inches, for St Augustine turf.
Grass should also be dry while mowing. Since cutting wet grass can lead to an uneven cut, wet grass trimming can lead to a clogged mower. If the lawn is too wet, heavy riding mowers can leave tread marks in your lawn. It is also important to keep your blades sharp since dull blades will tear up the grass blades. Tearing the grass blades will start to turn your lawn brown. Finally, mow only as needed for your grass type, climate, and time of year. This can vary from weekly in the summer to only once a month in winter depending on your location.
If you live St Augustine, FL or St Johns, FL and would love to take back some free time we can take over your lawn care. Clean Cuts of Saint Augustine offers lawn mowing services learn more about our lawn care options.
Core Aeration
The most underutilized resource we have that will help maintain a healthy lawn is Core Aeration. Core Aeration is the process of perforating the ground with small holes. These small holes allow air, water, and nutrients to seep into the root system. The main reason for aerating is to alleviate soil compaction, also called soil aeration. Soil that is compacted contains too many solid particles in a certain volume or space. Which prevents proper circulation of air, water, and nutrients within the soil. Excess lawn thatch or heavy organic debris buried under the grass surface can also starve the roots from these basic elements. Your lawn is an ideal candidate for aeration if it gets heavy usage from things like children and pets. Additionally, if your lawn dries out easily and feels spongy, you should have core aeration done to your lawn.
If your lawn needs aeration and you want to do it yourself, here are some quick tips. Always use a core aerator, a core aerator removes a core or “plug” of grass and soil from your lawn. Spiked aerators simple poke holes in the ground and are less effective and can be counterproductive. Most aerator machines cover small portions of soil surface per pass, so make multiple passes over the same area. Verify that your lawn’s soil is moist before starting the process. Since water clumps the soil together it makes it easy for the aerator to scoop it out.
If you do not want to do the Core Aeration yourself or are unable to rent a Core Aerator Clean Cuts of Saint Augustine offers Core Aeration once or twice a year.
Irrigation
Verify that you have a source of regular and frequent watering for your turf. Sprinklers are the most efficient way to water your lawn the correct amount. There is a wide variety of sprinkler systems from stationary sprinklers to traveling sprinklers. Stationary sprinklers just spray continuously in one pattern. Whereas traveling sprinklers move along the yard as they water. When watering your lawn, you want to water deeply. Watering too often, or too shallow can cause shallow root systems that are prone to drought and disease.
Fertilization and Weed Control
A fertilizer or lawn food is any product that contains key nutrients needed for plant growth, and to maintain a healthy lawn. The key ingredients in fertilizers are nitrogen, iron, or phosphorus. Often just looking at your lawn can tell you whether you need to fertilize it or seek other lawn treatment. For example, lawns suffering from nitrogen or iron deficiencies will have a yellowish color to them and may appear stunted in growth. Phosphorus deficiencies can leave your turf looking blueish green with some purple or red blades. For the best results, apply fertilizer near the beginning of the growing season when the lawn is free from frost or heat stress.
When it comes to weed control the most effective method is herbicides but mulching can help reduce weed populations. There are two forms of weed killer, the first being pre-emergent herbicides that kill weeds before they emerge. You will want to apply pre-emergent early in the season. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions on the product. The second would be post-emergent herbicide that will kill weeds once they have come up. As an alternative to herbicides, you may always pull weeds manually, which can help curb their growth.
Dethatching
Thatch is the layer of dead grass and debris that accumulates between the soil surface and the green grass blades. Thatch will prevent make it impossible to maintain a healthy lawn. Dethatching is the process of using a lawn dethatcher to remove the thatch. While some thatch is natural and healthy, anything over half an inch is detrimental to the health of the grass. Thatch hinders water and air from reaching the soil and encourages weeds. As a rule, dethatch your lawn every three to five years.
If you plan on dethatching it yourself here are a few tips. Be sure to dethatch when the soil is moist but not too wet. If the lawn is too wet it can damage the turf. Avoid dethatching during droughts, heat waves or water restrictions. Finally, avoid dethatching in the fall, as it can weaken the grass for winter and severely damage its chances for survival.
If you live in St Augustine, FL or St Johns, FL, Clean Cuts of Saint Augustine will come out to inspect your lawn. We will determine if you really need a dethatching service.
Summary
So, as we can see from the points outlined above, the five important keys to lawn treatment you need to continue for a beautiful lawn. The first is to mow properly to avoid streaks in your lawn or worse accidentally killing it. Core aeration is an important tool for allowing air and water to reach the root structure of your lawn and relieves compact soil. Irritation is literally the key to your lawn surviving, as long as your watering enough, and you avoid overwatering. Fertilization and weed control will supply needed nutrients to your lawn while keeping unwanted invasive species out of your lawn. Finally, removing excess dead thatch will make it easier for water and air to reach grass roots and make it harder for your lawn to harbor pests or weeds.