I was talking to one of my long time mowing customers tonight about his watering practices in his lawn area, that conversation made me think of some information that I wanted to pass on to you, to help you get the most out of your lawn and the services we provide for you. I wanted to share with you the 3 basic needs of lawn care. If you execute these three things correctly, you should have a beautiful lawn all year long.
- Water- The way you water your lawn can make it or break it. Under watering will create a lawn that is thin, brown and susceptible to insect problems when it gets put under stress. Overwatering can suffocate the roots of your grass, create a thick layer of thatch or top root growth (If there is always water on the surface of your lawn, your roots will have no need to penetrate deeper) , and create an environment ideal for getting insect or fungus problems. The ideal watering practices are to soak one day then dry out for 2-3 days. When you soak your lawn, water it for short periods of time with multiple cycles. An example of this is to water every 2nd (Summer) or 3rd (Spring or Fall) day, once at 2am, then 4am, then again at 6am. Run your pop-up heads 7 minutes each cycle, and your rotors 12-15 minutes each cycle, if you have stream rotors run them 20+ minutes each cycle, and drip zones 30 minutes each cycle. Using multiple cycles like this reduces runoff, and pushes the water deeper into the soil after each cycle. Then as you dry out for two or three days, the roots push deeper into the soil absorbing the water that you pushed down with the multiple cycles. It is important to water early in the morning also. By watering early in the morning you will be watering when there is little or no wind, which gives you better coverage, and keeps the water in your yard and not blowing away. Then when the sun comes up after you are done watering it dries the canopy of your lawn off, helping prevent fungus problems. If you water at night after the sun goes down, the water sits on your lawn all night long creating a better environment for fungus growth, especially when it is warm.
Remember to shut your sprinklers off for a day or two when we get 1/3” of rain or more.
Our EZ Wet product and Core Aeration helps the water you put down get deeper into the soil.
- Air – The roots of your lawn need plenty of Oxygen to thrive. Of course the best course of action to increase oxygen intake is to aerate your lawn every spring and fall. This is important because your soil becomes compact over time, with foot traffic, animals, mowers, kids playing and watering. All of these great things contribute to the compaction of your soil, sealing it up and keeping a lot of oxygen out. Thatch (Roots that grow on the surface) also contributes to low oxygen in the roots. Aeration and proper watering are the best ways to control thatch. Over watering to a point that there is standing water will also deprive your roots of your grass from oxygen. If water squishes out the sides of your shoes as you walk over your grass, it’s too wet.
- Food – You need to replace the nutrients that your grass needs to thrive, on a regular basis. Our soils are deficient in many of the key nutrients your grass requires to stay thick, green and healthy. This is why you must fertilize regularly to keep a beautiful lawn all season long. In Colorado it is recommended that you put down a minimum of 4 pounds of nitrogen per 1000 square feet of lawn, per year. You don’t want to put all 4 pounds down at once, or it will burn your lawn. That is why we have a 4 and 5 application program for our customers. We put 1 pound of nitrogen down per application, which gives you the minimum 4 pounds that is recommended per year, or the 5 application program will give you a little extra for better results. You can also do this on your own, by calibrating your fertilizer spreader with the type of fertilizer you buy, then applying it every 6-8 weeks.
That is all it takes to have a beautiful lawn. The catch is that you need all three. If you are missing any one of these three, your lawn will not look very good. If you follow these directions, you will have a thicker, greener, healthier, lawn with little or no fungus problems, with deep roots to withstand the summer heat, and less weeds, because the best way to keep weeds out is competition. If your lawn is really thick the weeds will not get the sunlight they need to germinate. If you would like more information on proper ways to take care of your lawn, please e-mail or call me.
***If you know someone who could benefit from the information I have provide you, or might be interested in our services, please forward this message to them. I appreciate your business and I am here to help you get the most out of the investment of your landscape.
