2016 Lawn thread
Discussion
So new grass, only laid around 8weeks ago. It was looking very good, but i fear i've cut it too short as there's now lots of yellowing and no more lush green, despite all the rain.
I've just ordered some "A1 Lawn Ultimate Spring/Summer Lawn Fertiliser" from Amazon which i'll treat it with and water in - but is there anything else i can do, other than not cut it so short next time?
TY
I've just ordered some "A1 Lawn Ultimate Spring/Summer Lawn Fertiliser" from Amazon which i'll treat it with and water in - but is there anything else i can do, other than not cut it so short next time?
TY
Weeded and feeded at the start of the growing season, then hammered the larger dandelions with the Fiskars puller, but now small to medium weeds are starting to poke through again.
Tried to spot spray a few with resolva(?) but I reckon its too strong and has taken some of the grass with it round the applied areas.
I think I would prefer an all over weed killer, but not sure which to try first. Pretty sure it doesn't need weed and feed again, as it's looking pretty verdant and healthy.
My attempts to seed bare areas have been a waste of time after ignoring the advice on here to buy from lawnsmith et al, so don't want to pass up the good advice this time.
Tried to spot spray a few with resolva(?) but I reckon its too strong and has taken some of the grass with it round the applied areas.
I think I would prefer an all over weed killer, but not sure which to try first. Pretty sure it doesn't need weed and feed again, as it's looking pretty verdant and healthy.
My attempts to seed bare areas have been a waste of time after ignoring the advice on here to buy from lawnsmith et al, so don't want to pass up the good advice this time.
And meant to ask, I've got blackberry brambles poking through the grass on one side of the garden, as they are pretty well established in next doors garden. Is there a tried and tested way of stopping these? I've just been giving them a little squirt with the weed killer mentioned above which seems to be doing the trick, but they keep coming!
crashley said:
So new grass, only laid around 8weeks ago. It was looking very good, but i fear i've cut it too short as there's now lots of yellowing and no more lush green, despite all the rain.
I've just ordered some "A1 Lawn Ultimate Spring/Summer Lawn Fertiliser" from Amazon which i'll treat it with and water in - but is there anything else i can do, other than not cut it so short next time?
TY
It is important to gradually lower the cutting height rather than taking it all off in one go. Assuming that there isn't a problem with the underlying soil (eg drainage) then the grass should recover over time for the most part and some feed will certainly help, but be careful not to over apply. Better to spread at half rate now and again in a few weeks so as not to burn the grass or encourage lush top growth when the roots are still developing.I've just ordered some "A1 Lawn Ultimate Spring/Summer Lawn Fertiliser" from Amazon which i'll treat it with and water in - but is there anything else i can do, other than not cut it so short next time?
TY
vladcjelli said:
Weeded and feeded at the start of the growing season, then hammered the larger dandelions with the Fiskars puller, but now small to medium weeds are starting to poke through again.
Tried to spot spray a few with resolva(?) but I reckon its too strong and has taken some of the grass with it round the applied areas.
I think I would prefer an all over weed killer, but not sure which to try first. Pretty sure it doesn't need weed and feed again, as it's looking pretty verdant and healthy.
My attempts to seed bare areas have been a waste of time after ignoring the advice on here to buy from lawnsmith et al, so don't want to pass up the good advice this time.
I'd stick with spot spraying weeds as they appear, but be careful not to over apply which could well be the cause of the grass suffering. Monocots like grass aren't totally immune to lawn weedkiller, they're just a lot more resistant to it than dicots; apply enough and you can still kill grass with it. Tried to spot spray a few with resolva(?) but I reckon its too strong and has taken some of the grass with it round the applied areas.
I think I would prefer an all over weed killer, but not sure which to try first. Pretty sure it doesn't need weed and feed again, as it's looking pretty verdant and healthy.
My attempts to seed bare areas have been a waste of time after ignoring the advice on here to buy from lawnsmith et al, so don't want to pass up the good advice this time.
Young grass is also a lot more susceptible to selective weedkillers. Where weeds are coming through recently sown grass then I tend to ignore the small ones and treat larger leaved weeds like dandelions by brushing on weedkiller using a cotton bud to avoid contact with the grass - a slow but effective method.
You could try Verdone (Weedol) Lawn weedkiller instead of Resolva. They have slightly different ingredients and the Verdone packaging says that it can be used on new lawns after 2 months as opposed to six months for the Resolva.
vladcjelli said:
And meant to ask, I've got blackberry brambles poking through the grass on one side of the garden, as they are pretty well established in next doors garden. Is there a tried and tested way of stopping these? I've just been giving them a little squirt with the weed killer mentioned above which seems to be doing the trick, but they keep coming!
It's really going to need a physical barrier to stop them coming through - slates or a weed membrane laid vertically below ground level along the boundary. Or persuade the neighbours to get rid of their brambles which could be easier said than done.I have to confess to dipping in and out of this thread for some time but never taking the advice given and applying it to my own lawn.
The rest of our (rear) garden is fine but the lawn is a constant battle. I don't know where to start...we've got moss, ant nests and bare patches.
What can I do now (at this time of year) to start moving in the right direction?
I'm all ears! I've considered Green Thumb or the alike...
The rest of our (rear) garden is fine but the lawn is a constant battle. I don't know where to start...we've got moss, ant nests and bare patches.
What can I do now (at this time of year) to start moving in the right direction?
I'm all ears! I've considered Green Thumb or the alike...
For major renovations I'd suggest waiting until autumn when there's less likely to be hot dry weather which will require that much more irrigation to avoid young grass drying out. That said, this month continues to be unsettled, with better weather possibly not arriving until the latter part of the month. You could get away with tackling the lawn now, but you will need to water the lawn should dry weather finally arrive.
I would try to work out the reasons for it being such a battle to keep the lawn looking good. Do you suffer from excessive shade? Is the ground compacted? Is there a thick layer of thatch? Are you cutting the grass too short? Are you cutting the lawn too infrequently for the length and removing too much in one go? Are there drainage issues? Is the rootzone soil poor quality?
I would look at scarifying and aerating the lawn in the autumn. Scarifying will help to clear out moss, remove thatch, encourage thickening of the sward, remove lateral growth, etc. Aerating will help to relieve compaction, improve drainage and allow air into the rootzone. You could apply iron sulphate to kill off moss a couple of weeks beforehand, likewise treat weeds with a lawn weedkiller if you have a weed problem.
Once scarified and aerated then you can overseed to fill bare patches and thicken the lawn with desirable grasses. You could topdress if you were feeling particularly keen.
In the meantime, give the lawn a feed to help the grass that is there and if you tend to cut the lawn quite low then raise the cutting height to allow the grass to outcompete the moss more easily. A higher cut also allows you to cut more infrequently without breaking the one third rule, especially in good growing conditions. Too short a cut is imho the #1 reason for domestic lawn problems.
I would try to work out the reasons for it being such a battle to keep the lawn looking good. Do you suffer from excessive shade? Is the ground compacted? Is there a thick layer of thatch? Are you cutting the grass too short? Are you cutting the lawn too infrequently for the length and removing too much in one go? Are there drainage issues? Is the rootzone soil poor quality?
I would look at scarifying and aerating the lawn in the autumn. Scarifying will help to clear out moss, remove thatch, encourage thickening of the sward, remove lateral growth, etc. Aerating will help to relieve compaction, improve drainage and allow air into the rootzone. You could apply iron sulphate to kill off moss a couple of weeks beforehand, likewise treat weeds with a lawn weedkiller if you have a weed problem.
Once scarified and aerated then you can overseed to fill bare patches and thicken the lawn with desirable grasses. You could topdress if you were feeling particularly keen.
In the meantime, give the lawn a feed to help the grass that is there and if you tend to cut the lawn quite low then raise the cutting height to allow the grass to outcompete the moss more easily. A higher cut also allows you to cut more infrequently without breaking the one third rule, especially in good growing conditions. Too short a cut is imho the #1 reason for domestic lawn problems.
A 100% bentgrass lawn does look absolutely stunning but it is a lot of work to maintain. Assuming that you're going to be keeping it at a height of cut of 6 to 10mm then you'll likely need to cut every other day at the height of the growing season. You'll need a very bump free lawn to start with and a cylinder mower with more than the average number of blades on the cutting reel. You can grow the bentgrass longer and it'll still look very good, but in a way you're missing out on one of the major advantages of it.
Velvet and creeping bentgrasses can generate a lot of thatch, the Velvet not being quite so bad as Creeping in that respect. You'll need to verticut (after the first year) and topdress regularly (including the first year) to keep the thatch under control. Light topdressings fortnightly during the growing season may well be required for thatch control.
For Velvet bentgrass you could be looking at up to 1 tonne of topdressing per 100m2 over the first year, increasing to 2 tonnes per 100m2 per year once established which will help to keep the thatch diluted. Those quantities are recommendations for a sand based green however, so in a domestic lawn which is likely to have a more active microbial community as well as less need to maintain ball speeds you could probably halve that.
Top dressing particle size will ideally need to be under 1mm so you'll need proper topdressing rather than builder's sharp sand which would be too coarse to work into established turf easily.
With Velvet bentgrass, the nutrition requirements are really quite low once established. During the first year you'll need to feed little and often, with total N requirement being 1.8-2.2 kg N per 100m2. After the first year you'll only need around half that amount of N. An NPK ratio of around 10:2:6 should be ideal in the growing season. Velvet bent also requires much less water than a normal lawn, so summer irrigation requirements are much reduced. It's also shade tolerant.
Germinal's Level Par would make for a lovely lawn with it's mix of Avalon and Vesper Velvet bents. They only have 10kg boxes shown on that page, the price of which is a bit eye watering, but they were certainly doing it in smaller quantities last year over the phone. You'd only need about 0.6-0.8kg per 100m2 which isn't so bad price wise.
Be careful not to exceed the recommended seeding rate as bentgrass doesn't like that at all. As the bentgrass seeds are so very tiny it can be easier to mix the seed into sand to help get an even spread. When sowing don't cover the seeds by more than 5mm. That also means that you'll need to set the sprinklers for every couple of hours during the day to keep the surface moist until they germinate.
It's going to be a challenge to maintain if you do go for it, but you would have a lawn that'd be the envy of anyone visiting.
Velvet and creeping bentgrasses can generate a lot of thatch, the Velvet not being quite so bad as Creeping in that respect. You'll need to verticut (after the first year) and topdress regularly (including the first year) to keep the thatch under control. Light topdressings fortnightly during the growing season may well be required for thatch control.
For Velvet bentgrass you could be looking at up to 1 tonne of topdressing per 100m2 over the first year, increasing to 2 tonnes per 100m2 per year once established which will help to keep the thatch diluted. Those quantities are recommendations for a sand based green however, so in a domestic lawn which is likely to have a more active microbial community as well as less need to maintain ball speeds you could probably halve that.
Top dressing particle size will ideally need to be under 1mm so you'll need proper topdressing rather than builder's sharp sand which would be too coarse to work into established turf easily.
With Velvet bentgrass, the nutrition requirements are really quite low once established. During the first year you'll need to feed little and often, with total N requirement being 1.8-2.2 kg N per 100m2. After the first year you'll only need around half that amount of N. An NPK ratio of around 10:2:6 should be ideal in the growing season. Velvet bent also requires much less water than a normal lawn, so summer irrigation requirements are much reduced. It's also shade tolerant.
Germinal's Level Par would make for a lovely lawn with it's mix of Avalon and Vesper Velvet bents. They only have 10kg boxes shown on that page, the price of which is a bit eye watering, but they were certainly doing it in smaller quantities last year over the phone. You'd only need about 0.6-0.8kg per 100m2 which isn't so bad price wise.
Be careful not to exceed the recommended seeding rate as bentgrass doesn't like that at all. As the bentgrass seeds are so very tiny it can be easier to mix the seed into sand to help get an even spread. When sowing don't cover the seeds by more than 5mm. That also means that you'll need to set the sprinklers for every couple of hours during the day to keep the surface moist until they germinate.
It's going to be a challenge to maintain if you do go for it, but you would have a lawn that'd be the envy of anyone visiting.
Wow thanks for that knew I could rely on you!, I was going to attempt it at a height of 15mm I'm a golfer and I like the height of it around the fringes of the green. I thought this might be easier to keep than a super low cut lawn. Which one of the bents are easiest to maintain?, I'm leaning towards velvet bent but I have lots of browntop bent which was in my lawnsmith mix from last year and it's taken off like mad!. I was looking at this seed https://www.pitchcare.com/shop/golf-green-grass-se...
Edited by moles on Friday 1st July 21:58
15mm will make life a lot easier; cutting requirements will likely drop down to twice weekly at that height. You'll also be able to use a normal cylinder mower rather than a super low cut tournament type. Can't go wrong with DLF seeds either imho. Like the Level Par, having a mix of two Velvet bent cultivars in that one does help with things such as disease resistance. I'd go for Velvet bent for a bent only lawn.
One other thing that I forgot to mention is that it's worth swishing dew off a bentgrass lawn in the mornings if you can. Being such a tight dense sward it can be more prone to extended periods of leaf moisture which can cause problems with disease, especially if you have a fairly sheltered lawn. It needn't be every dewy morning, but the more you can then the less chance of problems developing.
One other thing that I forgot to mention is that it's worth swishing dew off a bentgrass lawn in the mornings if you can. Being such a tight dense sward it can be more prone to extended periods of leaf moisture which can cause problems with disease, especially if you have a fairly sheltered lawn. It needn't be every dewy morning, but the more you can then the less chance of problems developing.
For the best results I'd consider starting from scratch, but it is that much harder and does put the lawn out of action for a while. If overseeding then the bents are likely to become the dominant species over time as many of the other grasses won't be keen on the environmental conditions (low cutting height, reduced fertiliser inputs, etc). The finer fescues won't have too much of a problem though, so they'll hang around for a while.
On a smaller lawn I'd consider starting again, but on a larger one I'd definitely think twice about it.
On a smaller lawn I'd consider starting again, but on a larger one I'd definitely think twice about it.
Ok cheers I'm going to see if I can order a smaller amount of the stuff you linked to as I only need 2kg for 170m2 which will leave some spare still. Waste of time ordering 10kg if it's going to sit in shed for 5 years!. I have a smaller section of lawn under some trees and the fescue has gone due to not enough sun/constant dampness but the bents are still there in random tufts so I will overseed this section first and see how it takes and then decide what to do on the main lawn.
Can anyone suggest why my lawn seems to have gone to s
t recently?
Having put a lot of work in earlier in the year, weeds have started to appear en-mass (now hopefully dealt with), while my grass has lost some of its colour and is looking a bit thin in places. With all the rain, on a dry soil type and plenty of sunshine, I would have thought it would be perfect grass growing conditions.
Cant help thinking there is some nutrient deficiency, but tbh Im not anal enough to test it and rectify.
t recently? Having put a lot of work in earlier in the year, weeds have started to appear en-mass (now hopefully dealt with), while my grass has lost some of its colour and is looking a bit thin in places. With all the rain, on a dry soil type and plenty of sunshine, I would have thought it would be perfect grass growing conditions.
Cant help thinking there is some nutrient deficiency, but tbh Im not anal enough to test it and rectify.
8-P said:
I've finally got my stripes. Having bought a house with a very neglected lawn I'm happy to be this far!
That's a great transformation 
Condi said:
Cant help thinking there is some nutrient deficiency, but tbh Im not anal enough to test it and rectify.
I would give it a feed if you haven't recently. Lots of rain and a sandy soil can rapidly leach Nitrogen. There could be other issues such as compaction if the lawn has been used a lot in the wet weather, or deep thatch which will further highlight nutrient deficiency as so much of the root won't be in good soil. Chances are though that it just needs a feed.Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff