Prepare For Battle

Last week, we discussed proper turf selection for your application and the various qualities of each turf.  Maybe you’re thinking about taking that plunge and installing the new lawn you’ve always wanted.  Or, maybe you have an existing lawn you can’t figure out why it never looks like you want it to.  How long should I water it? When should I mow and how high should I mow it?  Any investment you make in the improvement of your home deserves to be maintained well.  Your turf is no different.  Proper watering, mowing, and traffic management are critical in obtaining healthy turf.

Training The Troops

Simply pulling the mower out and making circles in the yard is far from mowing properly.  Let’s begin with when to mow.  Most turf, during their ideal growing season, will need to be mowed at least once per week, some more than that.  The true indicator is that we never want to mow more than 1/3 of the blade off at one time.  Allowing your turf to grow to hay bailing stage before mowing is not recommended and will thin your turf quickly.  Mowing height depends on turf type with warm season grasses being mowed at 1.5-2.5 inches and fescue being mowed between 3-4 inches.  We also don’t ever want to mow the same paths over and over leading to compacted soil and bare spots in the turf.  Make sure to vary your routes while you mow to avoid this problem.  Overuse by a mower, foot traffic, or pets can wreak havoc on turf, especially if the turf is soggy or under stress.

Not all mowers are created equal. A quality mower with proper maintenance and an educated operator will bring about the desired results.

Choose your Weapon

We are often asked “How much should I water my lawn?”.  Offering your turf the proper amount of water through supplemental irrigation is a key for turf to survive our summers.  Most turf in our area needs 1-1.5” of water each week.  We sometimes get help from rain, but often must supplement in the summer.  Buying a rain gauge and knowing the amount of water your irrigation produces in a given time are keys to determining what water you need to supplement your turf with each week.  Just as not watering enough is a problem, watering too much causes the roots of your turf to be starved of oxygen.  Both extremes cause similar issues in turf making it important to not exacerbate an overwatered lawn by watering it more because you think it is dry.  Having a rain sensor on your irrigation timer is a helpful way to manage this.

 

Always be observant and if you see something that doesn’t look right, click HERE or give us a call at 864-423-3844.  We would love to help diagnose the cause.  Your issue could be from improper maintenance, insect, or disease, which we will cover in next week’s blog.

You can visit our Social Media pages for updated examples and pro tips on how to maintain your turf, click HERE

Proper irrigation nurshises and promotes a healthy, long-lasting turf.

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