LAWN CARE SIMPLIFIED - A Safe and Natural Approach

LAWN FORCE 5 - A Lawn Care Kit in a Bottle

Lawn Force 5  (formerly called All-In-One for LAWNS) is gradually becoming the liquid lawn fertilizer of choice for homeowners across the United States.  This easy to apply product does more that just fertilize: It decomposes thatch, it helps aerate the soil, it deepens roots and it helps bio-activate and improve soil structure.  This is truly a Lawn Care Kit in a Bottle.   

Basically, what we have done is combined all of our best lawn care products into one. The products include:

Liquid Aerify. A high strength soil penetrant that loosens Clay and improves aeration, drainage, soil structure and rooting.

Nature's Magic.  Our best organic soil and plant activation product that contains highest quality liquid seaweed (kelp) and humic acids

Liquid Lawn Fertilizer.  Our 16-4-8 fertilizer that is salt-free and non-burning

Biological Dethatcher.  A blend of decompositon microbes that help digest thatch and turn it into valuable humus.

Mycorrhizae  This is a blend of fungi that attach to the roots of grass and help bring more nutrients and water to the grass.

Please visit our website www.natureslawn.com to learn more about Lawn Force 5 as well as all of our other great lawn and garden products.

Related articles

Try LIQUID Aeration!

All About Crabgrass

Working With Wet Clay Soils in the Garden (LAWN CARE SIMPLIFIED - A Safe and Natural Approach)

MID SPRING LAWN TIPS

In the Spring, especially in the North, it seems like all the lawns in the neighborhood look great for a while in terms of color, even if they have weren't fertilized in the fall or this spring. This happens because even the weakest grass stores enough food in the fall to give it a burst of growth in the spring. But in a few weeks, the lawns that have poor soil or insufficient fertilizer will start to fade in color and revert back to their normal weaker and less colorful state.

We know from experience that lawns grown in rich, bio-active soils need less fertilizer to look good. And the opposite is true as well - lawns grown in poor clays or sandy soils need a lot more fertilizer to look good. So the lesson here is that you need to improve your soil, and you need more fertilizer until the soil is improved.

Our best recommendations for soil improvement are:

1. Aerify PLUS applications for compacted or clay soils.

2. Increasing Organic Matter for all soil types.

You need organic matter because that is what gets turned into valuable humus in the soil. Without humus you have sandy or clay “dirt” - not real soil.   Clippings, deep and full roots (that die back seasonally), organic fertilizers, compost and other natural soil amendments are all good ways to increase organic matter. Our Nature's Magic applied heavily will also increase organic matter and is instantly available.

PREMATURE CULTIVATION

At this time of the year we always caution gardeners to be very careful before they dig into a wet clay soil. If done too soon, before the soil is dry enough, the clay turns rock hard and crusty on top. You can read about "premature cultivation" in an article called “ Working With Wet Clay Soils in the Garden” our Special Lawn and Garden Topics section on this site.

Mid Spring Tips

The majority of root growth occurs in the mid spring. This is important because deep and full roots mean a healthier lawn, one that can seek out nutrients and moisture far into the soil even in the summer months. The way you care for your lawn now can either help the lawn get deep-rooted or it can prevent the lawn from getting deep-rooted.

1. MOW HIGH if your grass type can handle it. Some types are low growing and mowing high will cause them to mat up. For most grasses, higher mowing promotes deeper rooting . Get it high, before summer begins, not after it is already hot and dry. A higher mowed lawn shades itself and the soil below it. Aside from needing less water, it will also have a cooling affect on your yard.

2. DON'T MOW TOO MUCH OFF AT ONCE. Instead of mowing the lawn, get the idea that you should be trimming the lawn. Never cut more than 1/3 of the leaf blade at once or you will shock the grass. This usually occurs when you wait too long before mowing. If you mow high and often, the clippings should be short and you can (and should) leave them on the lawn. A mulching blade would be best.

3. WHEN THE LAWN BEGINS TO DRY OUT, water deeply or don't water and let the grass go dormant. It is your choice. Most grass types will recover fine from dormancy when the rains come again, if the grass is healthy and deep rooted. But if the grass needs help or you want the grass to stay green longer into the summer, be prepared to water Light watering doesn't penetrate deeply into the root zone, especially when you have clay soil or thatch. You should water for 2-3 hours at a time, giving the grass an inch of water once a week. When the grass senses lack of water in the soil, it will shut down the top growth in order to conserve moisture. Visible signs of your grass being too dry are a bluish tint to the grass and thinner looking leaf blades. Also, when you walk across a dry lawn you will see footprints.

4. TREAT THATCH. A thick layer of thatch will prevent water and root penetration into the soil. Lawns with thatch dry out quickly and need more watering. Thatch will provide a home fore fungus and insects and from our experience, it is simply a disaster waiting to happen. A real Thatch layer can't be removed by hand or machine without ripping out the lawn. Our Biological Dethatcher applications will supply thatch-eating microbes to your soil, and these will decompose the Thatch and turn it into valuable humus. Good soil aeration is vital if you want thatch to decompose.  If you want to know more about Thatch, you can read about it in our Special Lawn and Garden Topics section on this site.

5. FERTILIZE.  Our favorite fertilizer is LAWN FORCE 5. It's a "lawn care kit in a bottle." It is a low-nitrogen fertilizer that creates greener, healthier lawns by combining fertilizer, soil conditioners, and microbes that help with thatch and root development.  

Written by Stuart Franklin, president of Nature's Lawn and Garden, Inc.  www.natureslawn.com
All rights reserved

Organic Agriculture Can Feed The World

If you are interested in safe and natural lawn care, chances are that you are also interested in Organic foods and how they are grown.  I've been growing vegetables organically since 1971 and it was that experience that led me to believe that lawns could be cared for organically too.

This link will take you to a great article I read in Acres USA ( North America's "Voice For Eco-Agricuture" ) a number of years ago.  With the costs of synthetic chemical fertilizers going through the roof, this article makes an even stronger case for Organic Agriculture today than it did in 2004.

http://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/reprints/OrganicAgSaveWorld_Jan04.pdf

Support this blog by visiting our site at www.natureslawn.com

Stuart Franklin is president of Nature's Lawn & Garden, Inc. and author of the book Building A Healthy Lawn: A Safe and Natural Approach (Storey Publishing 1988) , available at amazon.com

Lawn Season Begins in the Fall

While many homeowners think of fall as the end of the gardening year and begin to neglect their yards, lawn pros see the fall as the beginning of lawn season, and do what they can to improve the lawn and soil quality at this time.

In the fall, especially in the North, lawns have the opportunity to re-build, repair and thicken up after going through the stresses of summer. The lawn attempts to expand its root system at this time, digging in and getting to more of the soil nutrients. It also increases blade growth, making more carbohydrates ( food) and some of this food is stored for spring and summer use. In our lawn service business we save our heaviest fertilizing of the year for the early to mid fall.

Fall conditions are usually more favorable for seeding too. The weather should be cooler and moister, and there will be less weed and disease pressure to contend with.

 

FALL LAWN CARE TIPS

SOIL IMPROVEMENT.  Fall is a great time to add the necessary nutrients your soil test recommends. Liming is a good idea but only if your soil is actually acidic.  Unfortunately, many people lime soils religiously without testing their pH, and too much lime can be detrimental. Do a pH test before liming please.

Topdressing with compost is a great way to improve organic matter, humus and soil bio-life. However, if you have a very compacted or clay-like soil, one with poor drainage,  the response to compost will be a lot slower than you'd think.  Lack of air in the soil (anaerobic conditions) means that most of the beneficial soil microbes will have a hard time surviving. So,  perhaps the best thing you can do for your soil if it is compacted or clay-like, would be to improve the soil aeration in the root zone and below. Typical core aeration machines will not do much to change a clay soil, unless you topdress heavily with compost afterwards.

In our opinion, the best and fastest way to improve soil structure and drainage (aside from tilling in compost) is with our Aerify PLUS liquid aerator and soil bioactivator. By improving soil aeration and drainage, it will be easier for roots of established grass and new seed to penetrate into the subsoil.  Additionally, an aerated and bioactive soil will makes more of the locked up soil nutrients available to the grass.

A Thatch problem (read All About Thatch), is an indication of a soil that is not biologically active and probably lacking in earthworms too.  Real thatch, unlike heavy clippings, can't be just raked out of the lawn, but it will decompose if your soil is improved. You can use our Biological Dethatcher  in conjunction with Aerify PLUS applications to add specific thatch degrading microbes and enzymes to the soil.  Use the Dethatcher up until the temperatures are consistently in the 40s. At that point microbial activity and thatch decomposition (other than by earthworms) slows way down.

SEEDING / RENOVATION.  There are many reasons to over-seed your lawn. Aside from thickening it up, you can introduce newer, more heat, insect and disease tolerant grass types.  If your lawn is thin or has a poor color grasses, you could use some renovation.  The fall is the absolute best possible time to seed your lawn in the North.  Get new grass seed established in the fall and it will thicken further in the spring. Seed any bare or thin areas now and up till early October. A simple overseed, if your lawn does not have a thatch barrier, can be done this way:  Spread seed over the existing grass, water heavily to work the seed down to the soil.  Then keep the soil damp for a few weeks. A lot of this seed will take hold especially if you spray Aerify PLUS right after seeding.

If you want to do a professional quality over-seed, try to find a place that rents Slit-Seeding Machines (sometimes called lawn renovators) or have a landscaper use one on your lawn.  This machine cuts grooves into the soil about 1 ½ inches apart, and drops the seed into them.  You get better soil/seed contact and a higher germination rate. Apply a Starter Fertilizer when seeding, or use our 10-8-8 or 6-14-6.

MOWING.

First of all, check to see that your blades are sharp after a season of cutting.  The grass is often wetter in the fall due to weather changes and you need a sharp blade to cut wet grass and leaves cleanly.  Also, check under the mower regularly to see if the grass has clumped up under the mower deck.  This clumping will prevent proper suction and will cause poor cutting.  Remove the clumps with a stick or putty knife or whatever will work for you. Be careful not to cut yourself and tilt the mower so the gas doesn't pour out when you do this.  Remove the spark plug cable if you can or unplug your mower if it is an electric type.

Keep the grass fairly high into the early fall (unless your lawn is mostly bentgrass or a grass type that normally gets cut shorter). This will help the grass root deeper, thicken up and build up food reserves. If you don't have a mulching mower, try to double cut any clippings that are matting on top of the grass, or bag them.

Don't start mowing short just because the weather turns cooler. Lawn season is not over yet!

    When the lawn's growth begins to slow down, that is your signal to begin mowing shorter.  Gradually lower the mowing height so it is 1 ½  high or less before winter.  Bentgrass lawns can be cut even shorter. 

Keep leaves from matting on the grass and avoid unnecessary foot traffic or heavy machines when the soil is soft and wet. This compacts the ground, makes ruts and causes future weeds. And, stay off the grass when a light frost covers the lawn. The grass is very susceptible to injury at this time.

 

WINTERIZER   In the North, a late fall nitrogen fertilizing, after lawn growth comes to a halt, can benefit the lawn's health and improve rooting. This is what is known as a winterizer, and according to Cornell's turf advisories this as one of the three best fertilizings of the year. You want to use a quick acting fertilizer for this so the grass can absorb the nutrients fast. Latest research indicates that Nitrogen is the key nutrient to use, and not Potassium as previously thought. Again, wait until the grass stops growing before doing a winterizer. Our favorite winterizer fertilizer, which also contains our Aerify PLUS and other microbial ingredients is LAWN FORCE 5 .

SHRUB & TREE CARE

Shrubs and trees will also benefit from some good fall care. The first thing to do is make sure they are not stressed by lack of water. Lack of water will cause roots to wither and die off. Leaves won't be able to produce food through photosynthesis without water, and they will wilt and drop way too early.  The soil needs to be saturated at least a foot deep to get to most of the "feeder" roots of a tree.

If you live in the South, you can fertilize trees and shrubs throughout the year with granular or liquid fertilizers. Many liquid fertilizers, like our Bio-Enhanced Liquid 10-8-8 can be applied both foliarly,  or as a soil drench around the root area of your plants or trees. Add in some Aerify PLUS if you are doing a soil drench to help it penetrate faster and to help loosen the clay soil around the root zone of your trees and shrubs.

In the North, hold off on any more tree fertilizing as soon you notice that the leaves are starting to change color. Instead, wait until the trees are dropping leaves or have already dropped their leaves, and fertilize before the snow comes. We call this Dormant Feeding, and it is one of the best possible times to fertilize trees and shrubs. You can fertilize quite heavily and it should last through most of next year.

Stuart Franklin is president of Nature's Lawn & Garden, Inc and author of the book Building A Healthy Lawn- A Safe and Natural Approach (Storey Publishing 1988)

Early Fall Lawn Tips

LAWN SEASON BEGINS IN THE FALL

While many homeowners think of fall as the end of the gardening year and begin to neglect their yards, lawn pros and organic gardeners see the fall as the beginning of lawn season, and do what they can to improve the lawn and soil quality at this time.

In the fall, especially in the North, lawns have the opportunity to re-build, repair and thicken up after going through the stresses of summer. The lawn attempts to expand its root system at this time, digging in and getting to more of the soil nutrients. It also increases blade growth, making more carbohydrates (food) and some of this food is stored for spring and summer use.

In the Fall, conditions are usually more favorable for seeding too. The weather should be cooler and moister, and there will be less weed and disease pressure to contend with.

FALL LAWN CARE TIPS

EARLY FALL FERTILIZING.  In our lawn service business, we save our heaviest fertilizing of the year for the early fall. This stimulates growth and helps the grass send out tillers and runners to fill in thin spots. It also helps the grass produce the food that it stores to help it through the winter and which gets off to a good start in the spring.

SOIL IMPROVEMENT.  Clay and soil compaction can prevent your lawn from being healthy even when you are doing everything else right.  With a porous, bio-active soil, the grass roots can become fuller and can go deeper.  When the soil has better structure, the naturally occurring soil nutrients, as well as the nutrients from your fertilizers, become more easily available to the grass and other plants in your yard. 

    Our company uses a liquid soil conditioner called Aerify PLUS to help aerate and bio-activate soils, and to provide some readily available organic matter.  (As a matter of disclosure, we developed and sell this product on-line).  Other traditional methods of soil improvement we recommend are compost top-dressing, Lime (if soils test acidic) and granular organic fertilizers.

AERATION. Our company stopped doing Core Aerations about 10 years ago. We felt we could do a lot more for the soil and grass by doing "Liquid Aerations" instead.  We use the same Aerify PLUS for our Liquid Aerations.  If you would like to read more on this click on this link:  Notes on Core Aeration

THATCH.  Thatch is not just old grass clippings sitting on top of the lawn.  Real thatch is a tightly matted barrier that could not be raked off without tearing up the lawn. Here is a good picture of real thatch:

 

We believe the best way to get rid of thatch is to get it to decompose from the soil line upwards. The soil temperatures are warm enough through much of the fall for decomposition.  But decomposition doesn't happen unless you have an aerated and bioactive soil (see above).  Read more about this and Biological Dethatching on one of our Special Topics posts called   All About Thatch.

SEEDING / RENOVATION.  There are many reasons to over-seed your lawn. Aside from thickening it up, you can introduce newer, more heat, insect and disease tolerant grass types.  If your lawn is thin or has a poor color grasses, you could use some renovation.  The early fall is the absolute best possible time to seed your lawn if you live in the north.  Get new grass seed established in the early fall and it will thicken further in the spring. Seed any bare or thin areas now and up till early October.

 A simple overseed, if your lawn does not have a thatch barrier, can be done this way:  Spread seed over the existing grass, water heavily to work the seed down to the soil.  Then keep the soil damp for a few weeks. A lot of this seed will take hold especially if you spray Aerify PLUS right after seeding.

 If you want to do a professional quality over-seed, try to find a place that rents slit-seeding machines (sometimes called lawn renovators).  This machine cuts grooves into the soil about 1 ½ inches apart, and drops the seed into them.  You get better soil/seed contact and a higher germination rate. Apply a Starter Fertilizer when seeding, or use our 10-8-8.

MOWING.  Keep the grass fairly high into the early fall (unless your lawn is mostly bentgrass-which needs to be cut shorter). This will help the grass root deeper, thicken up and build up food reserves. Don’t start mowing short just because the weather turns cooler. Lawn season is not over yet!

    When the lawn’s growth begins to slow down, that is your signal to begin mowing shorter.  Gradually lower the mowing height so it is 1 ½ “ high or less before winter.  Bentgrass lawns can be cut even shorter.  Also, be sure to keep the leaves from matting up on the lawn.

SHRUB & TREE CARE

Shrubs and trees will also benefit from some good fall care. Make sure they are not stressed by lack of water. Lack of water will cause roots to wither and die off. Leaves won't be able to produce food through photosynthesis without water, and they will wilt and drop way too early.  The soil needs to be saturated at least a foot deep to get to most of the "feeder" roots of a tree. If your shrubs and trees are growing in clay you need to improve their soil (see above).

If you live in the North, hold off on any more shrub or tree fertilizing as soon you notice that the leaves are starting to change color. Instead, wait until the trees are dropping leaves or have already dropped their leaves, and fertilize before the snow comes. We call this dormant feeding, and it is one of the best possible times to fertilize trees and shrubs. We'll talk about this more when it gets closer to Dormant Feeding time.

How To Use a Hose-end Sprayer

 How To Use a Hose-End Sprayer 

 

 Hose-end sprayers are a great tool for spraying liquid garden products. You need to know a little bit about how they work or you will undoubtedly have a problem with over or under-applying your products.

 A hose-end sprayer is simply a tool that  siphons  out products from a bottle and mixes the product with water for easy spraying . All hose-end sprayers designed for use with  liquid  products (not powders or granules) work in a similar fashion.

 When you turn the sprayer on, water passes through the spray head on top of the bottle and shoots out the other end.  A s the water moves  through the top of the spray head, it creates a suction or vacuum that siphons the liquid product up the tube to the top of the spray head.  There, and  not in the bottle , it mixes with the hose water and gets sprayed out. Most hose-end sprayers have a knob or button that allows you to close off the hole on the siphon tube so you can spray water only if desired. 

 The size of the hole underneath the spray head will determine how many ounces (or teaspoons) of liquid product will be siphoned up for every gallon of water that you spray .  Sprayers will have either just one hole underneath, or they will have multiple holes (or settings) that you can choose from.

Adjustable hose-end sprayers have a dial on top that allows you to choose from multiple hole sizes, ranging from as low as 1 teaspoon per gallon to 8 oz per gallon. 

You can see the black dial on this one.

Adjustable hose-end sprayers allow you play around with different setting or to mix a product with water an exact specific rate if needed.  They generally are very easy to fill and easy to use. And, as you will see below, they allow you to spray out your products faster or slower.

There are numerous adjustable hose end sprayers on the market, with different designs.
 

 Many hardware stores carry their own brand. You can usually find the Ortho Dial N Spray or a Gilmour Select N Spray at one of the big box stores.

Pre-set or Fixed Rate sprayers are usually found on RTU (Ready-To-Use) products. There is just one hole in the spray head so it always siphons out at the same rate. 

An example of a Fixed Rate sprayer is the hose-end applicator we use for our liquid lawn aeration product called  Aerify PLUS , there is a small hole on this that siphons out just 1 1/2 oz of product per gallon of water.    

Since this bottle hold 32 ounces of product you would need to spray 32 gallons of water out over your lawn or garden to empty it.

If you have a hose-end sprayer in your garage that says something like "20 Gallon Sprayer", that tells you it is a fixed rate sprayer that will empty out after spraying 20 gallons of water.  A "10 Gallon Sprayer" empties after spraying just 10 gallons. Our Aerify PLUS sprayer would then be called a 32 gallon sprayer.

APPLYING THE CORRECT AMOUNT OF YOUR PRODUCT

Most garden product labels will recommended applying a certain amount of the product per every 1000 sf. But all hose-end sprayers are set up to siphon out in ounces per gallon- not ounces per 1000 sf. So, how do you go about getting the right amount of ounces per 1000 sf applied?

The key fact you need to know about hose-end sprayers is this:

 

The amount of product that gets sprayed out on a lawn is determined by both the sprayer hole (oz per gal) setting , and by how many gallons of water you actually spray on the lawn as you do an application.

And, because everyone walks at a different speed, sprays a wider or narrower swath and has different water pressure, there is always going to be some trial and error when using a hose-end sprayer.

Here is our advice on how to apply products with either a fixed rate sprayer or an adjustable hose-end sprayer :

1. Before you start spraying, get an approximate idea of the total area (in square feet) that is going to be sprayed. Walk it off heel-to-toe if necessary and measure length times width to get the area.

2. Once you have the total area, figure out how much of the product you should use. For example, if your yard is 4,000 sf and you want to apply our Aerify PLUS  at 4 oz per 1000 sf rate, you want to use 16 oz total on your lawn.

3. Attach your garden hose to the sprayer. Turn your water on at about ½ to ¾ pressure for best functioning of the sprayer. You can turn the sprayer to the Water Only setting while you get the pressure right.

4. If you are using a fixed rate sprayer, turn the sprayer to ON (MIX). If you are using an adjustable sprayer, set it to 1 oz per gallon (for Aerify PLUS) or whatever the recommended sprayer setting is on the label of the product you are using. Walk at a slow to normal pace moving your wrist side to side enough to spray a 6-8 wide swath over the lawn (or gardens). Spray enough to make sure all areas get wet on top. You do not have to soak these areas at this time. You can water it in later.

 

1. After you have sprayed a small area, say ¼ or ½ of the lawn, stop and check to see how much of the product you have used up. Figure out if you have sprayed too much or too little based on how much area has been treated. For example, if you have treated about 2000 sf and you want to apply at 4 oz per 1000 sf, you should have used approximately 8 oz (or 1 cup) of the product.

 

1. If you have used too little, you need to walk at a slower pace when spraying and/or spray a narrower swath. If you are using an adjustable sprayer you can simply increase the spray setting and walk exactly like you did the first time. Test another area re-adjust as needed.

 

If you have used too much, you need to walk faster and/or spray a wider swath. If you are using an adjustable sprayer you can turn it down to a lower setting.  

 

1. If nothing or very little has come out of the sprayer check to see that the siphon tube is still connected. If there is a filter tip on the end of the tube, make sure it is not clogged. Our filter tip can be cleaned out with a large paper clip. 

As we said,  there is always some trial and error when you spray with a hose-end sprayer. Even commercial lawn spray technicians have practice and make adjustments to get their walking speed and spray pattern down correctly. It gets easier after you have done it once or twice.

Hope this has been helpful.

 

Stuart Franklin

President of Nature's Lawn & Garden, Inc

If you plan to copy this, please give appropriate credit to our site  www.lawncaresimplified.typepad.com

 

 

Water Wisdom Part 1

When there is a lack of water - whether short term or long, it is going to affect your soil and everything that grows in it. And because water becomes more precious with each passing year. it is imperative to know as much as possible about using water wisely and doing what you can to improve your lawns, plants and soils so as to obtain the best possible water management. The holistic approach  asks that you see how all things interact. Choosing the best grass for your climate, giving it the best care to promote health and deep rooting, and improving the soil so it holds water better are all going to influence your water needs.

If you are living in an area where lawns can not grow without daily watering , we suggest finding an alternative to grass for your ground cover.  In most areas of the country there are grass types that are suited for your climate and will actually survive without watering at all, or  with just a bit of water to help it through weather extremes.  They may go dormant for part of the year, but they'll survive. We will cover the subject of  “choosing your grass type” in a later section.

 

The Need For Water

Grass plants have to take in most of their basic nutrients dissolved in water and through their roots.  Without enough water in the soil, a lawn can't get to the nutrients it needs for food production, growth, defense and reproduction. In this situation, the grass  normally shuts down, dries out on top and goes dormant.  When dormant, it is not very attractive to most insect and disease organisms.   The grass will come back to life when there is sufficient soil moisture. It is actually better for grass health to let it go completely dormant than to keep it just barely green and growing with light watering.

Keep in mind that water is not just to keep your lawn green - water is also needed when you want to keep the soil improvement processes going.  If you are working on improving your soil with organics, compost or any of the soil improvement products on our site at natureslawn.com, you want to keep the soil somewhat moist.  When soils dry out, earthworms disappear and microbial  activity and thatch decomposition ceases. It doesn't begin again until there is sufficient moisture in the ground.

Hold Off Watering Too Early In the Spring

This applies more to northern lawns.  There is no point in watering the lawn before the grass actually needs it, and there is some benefit to delaying watering. You want to get the roots of the grass to dig deeper for water as the soil dries out. If the soil is constantly saturated with water, the roots won't have the incentive to go deep. If you want to know how dry the soil is, dig into it with a spade to see for yourself.

Begin watering your lawn when soil has dried out well into the root zone. This will usually mean 3-4 inches deep on a healthy lawn. (Higher mowed grasses should have deeper roots.)  When the grass needs water it will take on a bluish or darker tint from wilting. It will also start to show footprints after you've walked over it.

 

The Best Time to Water

Watering in the morning, before the heat sets in is considered the best possible time to irrigate a lawn. The next best time is late afternoon/early evening when the sun's rays are less intense. Night time watering is generally frowned upon due to higher disease potential. However, if you are in a heat wave and night time temps are staying above 70, there should be not problem.

Mid day watering is also fine if the sun is not out.  And even if the sun is out and baking the grass, watering at that time won't hurt the lawn. It will cool it down.  Contrary to what you may have heard, there is no proven magnifying glass effect of water that is going to burn a grass by concentrating the sunlight. In many tropical areas you'll get a mid-day sunshower and then a quick return to 90+ temperatures. And the lawns and plants do fine. The reason for not watering in the heat of mid day is simply that you are going to waste some water due to evaporation.   

See Water Wisdom Part 2

 

Water Wisdom Part 2

How Much Water?

Homeowners are always asking questions like   “How long should I water?” or “How many inches should I water?". There is no pat answer for this question, of course, due to all the variables that can affect your water needs throughout the season. However, if you want a ball park figure for watering, turf pros generally agree that the amount of water a lawn requires (whether through rain or through your sprinkler)  is ¾ - 1 inch per week. This amount is for lawns that are actively growing and not dormant or in a slow growth stage.

Determining your rate of Water Flow

All homeowners should have an idea of how much water is coming out when they turn their sprinkler on. Here is how to figure it out:

Set out a four or more wide mouth containers (such as pots or tuna cans) on the grass, spaced evenly within the spray pattern of your sprinkler.  Then turn your sprinklers on and run for twenty minutes (or 1/3 of an hour).  Then measure the amount of water in each can with a ruler.  Figure out the average amount of water per can after taking all the measurements.  Then multiply by 3. This will tell you, once and for all, how many inches of water you get per hour of sprinkling -assuming your water pressure doesn't change. 

By placing the containers in various spots, you'll also be able to note whether the spray pattern of the sprinkler is distributing the water evenly and whether you may need to make some adjustments or do some overlapping when you move the sprinklers around.

IF you want to water like a pro, you need to actually take a look at the soil in the root zone (3-5 inches deep for most home lawns) of the grass occasionally to see if it is moist, dry or over-saturated. After watering, wait 30 minutes (an hour for heavier clays) and then check to see how far the water has penetrated. Step on a spade and push it back and you can see where the dry soil begins and ends.  Get to know your yard, your soil type and where the dry and wet areas are. 

Here are some factors that will influence your water needs: 

Amount of actual rainfall. Most people are fooled by rains and think they are getting more water than they really do get. A rain gage is a good, cheap tool to have.

Temperatures. This is obvious. Higher temperatures mean faster drying conditions. It may also speed up grass growth for a while, and that will also increase water absorption by the grass.

Wind. If you are in a windy location there is going to be a lot of water loss due to evaporation.

Tree root competition. Trees can take an enormous quantity of water out of the ground and their roots will go right into the lawn area if that is the only place where it can find water easily. Lawns on the south side of trees dry out extremely fast. You need to compensate for the tree's water needs when you water your lawn.

Soil Compaction. Clay soils are compacted by definition (see below), but even good loams and sandy soils can get compacted. Water has a hard time getting to the root zone when the soil is severely compacted.  For years, our customers have been improve soil compaction and water penetration by using our Aerify PLUS soil conditioner.  Applying before a heavy watering is the most effective way to use it.

Water sits on top of a compacted Clay soil. See why, below.

 

 

 

Soil Quality – Clay versus Sandy Soils.  There is a huge difference between the way sandy soils handle water and the way clays handle water. Here is what you need to know:

Clay soils are made up of microscopic size rock particles that bond together somewhat magnetically. There is little to no airspace between these particles, and water penetrates through very slowly, completely saturating the soil with very little “free water” left for plants. They tend to swell up when wet and shrink back when dry, often forming cracks in the soil and squeezing or tearing roots.

   Denser clay soils can be very hygroscopic -  meaning water binds to it so tightly that roots cannot absorb it. This is why clay soils usually need more water than you would imagine to keep plants from wilting.  If your clay soil feels wet, but your grass or garden plants are wilting, you probably have a hygroscopic clay soil that is going to need more water until the soil is improved.

Sandy soils, on the other hand, have larger, visible rock particles in them – perhaps 1000 to 2000 times larger than clay particles. Unless extremely compacted, there is a lot of airspace between sand particles. Water infiltrates sand quickly and deeply and there is more “free water” available for grass and plant roots to grab. If you want an analogy in terms of size and free airspace, think of sandy soil as a barrel of basketballs and clay soil as a barrel of marbles.

 

 

On a medium textured sandy soil, an inch of water can penetrate down to 12 inches, in just 2-3 hours. On a medium-clay soil, an inch of water may only penetrate about 4 inches deep, and it would take 6 hours or longer to get that deep.  Puddling or runoff is a real problem on clay soils.  In terms of drying out, as you may suspect, sandy soils dry out  much faster than clay soils.

Silt is a very small soil particle between sand and clay size. It has more of a sand physical appearance, but tends to compact and tighten up more like clays when it makes up most of a soil.

Loam soils are a nice mix of sand, clay, silt and organic matter.  If not badly compacted they will absorb, hold onto and release water in a more ideal fashion. Depending on amounts of each particle, you can have clay loams, sandy loams or silt loams.   Soil types will be discussed more thoroughly in a later section.

 

What does this all mean to you?

We said earlier, the suggested amount of weekly water for lawns is about ¾ - 1 inch of water.  Since an inch of water on a sandy soil goes perhaps 12 inches deep (and your grass roots are only perhaps 3-6 inches deep), it would be better to water a sandy soil lawn 2  to 3 times a week, putting down ½ -1/3 of an inch respectively.

If you have a nice loamy soil, or clay loam, you can put down an inch at a time, once a week. If the grass is not responding you may have hydroscopic conditions that require more attention. If you ever find that your water is puddling or running off, break up the watering into a few stages on the same day. Give the water a chance to penetrate and create some channels in the soil before resuming watering. Again, spraying the lawn with Aerify PLUS will help with penetration, and hydroscopic conditions. but you could also get some improvement just by applying a few oz of dish soap per 1000 sf ahead of watering.

Improving soil quality and creating more humus is vital when you have a clay or sandy soil. Finding better soil improvement methods and products has been part of our company's mission for over 30 years. You can read more about our soil improvement products at www.natureslawn.com

Stuart Franklin is President of Nature’s Lawn & Garden, Inc. (http://www.natureslawn.com) a lawn fertilizing company and on line Web Store , located in the Buffalo, NY area.  He also authored the book Building A Healthy Lawn:  A Safe and Natural Approach (Storey Publications 1988). A few copies are still available at natureslawn.com

 

Copyrighted Materials. No part of this website, its design or any of the content may be used without the expressed permission of the author.

 

 

Late Fall Winterizer for Lawns - Why, When and How

The term "winterizer" has been used to promote various fall lawn applications on Northern grasses for some 30 years.  It has been used by many to sell all sorts of fertilizer blends for applications timed from early late August through late November.  Since Cornell says that the Lawn Winterizer is the 3rd most important fertilizing of the year, it is time to define what a winterizer is, what should be used, and when to apply it. 

A Winterizer is a LATE FALL fertilizing designed to help lawns store more food for winter survival, and to encourage thick and rapid growth and rooting in the spring.  A lawn Winterizer is NOT meant to encourage fall growth of grass. That is what the Early Fall fertilizing is supposed to do, and that fertilizing, usually done in September up till early October, is the considered the most important fertilizer of the year for northern grasses.

The best time to apply a winterizer is after the grass stops growing in the fall, while it is still green on top and active below the surface.  In most parts of the North, this will be sometime in mid-late November, or even early December. So when you put away your mower for the year, that's when you should apply your winterizer.

In the past, the belief was that winterizers should be low in Nitrogen and high in Potassium and Phosphorus, but recent research has disproved this, and shown that the opposite is true.  The ideal winterizer will be mostly Nitrogen fertilizer. The label should show most of the Nitrogen as a quick-releasing water soluble nitrogen (WSN) as opposed to slow-releasing water insoluble nitrogen (WIN)  

Use Less. If you are using a store-bought granular lawn fertilizer apply at 1/3 to 1/2 the normal fertilizing amount to avoid unabsorbed nitrogen from leaching into the groundwater. For example, if the bag says it covers 5000 sf, you should be able to get 10-15,000 sf of coverage when used as a late fall winterizer.  For those of you who understand fertilizer labels, apply .3 - .5 # N per 1000 sf.  With Liquid Fertilizers you can go even lighter.

Source of Nitrogen.The most common fertilizers used for Winterizers will contain water soluble Nitrogen in the form of  urea or ammonium sulfate. Check the product label. It can also contain small amounts of phosphorus and potassium. If you are looking for a true organic fertilizer that has mostly quick release Nitrogen in it, you are very limited in your choices. Some forms of Liquid Fish are approximately 80% water soluble and make a great winterizer, if you don't mind the odor. 

FYI,  On our site, we sell a 16-4-8 Bio-Enhanced Lawn Fertilizer which we promote for winterizer applications.  We also have this fertilizer mixed with soil conditioners, and other biological aids in our LAWN FORCE 5 product. 

 

Late fall is also a great time to apply Lime to your lawn.  It will have plenty of time over the winter to break down and become available to the grass and soil organism that need the Calcium. You could also use Liquid Lime in late fall. It doesn't supply as much calcium as the granulated products, but there are no heavy bags to drag around so it is much easier to apply ,and more quickly available to the soil and plants.

NOTE: Some regions of the country are beginning to restrict how late you can fertilize in the fall and early you can fertilize in the spring. This is an attempt to reduce unabsorbed nitrogen from leaching into ground water.  Additionally, some states are beginning to ban phosphorus in all lawn fertilizers for similar reasons.  Will will try to keep you updated on this as time goes on.

Stuart Franklin

 

Nature's Lawn & Garden, Inc.    www.natureslawn.com

All rights reserved.

Working With Wet Clay Soils in the Garden

OR, HOW TO AVOID PREMATURE CULTIVATION

One of the biggest mistakes gardeners make is trying to "work" (till up, cultivate or hoe) their high clay content garden soil before it is dry enough to be worked. When you do this, the soil structure is broken down and you end up with rock-hard crusts or clumps when the soil dries.

After a long winter of snow and rain, clay beds are swelled with water and free clay particles float to the top and bond with eachother. As the clay dries out further, a hard crust forms, which eventually starts cracking, like you can see in the photo on the left. This can happen even if there is a lot of compost or organic matter in the soil. 

To get the beds ready for planting, most gardeners will till or turn over their soil, perhaps mixing in more compost or fertilizer, or organic material. But if you do this before the soil has dried out enough, you are going to run into problems.

The picture below shows a bed a week after it was turned over with a shovel and left to sit and dry out.

l

What has happened is that instead of the loose and crumbly structure you were expecting, the surface is now covered by hard and crusty lumps of clay- some 2" and larger. The reason this happens that the wet clay had not dried out enough, so water is still filling spaces where air would be if the clay was drier. So the clay, being too wet and sticky will not crumble apart. It splits into clumps instead, and some of these clumps end up one on top of the soil.  As these clumps dry out they become extremely hard.

Many gardeners have experienced the disappointment of having their soil look worse after turning it over than it did beforehand.  It happens all over the country on all types of clay soils.  But, I believe that
Northern gardeners, who need to wait all winter and much of the spring for their cold and wet soils to dry out, are probably more guilty of "premature cultivation" than their southern counterparts. I admit, there were many springs where I jumped the gun.

So, how do you tell when your soil is ready to be worked? It's simple. Take a handful of soil and squeeze it in your hands into a ball. Then try to break it apart between your fingers, and see if it separates easily. I like to compare it to the feel of a handful of moist raisins that will clump together when squeezed, but will break apart with a quick rub of the fingers. If your soil stays rubbery and doesn't crumble, it is still too wet to work.

Eventually your clay soil will dry out deep enough to work. It may be very late into the spring before that occurs. However,since the top inch or two of soil will warm up and dry out faster than the deeper areas, you can usually do some seeding or shallow planting a few weeks earlier. If you do plan to till, make sure the soil has dried all the way down to the depth that you plan to dig down to.

Salvaging a bad situation.  Sometimes, for whatever reason,  you just can't wait long enough for all or part of the garden to dry out before cultivating it.  If you do till or dig up a wet soil, there is one thing you can do that will probably prevent the hard crusting on top: After cultivating, smooth out the soil and cover it with a layer of mulch about 1/2 -1 inch thick or more.  Use anything that will keep the clay from drying too fast on top. Shredded bark, leaves, straw, pine needles, compost or even peat moss will do.

Improving Clay Soils.  When you have improved your clay soil it will drain faster and will warm up earlier in the spring. That means it will be workable earlier in the year. There are many things you can do to improve  clay soils, including raising the beds (to allow for better drainage) and, especially, adding lots of organic matter. Organic matter is critical. Without it, there is no humus.  By adding organic matter and improving aeration as well, you will  create an environment that allows beneficial soil life to start working to restructure the soil and form valuable humus. 

Many gardeners today, including myself, are doing no-till gardening. Instead of tilling the soil they are keeping a permanent organic mulch on top of their garden beds. By maintaining a couple of inches of shredded leaves, wood chips, straw etc...on top of the beds you will protect the soil from drying out and will provide organic matter for earthworms and microbes to decompose. You can still easily fertilize the soil with liquid nutrients or compost, and use foliar feeding throughout the season to get nutrients to plants at the proper times of the season. (See our 4 Step Garden Fertilizing Program )

Clay soil is a big problem all over the country and handling clay is one of the reasons we started our Web Store.  Customers from every corner of the US and Canada can improve clay and compacted soil with our Aerify PLUS , Nature's Magic and other soil conditioning products. They can be applied right over the top of mulched beds. These are real difference makers that help make everything else you are doing for the soil work a lot better.

Soil improvement is my favorite topic because whether it is a lawn or a garden,  it all begins with the soil.  

Stuart Franklin is President of Nature’s Lawn & Garden, Inc. (http://www.natureslawn.com) a lawn fertilizing company and on line Web Store , located in the Buffalo, NY area.  He is also the author of Building A Healthy Lawn:  A Safe and Natural Approach (Storey Publications 1988). A few copies are still available at our office.

 

Copyrighted Materials. No part of this website, its design or any of the content may be used without the expressed permission of the author.

 

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Improving Clay Soil Under A Lawn

Clay soils can create problems in lawns. They are dense and compacted and have poor drainage.  They stay soggy when wet, and turn rock hard when they dry out in the summer. When soils are this "tight", necessary air, water and nutrients can not move through them. Roots are stunted and the grass is stressed, weakened, and more prone to disease, insects and even weeds. 

Most experienced gardeners know that the best way to improve clay conditions in garden beds is to till or mix in lots of organic matter –such as compost, peat moss, leaves, etc... This process can immediately improve soil aeration and drainage, and will  increase the beneficial soil microbes that break down the organic matter and turn it into humus.  With humus you end up with an improved and more granulated soil structure.  *

  

But how do you improve clay soil that already has a lawn growing in it? There is no way to till in organic matter down deep into and below the root zone without tilling up the lawn. The standard advice is to " top dress "the lawn with compost, leave the clippings, fertilize organically and wait... and wait... and wait for all of that organic matter to eventually decompose and improve the soil. But the denser the clay, the longer it will take for this to occur – often many years.

     The reason it takes so long for clays to improve when top dressed as above is that the soil microbes necessary for decomposing organic matter are "Aerobic" - meaning they need air/oxygen to survive. Clay, which is made up of microscopic-sized particles tightly bonded together, has a very little air space in it- most of it near the soil surface. 

 

A Faster Solution

If you could increase the amount of air in the clay by just a small amount, you can encourage the beneficial soil-building microbes to generate and grow in numbers.  One way to do this is by creating temporary pores and channels in the clay with a soil penetrant called Aerify PLUS –Liquid Soil Aerator and Bioactivator. (Yes, we are promoting our product, but frankly, it is a real difference maker)

     Aerify PLUS breaks apart clay bonds to create microscopic air space deep into the clay. Each application can work deeper. It also adds liquid organic matter to help generate and feed beneficial soil microbes of all types (including mycorrhizae) at the same time. It helps improve drainage in your lawn clay, encourages deeper rooting, frees up nutrients and water in the root zone and helps move organic matter deeper into the soil. By improving clay conditions you can create a much healthier lawn in a more bioactive soil.

Additionally, once your lawn clay begins to open up, the soil becomes healthier and earthworms will start to appear in your soil in greater numbers. Earthworms will enhance and speed up the soil improvement process because they aerate the soil as the tunnel up and down. They also digest thatch and other organic matter in the soil and convert it into humus and rich, fertile castings.

If your lawn is growing in a poor clay soil, it will always be prone to the problems that come with clay -  compaction, poor drainage, fungus, moss, weeds, poor nutrient availability and color, root-stress and a host of other undesirable conditions.  Improve the clay and you will improve the lawn. It is as simple as that.

 

     FYI, I treated my own lawn organically for many years and top dressed with compost as well. Though the top 4-5 inches eventually got pretty good, the clay underneath remained gray and sticky. After a few seasons of treating with Aerify PLUS, it was as if all the organics that I had put in the soil finally became were able to be utilized down deep where I wanted it to go.  My lawn clay soil became dark and crumbly more than 1½ feet deep- and earthworms abound. 

 

* Also See   Working With Wet Clay Soils in the Garden

 

Stuart Franklin is President of Nature’s Lawn & Garden, Inc. (http://www.natureslawn.com) which sell online products, and Green Buffalo Lawn Care (www.greenbuffalolawncare.com) a lawn fertilizing company serving the Buffalo, NY area  He is also the author of Building A Healthy Lawn:  A Safe and Natural Approach (Storey Publications 1988), available through our office.  [email protected]  716-681-7796.

 

 

Copyrighted Materials. No part of this website, its design or any of the content may be used without the expressed permission of the author.

 

 

 

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