Managing Thatch On Your Lawn

Managing Thatch on Your Lawn

Many varieties of lawn grasses (such as Zoysia and St. Augustine) produce large quantities of roots, stems, rhizomes, and stolons that are resistant to decay. That layer of non-decayed organic matter that forms between the soil surface and green vegetation is called thatch. A moderate layer of thatch is a normal occurence in lawns; however, problems may arise when this layer becomes excessive. Thatch can lead to disease, fertilizing, watering, and root problems that may eventually kill grass. In addition, thatch can contribute to an uneven growth height resulting in scalping. A moderate amount of thatch is beneficial to your lawn, but too much can cause turf issues. Less than ¾”-1” of thatch will seldom lead to problems, but a layer exceeding that depth may lead to future issues.

Benefits of a moderate layer of thatch include: insulating the soil to retain moisture, supplying a food source for beneficial microbes, acting as an additional filter to reduce contamination of groundwater, and providing a protective layer to reduce turf damage.

Detrimental effects of an excessive thatch layer include: acting as barrier preventing fertilizer from reaching roots, instances where grass roots in the thatch rather than the soil (this makes grass more likely to suffer from injury or drought effects), harboring disease and insects, interfering with the movement of air and nutrients into the soil, and increasing the potential for scalping. 

 

How do I know if I have too much thatch?

-   Lawn feels spongy or soft

-   Lawn has dry spots despite watering

-   Lawn shows sign of scalping after mowing

-   Lawn is thinning and dying even after fertilizing

 

You can measure thatch by cutting a small plug from your lawn and measuring the cross-section to determine the distance between the soil and the grass.

 

Preventing Excessive Thatch Buildup

-   Maintain a proper mowing schedule that does not remove more than 1/3 of the grass blade length (short clippings do not add thatch)

-   Apply appropriate amounts of fertilizer

-   Avoid overwatering which can lead to excessive shoot growthand development of disease

-   Core aerifying to increase flow of air, water, and nutrients to the root system

-   Maintaining a 6.0-7.0 pH in soil to support a healthy environment for microorganisms

 

Removing Thatch

Thatch can be removed from your lawn by using a dethatching rake, power rake, or a dethatcher also known as a vertical mower or verticutter.  For small lawns or for moderate thatch problems consider using a detaching rake. When done correctly you will feel the thatch separating from the soil as you see it lift to the lawn's surface.  Most local equipment rental shops will have dethatching equipment available. When renting a dethatcher, remember to ask the rental agency to set the spacing of the blade specific to the type of grass you will be dethatching.  Remember - a dethatcher is a large, heavy machine that will require a lot of strength to operate. If this sounds like too big of a task, there's always the option to hire a professional lawn service company to do the job for you.

 

Aerifying and topdressing your lawn are also great ways to eliminate excessive lawn thatch. Some of the plugs left on top of the lawn after aerifying can be left there to help decompose the excess layer.

 

Tips:

-   Mow grass to about half its normal height to allow yourself to observe your progress more easily

-   Flag sprinkler heads or other hidden objects in the lawn to avoid damaging them

-   For best results, always dethatch in at least two directions that are 90° angles to one another

-   After dethatching, a clean up of the debris will be necessary 

 

Image Source: http://www.gardenmyths.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Lawn-Thatch.jpg

Watering Restrictions and “Green” Watering Practices

With the recent news on the water crisis and looming restrictions in California, we thought we'd share what the current watering restrictions are like in Orange County.

Source: http://floridaswater.com/wateringrestrictions/

With that in mind, here are some tips to make your lawn more drought-tolerant, thus requiring less water to flourish.

-       Grass should be watered only 2-3 days (or less) a week or as needed when it shows signs of stress from lack of water. Grass that is constantly watered will suffer from a short,         weak root system and will struggle in the hot summer months

-       Signs of stress include a bluish-gray color, closed leaf blades, long periods of time recovering from traffic, dry soil around root zone, etc.

-       Applying mulch to your plant beds will help to retain soil moisture and improve soil quality

-       Over-watering a lawn can promote weeds, disease, fungus, and insects

-       Water at the appropriate times in the day. Watering in the morning ensures a complete irrigation cycle into the lawn. Most of the water will quickly evaporate if sprinkled on the lawn         in the afternoon

-       Install an automatic, timed irrigation system to prevent over-watering

-       Most irrigation clocks allow for cycle/soak operation which will allow the watering of the lawn to be staggered to reduce potentially wasteful run-off

-       For most Florida soils, no more than ¾” of water is needed per application to revitalize the grass

-       You can measure the water output of your irrigation system by using the “catch” can method (placing small cans in your yard and measuring the water output)

-       When watering plants, consider using rainwater which is 100% soft water – free of chemicals, salts, and minerals that are found in municipal treated water, groundwater, and         surface water

Why Mulch?

Benefits of Mulching

Mulch, simply put, is a protective barrier of material that is evenly spread on top of the soil. There are many advantages to applying mulch to your yard, let’s look at some of them.

Moisture Retention

Mulch helps retain moisture in the soil by limiting the amount of evaporation from the soil’s surface and can reduce water use by as much as 25-50%. Plants that have constant levels of adequate moisture are less likely to become stressed, which means they are better able to resist insects and diseases.

Temperate Control

Mulch serves as an insulating layer for the soil that regulates changes in soil temperature. This will help keep soils warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

Weed Suppression

Mulch helps block sunlight from reaching germinating weeds so that they aren’t able to grow as well as adding a barrier that is difficult for weeds to grow through. There is an opportunity for weed seeds to blow in and germinate on top of the mulch, but since the weeds aren’t deeply rooted in the soil they will be easier to remove.

Adds Soil Nutrients

As organic mulches, such as cypress mulch or pine bark, decompose on top of the soil they release vital nutrients into the soil.  These nutrients help to feed the plants and organisms that exist in the area covered with mulch. This broken down organic matter will also improve the structure of the soil by adding space between soil particles. This added space will help better supply the plant roots with the needed water, oxygen, and nutrients because the roots aren’t compressed in compacted soil.

Prevents Soil Erosion

The protective layer that mulch provides helps protects against rainwater that will wash away your valuable soil.

Encourages Earthworms

Organic mulch encourages earthworms to move into your plant beds. Earthworms are great for soil structure and nutrient cycling.

Visual Appeal

Mulch can help add a colorful finishing touch on what otherwise would look like an unfinished project. A beautiful, properly manicured landscape can add as much as 15% to the property value of your home. 

Be sure to check out our great selection of mulch!

Lawn Maintenance Practices for Spring and Summer

Spring and summer are finally here, and it’s time to return your lawn back to its former glory. Here are some tips for the warm season to keep your lawn looking lush and healthy.

Removing Debris

Remove any moss, leaves, or other debris that may have accumulated on your lawn over the winter/early Spring. Raking these areas will encourage airflow throughout the turf and prevent any insect infestation and disease. This process will also allow new blades of grass to grow without struggle.

Aerating

Aerating benefits your lawn in several ways: reduces soil compaction, controls thatch, stimulates new root growth and improves water, air, and nutrient filtration. The best time to aerate is during your grass’ peak growing season – for St. Augustine, Zoysia, and other warm-season grasses, this means early to mid-summer.

Weed Control

Spring is a great time to prevent those invasive weeds from sprouting. The best way to deal with weeds is to prevent weeds before they ever start germinating. Pre-emergent selective herbicides should be used if you don’t currently have an issue with weeds, but want to prevent them as well as not killing the surrounding grass. Pre-emergent herbicides work for about three months, so you may need to plan on doing another application during the summer months. Post-emergent herbicides should be used if there is already a visible weed problem.

Soil Testing

Spring is also an excellent time to test your soil. If your soil seems to be more acidic (below the optimal 6.0-7.0 pH) then you may need to add lime to your soil. If your soil tested too alkaline, sulfur or aluminum sulfate is the remedy. Soil with a pH below 6.0 or above 8.0 will cause important growth nutrients to become “bound up” in the soil making them unavailable for plant use. Achieving a neutral pH is pertinent in allowing for optimum nutrient uptake.

Fertilizing

Fertilizing with a nitrogen-rich fertilizer should occur in late spring or early summer right before your lawn enters its peak growing phase. Not sure which fertilizer to use? An example would be a 3-1-2 or 4-1-2 water-soluble fertilizer that’s used with our St. Augustine varieties. For Empire Zoysia use a fertilizer with a 1-0-1 ratio, such as 15-0-15. Argentine Bahia also thrives with regular applications of nitrogen-rich fertilizer.

Landscape Supply launches a new blog!

Greetings, welcome to our new blog!
To get things started, we just want to post a little about the store in general.
When you enter our stores, you will be amazed at the equipment we have on hand! Our Orlando store is the largest, but the amount of equipment we have in the smaller St. Cloud location surprises many visitors!
We also keep a clean and organized yard, full of bulk rock, mulch, sand and soil. We have these available every day. Last, but certainly not least, we sell lots of sod! Since sod is a living product, we do not keep pallets in our yard. We cut farm fresh sod every day. You will want to place an order in advance, since we try to cut only as much as we need for the day.
We delivery every product we sell. From farm fresh sod delivery, rock, mulch or sand/soil, to a John Deere 575E Tractor!
What else do we sell? We sell parts for all brands we carry and Stihl and John Deere merchandise. We have hats, shirts and accessories for all the John Deere fans like us!
Of course we repair lawn equipment as well. We have highly skilled technicians whose education is ongoing, since technology never stops advancing. As a matter of fact, we are the first Stihl Platinum certified dealer in the South East USA!
Keep an eye on our blog, as we will share tips, promotions and interesting industry news as it arrives.
We hope to see you soon!