Content
Wear, Tear, Repair & Renovation
- Bare patches after over sowing
- Frosty foot prints
- Granulated lime
- Over seeding after scarifying - nothing growing
- Land drainage installation
- Sowing grass seed at the correct depth
- Damage from rampaging cows
- Dead patches after dry summer
Bare patches after over sowing
I've over seeded my lawn after scarifying and have a few small bare patches. What should I do?
John, this is not unusual
It is probable that either rain has washed the seed away or you still have some thatch left in these areas which is preventing the seed from rooting into the soil. Remedy by:
- Soaking the patches thoroughly
- Then densely prick the area with the garden fork about 1 to 2 cms deep
- Lightly sprinkle seed onto the area - 10 to 20 seeds per square inch
- Tread to firm
- Keep it lightly watered for the first month
If you are doing this at the back end of the year and the temperature gets low you may not get a result so be prepared to repeat the process in the spring.
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Frosty foot prints - anything I can do?
Jenny - Presumably you’ve got straw coloured foot prints in your lawn from traffic during frost.
Unfortunately there is not a lot that can be done after the event. A dose of soluble iron or ferrous sulphate will help to colour things up in the cooler months and may help disguise some of the marks. It would also be highly beneficial to give the lawn a feed in early spring to get the growth going; you will then grow and mow the marks out.
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Granulated lime - advice please
I have been advised to give my lawns a feed of granulated lime to help root growth and general good health, could you please comment.
Hi Colin
This is an unusual one as the use of lime is not an application that should be undertaken lightly.
My first question is how much; 50, 100 or 200 grams per square metre? Just being advised to 'add lime' is only part of the equation and adding too much or adding it unecessarily can cause major lawn problems!
Granulated lime, usually applied as ground limestone or dolomitic limestone, is used to correct low pH or acidic conditions. The calcium is a useful grass nutrient and lawn fertiliser. Low pH conditions between 4 and 5 can reduce nutrient availability and is corrected by adding limestone.
The only time I would apply granulated limestone is after a recommendation from a laboratory. The procedure would be:
- Soil samples taken from various points in the lawn at a depth of 10cm
- Samples sent to laboratory for nutrient, CEC and pH analysis
- Results should include remedial action
- If raising the pH is indicated then application rate will be indicated along with other recommendations
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Over seeding after scarifying - nothing growing
Hi Rachel
A very common problem particularly this year (2009) as it has been a very dry spring in many areas.
Assuming that it was not too cold (less than 80C) the cause is the grass seed either not germinating or it has died after germinating. It can sometimes be hard to tell which it is. Your problem will have arisen for one of two reasons:
Not being watered sufficiently:
Grass seed needs moisture to germinate and then regular small quantities of water to grow. This means watering once or twice a day for the first month. Don't drown the area, all you have to do is stop it drying out. Unfortunately if the area is large and you have been relying on the April showers to do the watering then the dry spring will be the main cause of your problems.
In addition, if there is some thatch or moss left and the grass seed is not in contact with the soil it will be hard to keep damp enough to germinate and grow.
What to do....
Check the seed is in contact with the soil and consider whether or not you watered regularly enough. If there isn't any seed left or you think it germinated but died then add some more and look after it.
If the area is large and it is impossible to water I'm afraid you'll have to put up with a patchy lawn for a while. When things cool down towards the end of August you'll need to kill off any weeds and dig out any invading weed grasses. Re-scarify the area to expose the soil and over sow with grass seed again. If the area is dry let the rains soak the soil for awhile before seeding so that there is a reserve of water for the seedlings to tap into.
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Land drainage installation
I am wondering whether it is worth me installing some land drainage beneath my lawn. It is fairly clay based and can be quite soggy for a while after a downpour however it never gets so that the water is standing. When should land drainage be considered?
Glen – My advice – proceed with great caution
This is a bit out of my depth as I’m not a drainage contractor and if your lawn is large then perhaps a contractor should be your first step.
Soil is a highly complicated mixture of materials and physical properties. You may be able to install drainage yourself; usually drainage tiles in a herringbone fashion across the lawn. Pot luck might mean it works but due to the nature of soil you stand more of a chance of it not working. Further, if it is done incorrectly or without a good understanding of the soil and sub soil you can ruin the lawn and have the herringbone pattern show through the lawn in dry weather.
If, as you say the lawn doesn’t get boggy then I would recommend accommodating the soil problems by mowing on the high side in wet or dry conditions, a mower with a roller to spread weight, slow release fertiliser (coated would be good) and doing as much as you can with aeration. If you’ve got a fine fescue lawn then keep the thatch layer down as well.
If you are determined to do something then also consider replacing the soil with a light sandy loam. You can at least be assured this will work.
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Sowing grass seed at the correct depth
Whats the best tool besides a blec over seeder for grass germination as its must be at the correct depth of about 7mm? Many Thanks
Hi Leslie
Yes it would be nice to be able to do that but it's not critical and the chances are it's virtually impossible for the average gardener or Lawnsmith. Therefore, anything between zero and 15mm will give you good germination if the conditions are right - good seed to soil contact, pre-germination fertiliser, warmth and constant moisture.
You can also compensate for less than perfect germination by increasing the seeding rate up to an additional 100% - it's that simple!
Reading:
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Damage from rampaging cows
We prepared and seeded a new lawn back in September. All went well, grass started to grow, and we went on holiday in November. Came back to find awful "pock-marks" all over new grass (there's almost an acre!). Apparently in a high wind a nearby fence had blown down and about 16-18 cows rampaged on to our land and charged around until neighbours got them away. Ground is still very soft (soil is clay). Would it be worthwhile using a heavy roller to level it ? We are resigned to having to buy in soil to fill the deeper holes, but have you got any other suggestions.
Any ideas would be most welcome.
Harry, it's not the first time this has happened.
Firstly, you need to try and raise up the indentations left by the hooves. This is done by lifting the turf with a fork. However, 16 cows times four hooves, times an hours grazing could mean thousands of holes to lift!!
The other alternative is to do as you suggest, fill in the holes. A roller may do more harm than good but if the holes have raised edges these can be trod down when filling the holes. If this is too much work a medium weight roller will do.
Finally, have you thought about asking the farmer who owns the cows to harrow the area and reseed?
Hope that helps
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Dead patches after dry summer (2011)
Dear Bob
I have had some fertilizers and ferrous sulphate from you which have been successful and I have now stopped using my Lawn Care Company altogether.
One of our lawns has quite a lot of dead grass in it which we think is red thread (which we have had before) although there are whole areas of dead grass(1-2 sqfoot) in size dotted over the lawn.
Can you suggest a treatment and also any autumn fertilizer I should be applying in the next couple of months.
Hi John
If the patches are the remains of red thread (blotchy looking and a slightly pinky straw colour) then they are just dead leaves and the underlying grass should be fine and will recover once rain arrives. A fertiliser will help recovery.
On the other hand if the patches are a grey dead matt of grass with fairly solid boundaries then you have a different issue though both the above can exist together. This is far more serious and is the result of a build up of thatch which has reached critical levels in some places. Inspect the whole lawn for thatch and decide whether the whole lawn needs scarifying and over seeding or just in the localised areas. Localised thatch/dead grass may be exacerbated by a condition called dry patch so check the underlying soil and treat as described.
The fertiliser to use is the Autumn Lawn Feed. Apply it after any remedial work which may include Wetting Agent for any dry patch.
All the best
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