Lawn Care vs Lawn Moss Part 1
A little extra care will help
*The above Lawn Aeration Equipment are available in the Lawnsmith Shop and discussed below:
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If you knew that some of the things you do to your lawn are actually harming the grass and helping the moss I’m sure you would stop straight away if not sooner!
Cutting too close or scalping the lawn
Problem: Scalping or mowing the lawn too close removes so much leaf that the grass can’t function properly and manufacture food. It may also damage the growth crown of the grass resulting in slow recovery or death. This damage also clears a space for the moss to move in to your lawn.
Solution: Keep the lawn mowing height above ¾” for all lawns other than ornamental ones. At this height or above the grass plant has plenty of leaf to function properly. If you still scalp because of bumps either remove the bumps or set the mower even higher.
If moss is particularly bad raise your mowing height up to 2”. This will mean the grass gets lots of light on its leaves and puts the lower growing moss in the shade.
Make sure that when you mow, the cut grass clears the moss by at least ½”. If you chop the grass off so that there is none showing above the moss you are killing your lawn.
Finally, in some situations, you cannot mow too high!
Not mowing often enough
Problem: Infrequent grass cutting (every 2-3 weeks) means that you let the grass grow too long before you cut it. You then cut perhaps two thirds of the grass off each time you mow. This shocks the grass which then stunts growth temporarily allowing moss to take advantage.
Solution: Mow the grass regularly – weekly if possible. This will cause the grass to spread sideways creating a denser lawn thus preventing the moss from moving in. If you follow the ‘one third rule’ – never remove more than one third of the grass height in any one cut – you won’t go far wrong.
Lawn compaction or poor aeration
Problem: Lawn compaction is a lack of air spaces between the particles of soil which means the soil holds no air and therefore cannot hold or drain water. The result is an unhealthy, lifeless and slow growing lawn.
Solution: If this problem is localised (around clothes line or kids goal posts) spike regularly with a lawn spiker, aerator shoes and hollow tine fork*. Sometimes it may be too compacted to get the fork in so wait until it softens with rain, spike it, then keep it watered and spiked so it's always firmish but not hard. See Localised Lawn Aeration.
If the problem is over the entire lawn then read our section on Lawn Aeration & Equipment
