Lime - "Vitamins" for your lawn

Various factors affect soil conditions and increased acidity. Low soil pH (highly acidic) can be caused by leaching of nutrients from the soil as well as the soil type and even irrigation frequency. Also, decomposition of organic matter may reduce soil pH and increase acidity.

When soil pH is below 7.0, the soil is said to be acidic. When the pH is above 7.0 it is alkaline. Most soils in our area are acidic and the majority of lawns will benefit from liming. Our testing the past 3 years has consistently returned low pH readings on lawns with samples as low as 4.8! 

Why is soil pH important? As the graph indicates, low pH affects nutrient availability. Nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, calcium, magnesium and molybdenum can all be affected. With these nutrients tied up in the soil by low pH, the lawn’s color, vigor, and ability to resist disease, heat and drought stress can be reduced.  Applying lime not only changes the soil pH, but it adds essential nutrients to the soil such as calcium and magnesium. Consider these the “vitamins” in your lawn’s meal plan!

Lime applications help to balance the soil and make these most important nutrients available for the best health and quality of the soil and your lawn. Based on our most recent 3 years of testing, we recommend most lawns receive at least a maintenance level liming every fall. If you need more information about your lawn’s pH, give us a call at 413-736-9333.

Grub Attack!

Grubs are active!

It's turning out to be a great season for White Grubs! 

We’ve never seen so much grub activity in lawns in October….. It appears that grub development may have been delayed by the summer’s heat and drought conditions. Many lawns that have never had grubs are infested with white grubs!

White grubs are small, plump, white larvae which attack your lawn by viciously chewing on grass roots. As they continue to grow and feed, the damaged area becomes larger. Once the grass roots are destroyed, yellow and brown patches in the lawn will appear, just as if the lawn was dried out.

Other signs of grub damage include skunks, raccoon and birds grazing and digging in your lawn in search of these tasty insects. Grub damaged turf will also roll back like a carpet. Grubs are usually full-grown by late August, but this season it appears they may be hatching later than usual and raving havoc with lawns. 

Watch for small holes dug into the lawn, or even areas of grass pulled back or torn up. It could be skunks or raccoon searching for Grubs. In some cases we’re not finding significant damage from the grubs, but the animal activity is becoming a serious problem. If the grub population is high enough we still may need to apply an insect control, but in some cases an application of an animal repellent may be enough to discourage any further digging. The good news is there's still time for treatment to prevent further damage and their return in the spring. Let us know if you need help.

Still Time to Aerate!

Still time for Core Aeration 

Core Aerate to help fertilizer & water get to turf root zone.

Aeration is one of the most important steps to healthy lawn care. Your lawn requires cultivation to help improve soil conditions, and to build greater resistance to disease, insects and drought. 

What is Core Aeration?
Core aeration is the removal of small cores of soil and thatch (layer of living and decomposing organic debris between the soil surface and green vegetation) from your lawn with specially designed equipment. 

Lawn Care Aeration | Weed Man Professional

* During aeration, a series of hollow tines puncture the soil surface and systematically remove small plugs of soil and thatch from the lawn.
* The removal of soil plugs helps air, water and nutrients to reach the root system of grass plants.
* Following aeration, the process continues to work for your lawn through the leftover plugs. These plugs should be left on the lawn because they contain soil microorganisms that help break down thatch. These plugs disappear in a short period of time when left on the surface.

   

Why aerate your lawn?

 Aeration is beneficial for your lawn in a number of ways:

* Aeration helps to loosen compacted soil. Compacted soils make it difficult for roots to grow, limiting the movement of air, moisture and fertilizer through the soil.

* Aeration can reduce your water requirements by relieving soil compaction. Water penetration is increased and water run-off is reduced.

* If your lawn has a thick layer of thatch, aeration will push through that layer and improve air, water and nutrient penetration. This will enhance the development of a deep root system. 

* Aeration results in a deeply rooted lawn that is healthier and better able to withstand drought, disease and insect stress.

* Aeration creates a great seed bed for Over-Seeding. 

Most lawns benefit from Over-Seeding to introduce new, improved varieties of grass for better density, color and resistance to insects and disease . Fall is the best time to seed and aeration makes the task easier.

October is still a great time to aerate. Turfgrass is recovering from summer stress and putting roots down deep into the soil. Aeration will help your lawn get the most from Fall Fertilizer and strengthen the plant before winter. 

Schedule a core aeration today!

Lawn Recovery

What’s happening with my lawn? We just had all this rain and it’s still brown!

Our New England lawns are generally a mix of cool-season grasses such as Kentucky Bluegrass, Perennial Ryegrass, Fescue and Bentgrass.

Cool-season turf plants prefer to grow in air temperatures between 60-75 degrees and soil temperatures between 50 and 65 degrees. While it’s not unusual to exceed those temperatures during the summer, the challenge this summer has been extended periods of high temperatures combined with high humidity.

We’ve had another “Georgia” summer with prolonged heat, humidity and a moderate drought. Rain has been spotty with scattered showers and thunderstorms. The US Drought Monitor puts Western Mass in “moderate” drought. July is being recorded as the hottest month ever on record in the continental US.

 These weather conditions cause stress on the shoots and root system of cool-season grasses. Heat and drought stress cause roots to slow which affects the plants ability to absorb water and nutrients. If we had cooler, less humid nights, there would be greater chance for the turf to recover from the day-time stresses. Instead many lawns are suffering from heat stress, disease, weed invasion, or may have even gone dormant.

The good news is that the recent late July and early August showers and thunderstorms are helping lawns to recover from dormancy and to begin to fill back in. Many lawns that were totally browned out and dormant are showing signs of greening. Stressed lawns with patches of green and brown have green shoots starting to sprout up through the brown. While the “worst” of summer heat should be over, August will likely continue to bring heat and humidity. More frequent rain or irrigation along with shorter days will help with natural turf recovery.

Now is the time to consider the best plan to rejuvenate your lawn. September is the perfect time of year to repair, rebuild or replace a lawn. Core aeration helps turf to recover by opening the soil allowing more water, air and nutrients to reach the root system. Aeration is also the best way to control thatch by increasing natural microbial activity in the thatch layer.

Over-Seeding can be combined with Aeration to add new improved Kentucky Bluegrass and Perennial Ryegrasses. Adding improved turf-grass varieties helps to increase turf density and adds more resistance to diseases, insects and normal turf-grass stresses. The best way to improve or renovate a lawn is through “slit-seeding” where the lawn is verticut to create rows putting seed in contact with the soil. This method actually plants the seed and makes the most significant improvement in the lawn.

Whether your lawn rejuvenation plan includes seeding or not, late summer and fall fertilizer are critical to provide the essential nutrients for turf growth. A test of soil pH also helps to ensure nutrients are available. Liming an excessively acid lawn can make a big difference in lawn appearance and health. Contact the Weed Man today if we can help! For more information go to http://springfield-ma.weedmanusa.com/drought-recovery.aspx

Late May Lawn Concerns

We may have missed most of the April showers, but May seems to be making up for it! Lawns are growing and filling in nicely, but Late May is the time of year when we see start seeing “problems” on lawns…..

Many lawns are now flush with flowering of Kentucky Bluegrass as it goes to seed. Flowering gives the lawn a patchy white cast which sometimes causes alarm because the lawn was looking so full and green and now it looks strange. The good news is that there is nothing wrong with the lawn. It’s just in flower! (With the flowering comes heavier stems or stalks on the grass, so be sure your mower is sharp or you’ll see more “white tips” after mowing and shredding the blades and stems.)

The more significant “problem” happening now is Red Thread. This often shows up in spring right around the time grass is producing seed heads - when the plant is using a lot of reserves to flower.

With so many overcast and rainy days many lawns are not growing as quickly as they might if the weather was clear, dry and warm. Red Thread infection occurs because many lawns have “red thread spores” and when weather conditions are right, those “spores” “germinate” and spread the disease into the lawn. The pink is caused by “red threads” in the grass which form from the disease infecting the grass blades. 

Often a change in weather conditions – which stimulates the grass to resume normal growth – will cause the grass to “grow out” these problem spots. Sometimes – BUT not always – supplemental fertilization helps to stimulate recovery.

If you see Red Thread, pinkish spots, or brown spots that just don’t seem to be recovering, give us a call and we’ll determine the best plan for your lawn.  

As the weather changes from the cool wet spring weather we've been experiencing, we'll expect to see other disease issues, summer annual weeds, crabgrass break-outs and normal turf-grass problems. Give us a call if something doesn't seem right. We really do care for your lawn!

Summer Drought in April?

My lawn looks burned! What happened last week?

The rain finally came last weekend, but not in time to keep some lawns from suffering drought stress! If you have patches in your lawn that were greening nicely and have turned a straw color in the last week, it’s very likely due to drought stress. The prolonged period without rain was just long enough that some lawns were on the edge of going dormant due to lack of moisture. (It’s the same thing that usually happens late May or early June when we transition from spring weather to summer heat. The turf-grass dries just enough to make the plant shut down; but rainfall or watering brings it back.)

No need to worry! The grass is not dead! You don’t need to do anything except be patient and wait for it to green up and grow back. (It’s kind of like getting a buzz cut, you have to wait a couple weeks for the hair to grow back!)

Moisture stress or drought damage does not harm the crown of the grass plant and with the return of soil moisture, it’s already beginning to grow again and should be recovered within 10 days to two weeks. Regular spring watering – (probably once a week if there’s no rain and the temperatures stay fairly cool) – will be fine for the next few weeks.

So don’t go out there and rake it up. Just be patient! And remember it’s likely to happen again when we get the first hot spell in June….