Keeping Grass Green
by Daryle Thomas
Contrary to common belief, the best time to fertilize the lawn
is not necessarily when the local garden supply store puts their overstocked
fertilizer on sale. If you don't know what to apply, or when to apply it,
you might as well do the only sensible thing. Do what the natives of Tucson
and other desert communities have done for yearsbuy a truckload of peastone,
paint it green, spread it one inch thick over your estate and pound in a
"Bah Humbug" sign, dead center, to prevent the neighbors from
asking stupid questions.
Kinda makes you cringe, doesn't it? Since it should be August by publication
time, and August is the start of the fall lawn maintenance and/or rescue
season, you have come to the right place. Fall fertilizer should always
be applied according to soil test results. You must hurry to the UVM Extension
System office in the Howe Center in Rutland, Vt. TODAY! If you can't see
from one side of your estate to the other, get two or three soil test kits.
Each test is only ten bucks. That ten bucks can save you many more dollars
in wasted effort, not to mention the social stigma of admitting to your
neighbors that you just can't grow grass.
Basic Care Essentials
Just how neglected is your lawn? Does it need a little TLC, or does it look
like lunar landscape? Get down on your hands and knees to check for thatch
and insect populations. Is the soil hard-panned, or relatively pliable to
the touch? If you find thatch, you will usually find heavier insect populations
and harder soil. The best thing to do is aerate the lawn using a coring
aerifier or "plug cutter."
You can rent this specialized tool from larger rental merchants. Make certain
the machine you rent is in perfect working order, and you are fully briefed
on its use. Better still, call a few landscapers or lawn specialists to
see what they might charge. Core aeration of a lawn is related to power
sanding your beautiful hardwood floor. If you get the hang of it right off,
great! If concentration is not one of your strong points, call the lawn
specialist. If you are a golfer, wear your golf spikes every time you mow
the lawn. Consider buying an inexpensive pair, if you don't golf. Do NOT
buy a pair of the often advertised, green sandals with the twenty-penny
nails bolted to them. If you epoxy them to an old pair of boots, maybe.
The sixteen or so large nails have a tenacious grip on the soil. After about
four steps, the handy Velcro® straps tear loose and you end up dragging
the sandals behind you until you wing them over your neighbor's house.
Get to the Roots of the Matter
Coring, or verticutting, which is similar, allows fertilizer or lime to
migrate into the soil right to the roots. Speaking of roots, that is what
fall fertilization is for. Selecting the right fertilizer is important.
The last thing you want is a high nitrogen product. A good choice, especially
if you did not do a soil test, is a 5-20-10. The low nitrogen figure (5)
is even better if it is a water soluable form. Nitrogen can cause a rapid
growth of the visible green grass to the detriment of the storage roots.
Our typical six months of snow cover and bitter cold forces the grass plant
into cold dormancy. If its food stores are sufficient, the plant will return
in the spring with vigor. When the garden center is advertising an incredible
price on 28-3-3 fertilizer, walk right by to the less promoted 5-10-5, 10-20-10,
or the 5-20-10. You can apply fall fertilizer well into September, but a
mid-August application is better.
Did you notice a preponderance of moles or skunks this spring? Sure signs
of white grubs. White grubs are the harbingers of June bugs, Japanese beetles,
rose chafers, Colorado potato beetles and a few others. Lawn affected by
grubs can also be identified by the tendancy of the turf to lift and roll
back like a rug. If you did not use a milky spore biological treatment this
spring, August and September are good time to call in the artillery. Diazinon®
or Dursban® are non-selective grub killers. They will also kill good
insects and earthworms. The reason that grub infested lawns can be rolled
up is that the grubs have severed all the roots. No roots, no spring recovery!
'Nuf said. If you must use either of these grub killers, read the label!
Apply only as recommended, keeping dogs, cats and kids away.
Mid-September through October is a good time to attack broadleaf weeds.
As many long time readers know, I loathe weed and feed fertilizers. Not
only should you avoid the use of these products, it would be fine by me
to slit the bags open as you walk by them looking for the previously mentioned
better fertilizer choices. Bear in mind that information gleaned from this
article is for entertainment purposes, and should not necessarily be acted
upon literally.
If you are tired of dealing with broadleaf weeds, the best way to eliminate
them is to kill 'em dead and re-establish the lawn. The best way to kill
them is with glyphosate-based herbicides. There are several glyphosate-based
products available. Since I can't mention a brand name, I'll just say "git
'em up, little dogies," spit out some tobacco juice, and ride off into
the sunset. If you can't figure out the brand name from that description,
you shouldn't be using the stuff.
When one-gallon sprayers go on sale, that is when they are on sale for well
under $15.00 each, buy several. Label one for insecticidal soap, one for
water soluable fertilizer and one for glyphosates. I sometimes wonder if
sprayer manufacturers are aware that man has been walking upright for some
time now. The spray wands are clearly for a species that still drags its
knuckles on the ground when they walk. To safely spray the kill-everything-it-touches
glyphosate, find a way to lengthen the wand or buy a longer one, if available.
Remove the spray tip. Cut a corresponding hole in the bottom of a Dixie
Cup®. Thread the spray tip on over the cup. When using, place the cup
on the offensive weed and trigger the spray for only a second. Wait for
a few seconds before lifting the cup to allow the spray to drain off the
cup. The weed will be dead to the roots in about a week. Be patient.
Once the weeds are deceased, cut out the dead spot with a bulb planter,
about an inch deep. Mix up a batch of topsoil, or potting soil in a wheel
barrow. Two-thirds of a contractors wheel barrow will be about four cubic
feet. Add a 50 pound bag of lime, about 10 pounds of 5-20-10 fertilizer
and 3-5 pounds of quality Kentucky Bluegrass-Fine Fescue mixture. Thrash
this about in the barrow until well blended. Fill in all the holes where
weeds once lived to overflowing, tamp down lightly, and water. If you know
the grounds keeper at your favorite golf course, maybe you can persuade
him or her to divulge their blend for divot mix. If you are really persuasive,
they might even bestow a bag of the mix for a modest donation.
Don't Cut to the Quick
Now a final few words about mowing. Your lawn is not a beard to be trimmed
close. Your lawn is a living, breathing, food producing plant. I don't know
of many people who actually like to mow the lawn. If your lawn is currently
brownish rather than green, immediately adjust the wheels of the lawn mower
to the highest position possible. Three inches is an ideal height to mow
grass to.
To maintain healthy grass, you should never cut more than one-third of its
total height. If you normally cut your lawn to one inch, you must cut it
every time it grows to one and a half inches. If you cut your grass to three
inches, you won't have to cut it again until it reaches four and a half
inches.
I'll help you with the math, that means you will mow your lawn only once
for every three times your neighbor lops his off at one inch. The taller
grass will shade out low weeds and crab grass, causing them to die. Taller
grass has deeper, stronger roots that find water in drought periods, which
means your grass stays greener when your neighbor's appears dead. Be sure
to buy a new blade for your lawn mower every year. Sharpen it once or twice
during the mowing season.
Think about this advice. Mow your lawn less often. Have it stay greener
during drought periods. Choke out some of the weeds by doing nothing. As
George Bush often said, "seems prudent."
Daryle Thomas, of East Wallingford, Vt., is a volunteer with the University
of Vermont Master Gardener program. If you have any gardening questions
you would like answered in this column, send them to him care of The Vermont
Weathervane.