Maintenance For Damaged Lawns
Fertilize your lawn several times a year. At least, apply fertilizer in late fall and early-mid spring. This way, the grass gets nutrients to survive the winter while also getting fertilizer right before peak growing season. Scheduled fertilizer will help keep your lawn beautiful year round!
Aerate your lawn several times a year. Aerating is simple and can be done with a plug or spike aerator. This helps loosen up the soil and prevent it from compacting into a tight mess.
Water your lawn adequately, according to the lawns needs. Give it about an inch to an inch and a half every week. Keep an eye on weather forecasts: if heavy rain is expected, you dont need to water your lawn.
Lawn damage can be frustrating and costly. If youre dealing with a damaged lawn, dont despair! Contact us for more information about our lawn services in Cumming wed be happy to help!
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Is My Grass Dead Or Dormant
First, make sure your lawn is actually dead, not just dormant grass. Northern, cool-season grasses can go dormant in midsummer, particularly under drought conditions, going from a green color to brown grass. Even warm-season grasses will go dormant under high heat and low water conditions.
Closely inspect the crowns of your grass plants the whitish area at the base of the plant, from which individual grass blades emerge. If the crowns are still alive, your lawn is likely just in a period of dormancy.
If the crowns are dried out and discolored, your grass is not going to get greener again, no matter what you do.
If youve determined that your lawn is dead, follow these steps to bring it back to life.
How To Repair & Restore A Damaged Lawn
Sometimes, things happen that are outside our control. You might have a bad hurricane season, a super dry summer, a harsh winter, or an outbreak of fungal disease in the area. These things, as well as other factors, can cause a lawn to take on a dead, withered appearance.
We cant control the weather, and we cant protect our lawn against every possible environmental factor. But if youre dealing with a dead or damaged lawn, you can restore it to its former glory. Or, better yet, you can completely transform your lawn into a lush, green landscape.
So how do you repair and restore a damaged lawn? Heres some simple lawn treatment tips.
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Here Is How To Restore Dead Patches On Your Lawn
Q: I have small patches of dead grass that I would like to replant in my lawn. Can you provide some advice on how best to replant?
A: Now is a great time to replant your lawn if you have a lawn made up of cool season grasses, such as a fescue and bluegrass mix. If you have warm season grasses such as Bermuda grass you should wait until spring to replant.
To replant, you should start with digging out the dead patches by one to two inches deep, making sure to dig beyond dead area into actively growing grass by about six inches past the dead grass. Remove dead turf and then work up the soil below. Break up any clods and remove weeds, roots and rocks.
Mix in some starter fertilizer and add soil back to the hole if needed and amendments such as compost. If you have a very sandy or a heavy clay soil.
Rake smooth and make sure the soil is firm with no low spots. Irrigate the site and wait a few days so the soil can settle and any weed seed can sprout before planting. If you do have weeds sprout use a hula hoe to remove it. Then plant with a high rate of seed recommended on the bag, and lightly cover with about ¼ inch, or compost or soil and irrigate. Irrigate frequently to keep the surface and seeds from drying out unit patches get well established.
When selecting seed to replant make sure that you get seed that is the same type as your lawn and it is free of weed seed. The percentage of weed seed can be determined by reading the label on the seed bag.
Use A Handheld Spreader
This is a relatively cheap and affordable option if you dont trust your hands to do the job accurately. Its more suitable for small yards that require more attention.
Slit Seeders
A slit seeder is a special machine that slits your soil and spreads seeds in the gaps. This leads to better growth and protects the seeds as they are dropped deeper into the ground. This option is more expensive, but a lot more accurate and suitable for large lawns.
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Tips To Keep Your Lawn Healthy
After youve gone through the trouble and expense of reviving your dead lawn, the last thing you want is for it to fall back into less than prime conditions. This is where good aftercare comes into play and can mean the difference between a thick, green flourishing lawn and one containing dead areas in need of reviving.
Get The Professionals In
No one can deny the importance of a well-manicured lawn. It can provide a place for children to play, pets to run around, and a place for homeowners to relax. However, keeping a lawn looking its best can be a lot of work. For many people, its simply not worth the time and effort. Thats where professional lawn care services come in.
Professional lawn care services can cover everything from mowing the lawn to fertilizing it. They have the experience and expertise necessary to keep your lawn looking great all year round. Best of all, you dont have to do anything sit back and relax while they take care of everything.
If youre interested in hiring a professional lawn care service, be sure to do your research first.
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How To Restore A Weedy Patched Lawn
If you have a lawn at home to look after, you already know how tricky it can be to keep it healthy and weed-free. “If your turf appears anything other than lush or vibrant, it is likely lacking some form of routine maintenance, such as irrigation, mowing, fertilizing, and trimming,” explains Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president of U.S. Lawns. “Telltale signs your lawn is in need of restoration included brown or yellow spots, barren areas where grass seems not to grow, overgrown weeds or moss in your lawn or on your bricks, and rock-hard ground.”
Fortunately, Fitzpatrick says that if you can identify what’s causing the issue, restoring a patchy, weed-filled lawn can be a breeze. “The best part about visible lawn issues is that it can be fairly easy to track the source of the problem. For example, if there are barren areas on your lawn, look up and check if they are getting enough sunlight. If a tree isn’t allowing enough sun to filter through at the height of the day, you may need to trim the branches back to allow sunlight to reach the covered areas, or find a type of turf that is more conducive to shady areas.” Looking for tips about how to restore your lawn to its original glory? We asked a few landscaping experts for their advice and here’s what they had to share.
How To Restore And Protect Your Lawn Through Winter After A Drought
Wednesday, October 5th 2022, 9:50 am – Dont let the drought destroy your lawn for good. These tips can help keep it alive over the winter, but the time to act is now.
Watching the grass grow has always been a metaphor for being really bored, so imagine how much more of a painful experience it would be to watch the grass NOT grow. And yet, as it turns out, watching the grass not grow, thanks to the drought in Ontario this year, turned out to be far more interesting than I thought.
Id made the naïve assumption that because the drought had stunted my lawn to the point that the tallest grass barely made it up to my ankle, I could put away the lawnmower and just let the grass go to sleep until the spring.This was a very bad assumption, but in my defence, having a lawn is somewhat new to me.
I suspected that there was more to it, so, I decided I needed to talk to an expert and I since Id already interviewed Dr. Eric Lyons about Ontarios drought and the effect it was having on our grass, I went back to the Guelph Turfgrass to ask him about what do with my lawn before the snow piled on top of it.
He explained that the summer wasnt quite as bad as what we thought it might be when we talked in the early summer.
Our drought was quite long, but we got a few timely rainfalls that werent quite enough to green up the turf, but I think it kept the turf alive, and thats what we needed, he explained.
So alive is good, but how do we get our lawn to survive the winter?
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How To Fix Dead Grass Is It Dead Or Dormant
Whether youve had an intensely hot summer, left on vacation for a few weeks, or had a pet leave spots on your lawn, nobody likes to see yellowed or brown killed grass on their lawn. Your homes curb appeal can tell a story to guests and neighbors, so its important to keep your lawn in high standing as much as possible.
When exposed to extreme heat, extended cold, or minimal water over a period of time, grass begins to dry, recede, and eventually die if proper growing conditions arent restored.
This dormancy happens because the grass is trying to preserve itself with limited resources, so it focuses on maintaining the rooting rather than the surface grass. Fortunately, before total death there is a period of dormancy where your lawn is just waiting to come back to life with proper treatment.
If your grass is actually dead, then here is the basic process to fix it:
- Begin a new lawn by raking the dead grass up so that youre left with just the soil.
- Spread seed so that they land firmly in the soil you tilled.
- Apply natural or chemical fertilizer to get it off on the right foot, and water & mulch it with healthy grass clippings or leaves for additional nutrients.
- Maintain it with proper sunlight & water so that it can grow. It may be a bit uneven to start, but give it a few weeks before you add another layer of seeds spots that havent grown.
But, is your grass dead or is it dormant? Lets find out read on!
In This Article:
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Select A Proper Herbicide
Next, its time to select the proper weed treatment based on both weed classification and the stage in their life cycle. Pre-emergent herbicides tackle weed issues before they spring up. Post-emergent herbicides target established weeds.
Keep in mind that herbicides can kill whatever plant life they come into contact witheven if the label says otherwiseso handle with care. If your aim is to re-establish your lawn, as we recommend, killing your existing, thinning grass isnt a big deal, since you will need to start fresh anyway.
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Aerate Fertilize Seed And Water
Use a hand rake to loosen and turn over the soil. This allows it to receive more oxygen and water. Additionally, you can use an aerator to thoroughly stir around the loose soil to prepare it for fertilizer, seeds and water.
Water the area using a garden hose, giving it a good, long soaking. Spread fertilizer and some topsoil to the patch and then water thoroughly again. Spread grass seed over the area using a seed spreader or by hand . Lightly aerate the soil again using the hand rake or an aerator to work in the seeds and fertilizer into the soil. Water the spot every day for a month or so until the grass has re-grown and blended in with the surrounding lawn.
Hold Off On Fertilizing
Your first reaction to post-flood yard care might be to reach for the fertilizer. Its actually a better idea to wait a bit. It might be the case that your grass bounces back on its own without the help of fertilizer. Fertilizers have a high sodium content, and so they can make matters worse after a salt-water flood. If, after a few weeks, your lawn doesnt show signs of progress, it might be time to call in the help of lawn care services.
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Grubs And Other Pests
You know there are grubs in your lawn when your grass starts turning brown and is pulled up easily in the summer months. You may also notice animals like raccoons trying to dig up your lawn. Grubs can be an annoyance, especially when you are restoring your lawn.
They feed on the roots of grass and can cause a lot of damage. Grubs are white in color with a brown head and curl into a C shape. To confirm whether there are grubs in your lawn, dig up several pieces of soil. If you find five or fewer grubs per square foot, there is no need for control measures.
Flush Out The Salt Water
After a flood of salt water, it might seem counterintuitive to re-flood your lawn. Doesnt extra moisture lead to pests, dead grass, and disease? Normally, yes. However, all that ocean water is full of salt. When sodium seeps into your soil, it changes the composition and pH levels of your soil. So the first thing you should do when the floodwaters recede is to flush out any lingering sodium with your garden hose which is full of freshwater. Turn up the water pressure as high as it will go and water your lawn frequently to flush out the upper layer of soil. If you have an irrigation system, set it to turn on more often and remain on for longer than you normally would.
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Determining The Cause Of A Dead Lawn
When your grass turns brown and dry, either on parts of your lawn or across the whole area, you may be itching to lay down new sod or start another plan to revive your lawn. But if you want your new lawn to last, you first have to determine the cause of death for the old lawn. If you dont fix what was wrong, you may find yourself staring at another dead lawn in the near future. There are a few common causes of dead patches or dead lawns, and it may take some detective work to find which one is responsible for your dead lawn.
Get Rid Of Unsightly Weeds
This step can be applied to either scenario of repairing a damaged lawn or removing a dead lawnyou will just use different methods of weed removal. If you are wanting to completely start over and remove a dead lawn, youll need to nuke everything. This is usually done with a non-selective herbicide like glyphosate. This will kill any vegetation it comes in contact with including your lawn, so you wont want to do this if you are trying to repair a damaged lawn. The idea behind applying glyphosate is to effectively kill all the problematic weeds that have taken over your lawnespecially if you have a severe weed problem. Wait about seven more days and then begin removing whatever is left of your old grass with sod cutters.
If you dont want to start over with a new lawn and wish to simply repair it, you will want to apply a selective post-emergent herbicide. A selective herbicide kills only the plants it is labeled to kill whereas a non-selective herbicide will kill any plant it touches. A post-emergent herbicide is designed to kill any currently existing weeds. Its helpful if you are able to identify the type of weed your lawn has so that you can select a post-emergent herbicide that will kill it. A few post-emergent herbicide options are located below. Read all product labels thoroughly before applying.
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Be On The Straight And Level
All those bumps and divots in your yard can make you mad or even twist an ankle. Luckily, theyre both quick fixes.
For Depressions
For small divots, throw on a little top soil and a layer of compost. Easy enough. Use a landscaping rake to make sure its smooth and level with the area around it. For larger depressed areas, remove the sod and fill the hole with a mixture of soil, compost, humus, and fertilizer. Then, replace the sod and press it down. Remember to water any repaired areas.
For Bumps
Remove a 2×2 section of sod and the excess dirt below it. Throw in some compost and soil, soak it with a hose, and cover it back up with the removed sod. Place some of your remaining dirt around the cut edges to help blend in the patch.
The More Your Mow The Thicker Your Grass Will Grow
As soon as the cold winter snap seems to be over, and your grass seedlings are dry and established, start mowing at least once a fortnight in spring and once a week in summer to prompt full and thick regrowth. Remember to collect your clipping to store in a your compost bin. If you dont have one, a thick black bin bag will do!
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