nathe, Author at Lawn Solutions Australia - Page 10 of 11

Author: nathe

What is nesting under my winter lawn?

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What is nesting under my winter lawn?

Beetles are semi dormant in your soil in winter, just like our lawns. The damage to your lawn generally won’t occur this time of year, but it is important to understand their lifecycle and signs of infestation, so that you can take prompt action when they become active. Being aware of what’s under the soil will keep you one step ahead of the game and better equipped to deal with these uninvited guests.

Root feeding grubs are sometimes known as white curl grub, scarab beetle larvae, lawn beetle larvae or cockchafer. These are the common names for the juvenile stage of lawn beetle that feed on the lawn roots. White curl grub, however, is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a ‘witchetty grub’.

To best understand how to control and prevent root feeding lawn grubs it is best to chart their lifecycle.

This is explained below.

lawn grubs

These beetles – adult lawn grub – feed on the roots and can be a serious problem for some lawns. Cool season varieties like fescue and warm season varieties like kikuyu and couch can experience major damage from a nasty infestation, but they are not usually an issue for buffalo varieties. Stressed, under-nourished lawns are also particularly prone to damage.

black beetle

Adult beetles are black and shiny, about 15mm long with brown serrated legs. The eggs are laid in Spring and early summer, developing into larvae that then feed on the roots. The pupal stage causes no damage, but the emerging grubs in late spring/early summer do. The beetles are dormant or semi dormant in winter.

A small infestation of black beetle can provide benefits to some lawns, for instance buffalo grass varieties help the soil with tunnelling activity and stimulating new root growth, but if you see damage, it’s best to send them packing.

Check out the Lawn Solutions Australia lawn care page for more helpful tips and advice here.

How to manage salt levels in your lawn

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Salt and Your Lawn

If you’re lucky enough to live by the beach, your lawn will cop a fair serve of ocean spray. In some cases it can be completely under water at high tides, so a tolerant variety is a must.

Salty soils prevent your grass from absorbing nutrients and retaining moisture. Salt spray on the blades of the grass can cause burns. Salt in soils are not uncommon and will usually be found in small amounts. It is only a problem when the levels increase, preventing nutrient absorption.

High levels of sodium in water can cause compaction in clay soils which makes it difficult for root development and for the salt water to leach away. In these soil types, you will need to apply gypsum to break down the compacted clay and allow the water to filter through easier.

How to prevent salt damage

Fresh water is your friend when it comes to reducing the salinity in your soil. If you suspect that there has been some damage caused or you have experienced strong coastal breezes, watering your lawn is the best course of action. The sodium will remain on the grass and within the soil until you do this. When watering, make sure you do so for a couple of hours to leach the sodium out of the soil, washing it away from the soil where it is affecting your lawn. Deep, long watering like this will also wash nutrients away from your soil, so it is a good time to follow up with a fertilise.

Choose a salt tolerant turf variety

Compared to most other varieties, buffalo lawns, like Sir Walter DNA Certified, are very salt tolerant. Some types of seashore paspalums are now available and while salt tolerant, they lack other qualities, such as drought tolerance.

For turf suppliers in your area click here.

Winter Lawn Care – Video

Posted on by nathe

‘But it’s not really growing?’ I hear you say. Believe it or not, there is such a thing as Winter lawn care. Whilst your lawn probably isn’t actively growing and pulling out the mower is a rare occurrence this time of year, there are still things you can do to ensure your lawn holds up well and is ready to start growing quickly again come Spring.

Continue reading “Winter Lawn Care – Video”

TURF TECH – Insights into Turf technology

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Lawn Solutions Australia’s network of accredited turf growers are leading the way when it comes to adopting new technologies that are beneficial to their businesses and consumers.

From crop management, mowing practices, to harvesting and delivery, the way growers ensure you receive the highest quality turf available is continually evolving.

Here are just a few new technologies that are becoming utilised in the turf industry:

Drone technology

LSA drone

Drones, flying robots or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are increasing in use across many businesses and the turf industry is also reaping the benefits of this technology. Turf growers can use drones to map out their paddocks, track their crop establishment and can even utilise Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) Sensors which can provide data straight to your phone to identify problem spots for rectification with specific treatments. Some drones can even administer the treatment!

turf farm drone

Automated Mowing

By now most of us have seen robot vacuums and even robot lawn mowers, but did you know this technology is being introduced on a much larger scale for turf producers?

Whilst the level of automation is currently limited to manned vehicles, turf growers will very soon have the ability to create maps of their paddocks and assign an unmanned robot mower to the paddock with a simple click of a mouse.

Turf Mower

The purpose-built software will instinctively create the most efficient route for optimal area coverage of every paddock. The software will communicate with and control each machine, managing its speed, direction, turning radius, obstacle detection, braking and blade height.

Turf Harvesting and Robotics

Methods for harvesting turf have continually evolved over the years and it is nowhere near the backbreaking work it once was. Automatic harvesters have become the norm in the turf industry and have massively increased efficiencies for growers.

These machines are laser guided and utilise robotics to cut, roll and then stack turf on a pallet. These pallets are then dropped off the back when full and another pallet is placed into position.

turf harvester

NPK – What does it mean? Why is it important for your lawn?

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Knowing why NPK is important for your lawn will help you to understand how you are helping your lawn when you fertilise.

For the most part though, as long you use a good quality fertiliser that is suited for your turf variety – where all the scientific work has been done for you, your lawn will thrive.

Lawn Fertilisers come in many varying types and blends and can be quite confusing as to which is the right option for you. Grass is like any other plant – It takes in nutrients and air through the soil and sunlight through the leaves for photosynthesis where the conversion to sugars and energy takes place. It is the job of lawn fertilisers to keep this in balance and help provide the nutrients that your lawn is lacking.

The three numbers on the side of your fertiliser represent the value of the three macro-nutrients required for your lawn.

These three macro-nutrients are N, P, & K.

Let’s break it down…

(N) Nitrogen – Nitrogen is largely responsible for the growth of leaves on the plant and is the most talked about nutrient when it comes to lawns and is usually the highest percentage of your NPK ratio. Nitrogen usually comes in the following forms: Ammonium, Controlled release (synthetic) and Urea.

Lawns love Nitrogen, but it is important to strike a balance between strong leaf growth and strong roots capable of supporting it as well. Which is where Phosphorus comes in.

(P) Phosphorus – Phosphorus is largely responsible for root growth and is actually quite a low percentage of the overall NPK ratio. Phosphorus moves slowly through the soil, and isn’t used in great amounts by your lawn, so some is needed but not a great amount.

Phosphorus usually comes in the following forms: Water Soluble, Citrate Soluble and Citrate Insoluble.

(K) Potassium – Potassium is a nutrient that helps the overall functions of the plant perform correctly. Potassium is an essential macro-nutrient used in the largest quantities by plants for vigour and growth. Potassium comes in the form of Sulphate as soluble potash which helps grass withstand drought and disease. It also helps the plant to more efficiently use Nitrogen.

By understanding how these nutrients effect the overall health of your lawn, you will be better equipped to identify deficiencies in your lawn and the tell-tale signs of stress, which will help you know when it’s a good time to fertilise.

Lawn Solutions Fertiliser was developed for use on Sir Walter DNA Certified Soft Leaf Buffalo lawns, but it will work equally well on other lawn varieties, such as Couch, Buffalo, Kikuyu, Zoysia, Tall Fescue, Bluegrass and Ryegrass, delivering all the nutrients the turf needs to recover and grow.

Visit the Lawn Solutions Australia website where you can buy Lawn Solutions Fertiliser on the Lawn Store.

6 Common Weeds and When to Act!

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Weeds. There are so many different types that love to rear their ugly heads. Luckily there are plenty of easy ways to remove them from your lawn and to keep them from coming back.

The following 6 weeds are all active at this time of year, so it is important that if you spot any of them in your lawn you take action now.

Cudweed

cudweed

Cudweed is an annual weed that forms in rosettes. The leaves are light green on top and have a white furry underside.

Treatment:

White Clover

white clover

White clover is a creeping perennial weed, green with elliptical leaves and white pom pom like flowers.

Treatment:

Common Daisy

common daisy

Daisies are easily identified by their flower with white petals and a yellow centre. They have green leaves that form clusters of rosettes in the grass.

Treatment:

Fleabane

fleabane

Fleabane grows tall with a tough hairy stem and long rosettes of leaves all the way up it.

Treatment:

Summergrass

summergrass

Summergrass is a warm season annual weed with seed heads that appear into Autumn. Green leaves with light purple towards the stem base.

Treatment:

  • Amgrow Paspalum, Nutgrass and Clover Weed Killer (spot use only on buffalo and kikuyu)

Plantain (Lambs Tongue)

plantain

Plantain has thin veins on the leaves that form in rosettes and slender flowering stems with dense brown seed heads.

Treatment:

The best way to stay on top of weeds, is to select a healthy weed resistant turf variety like Sir Walter DNA Certified, and to maintain regular lawn care activities removing weeds by hand where you can.

Incorporating pre-emergent products like Oxafert into your lawn care, will help to kill annual weeds before they even appear. You can buy ready to use Weed Control broad leaf herbicide, Bin-Die Selective Lawn Weeder Concentrate and Oxafert here on the Lawn Store. Remember to always stick to the directions on the product label.

Check out the Lawn Solutions Australia lawn care page for more helpful advice here.

 

Building Your Own Backyard Stadium

Posted on by nathe

The crowd roars, the Mexican wave soars past and the players have entered the stadium! Ok, so you might not create this level of atmosphere, but there are certainly ways you can turn your backyard into the perfect space where competitive rivalries and future sporting stars are born. And it all starts with your lawn.

Where do you think the Marsh brothers and the Waugh brothers learnt to catch, bowl and hit a ball for six? Where did Tim Cahill first learn to score a goal off his head? It was in the Aussie backyard of course.

Here’s Lawn Solutions Australia’s tips on how to create your very own field of dreams.

  • Start with a good foundation – If your soil base isn’t ideal, then your turf will struggle, and you won’t get a nice consistent and healthy lawn to play on. A loam soil is ideal and will have the right structure that your lawn needs.
  • Choose a turf variety that will stand up to the vigour’s of backyard play – A hard wearing variety like Sir Walter will ensure you are spending less time repairing the lawn and more time enjoying it.
  • Regular mowing and lawn care will be key in keeping the pitch up to playing standard – Keeping to a regular routine of mowing, watering and fertilising your lawn will keep it looking it’s best. A well-used lawn will become compacted over time and it is important that you also aerate the lawn at least once a year.
  • Keep your lawn clear of obstacles and clutter that may cause injury – An unfortunate accident caused by a stray object could spell the end for your sporting career, so it’s best to remove any potential dangers.
  • Bigger is better – Most sports require a lot of lawn space, so making the best use of your area is important.
  • Want to go a step further and create your very own backyard stadium? A retaining wall or step makes for a great grandstand and will provide you with a safe spectator area.
  • Give it some stripes! The reason stripes appear as they do, is as simple as the way the light reflects off the grass-blade. Blades bent towards you look dark, and blades bent the opposite way from you will appear lighter. All this means is you have to bend the grass blades opposing ways to create the stripe effect. If you don’t have a cylinder mower which has an in-built roller, after mowing with your rotary mower, you can use a roller to push the blades down by rolling in opposite directions. Whilst you may not get the look completely like they do on sporting grounds, you can get a similar effect that will still look great.

Check out the Lawn Solutions Australia lawn care page for more tips for your backyard pitch here.

To find your local turf supplier click here.