Before we get into todays edition, we wanted to answer a question that has been coming up a-lot in store. “Should I still be watering?” . It has been dry locally here at the time of writing this article and the Geelong Racecourse weather station has only recorded 20mm of rain for the month, 10mm of which fell in one day. This is a long winded way of saying YES, you should still be watering and using the something from the Hydrolink range to maintain the water balance and distribution. For the warm season grasses, watering once a week is fine, for the cool season grasses maintain a watering cycle of twice a week. You can decrease the volume down because evapotranspiration is less, however it still rapidly dries out and we really encourage you to monitor soil moisture closely and adjust watering accordingly.
Welcome First name / fellow lawn addict to another instalment of “The Fulcrum”.
As Winter is coming and the chill sets in, it's time to look towards our warm season grasses and how to look after them. Following on, we’ll go into essential tips and tricks to ensure your lawn remains healthy and strong throughout Winter.
The hardest things we have to contend with are low light and cold overnight temperatures. Although there is no substitute for warmth and sunlight, there are somethings we can do to help our warm season grasses.
A few of the things we can do are done in preparation for Winter rather than during Winter itself.
Pre- emergent herbicide. As we know the biggest annoyance on warm season grasses during winter is Winter Grass (Poa annua). Rather than spraying it as it appears, the most effective way of treating it is prevention. By putting pre-emergent herbicides down, we can protect our beloved grass from unwanted weeds.
Adjust mowing height. Our warm season grasses are essentially no longer growing, this means we need to lengthen the height of cut to be able to withstand the winter. Raising your mowing height by 5-10mm is all we need to do this. It gives the grass more leaf area so it can photosynthesise more efficiently with less sun, plus having more of the plant allows it to hold up stronger to traffic, Our dormant lawn cannot repair or rejuvenate from wear and tear.
Aeration. Think about aerating your lawn in late Autumn-early Winter to encourage air to enter the soil profile. Opening the soil does three things:- 1. it allows water to drain off the surface into the profile where the lawn needs it and; 2. also if during Winter your soil suffers from water logging aeration allows it dry out quicker (if you leave the holes open) and; 3. this also helps minimise disease risks, by creating an aerated environment that harmful anaerobic pathogens don’t like. It can be done simply with a pitchfork or our All-tine-ator.
Removing dew/frosts if possible. While a morning dew is nice to look at, its not the best thing for our grass, as it creates a damp environment in the grass canopy creating a near perfect storm for disease. Removing the dew can be done by dragging something along the top of the turf. An offcut of synthetic grass, a rope even a length of electrical conduit works a treat, anything that breaks the surface tension of the water. A cricket field will often use rope after rain. Frosts can be removed if the temperatures are cold enough by applying a light early morning water just as or before the sun comes up. This will help melt the ice. Much like de-icing your windshield.
Oversow We addressed this one in an earlier edition, but cool season grasses can protect our warm season grasses as they need to be kept longer. Thus, taking the brunt of our wear and traffic on them.
FERTILISER! A quality late Autumn fertiliser application with higher potassium can set our warm season grasses up nicely for the Winter. However, that isn’t the end of it. Applying liquid fertilisers with moderate amounts of nitrogen, packed with growth promoting compounds, can help delay or even avoid dormancy and push higher growth rate during the colder months.
For the Addicts keeping up with our warm season free lawn plans, you have a week off applications!
For the Addicts keeping up with our Cool season free lawn plans, we are approaching Special Fex applications, and for those who use it, Primo Maxx. Be sure to check the GDD calculator to ensure you are applying Primo Maxx at an appropriate time.
