As we’re approaching the warmer months a lot of us tend to be looking at commencing renovations on our lawns. As it warms up it is the perfect time to be able to get some “major” works done to our beloved lawns.

 

However, before we can do that we need to plan, and get some data. The most important of which is soil temperature and the trend, increasing or stable, hopefully not decreasing this time of year.  The best way to do this is to have a soil thermometer and check your lawn specifically. We want to try and target about 18–19 degrees of soil temperature. however it can vary slightly on grass type. 

The last part of the equation is an easy one, and that’s the grass type.

Now we have some information, we can make some decisions about what we are going to do.

If it is a warm season grass such as couch, kikuyu and zoysia, we can treat it a bit harder and really get it back to almost nothing as it has rhizomes (underground runners) that will help it grow back. This is also what helps it be more resilient. 
 

If it is a cool season grass, Rye, Fescue, and Buffalo in this instance, the key is to not go “hard” otherwise we run the risk of the grass not been able to grow back as it doesn’t have the rhizomes and only a very short (in comparison) root zone.

No matter the grass type, the order of operations remains the same, just height adjustments that need to be made. 

 

Scalp
This may take a few passes to get down to a “working height” just take it slow. For warm season this can be almost to the dirt, for cool season we want to keep it at about 10mm. either way is needs to be below the height we want to maintain our lawn at.

 

Detatch/ scarify/ groom
although these terms do mean slightly different things, at this time of year, much the same. The key here is for warm season grasses set the height of the scarifying reel to the height of the dirt, for cool season, again about 10mm above.

 

Aeration 
Ideally this time of year we are core aerating; this is to allow some oxygen and light into the profile. The other benefit is it can have is, that over time we end up (mathematically) with a new soil profile. This can help keep our grass growing and prevents the soil from going stale. You can either pick up the cores, or run your mower back over them and mulch them back in.

 

Granular amendment
This is now the time to apply any granular amendment or up-front renovation fertiliser. It is often better to do this before topdressing, as we have direct access into the soil. This includes gypsum or lime applications.

 

Top Dress 
Now it’s time to top-dress (if you are doing it). Ideally you want to do it with a washed sand or sandy loam. However, you do want to try and match your soil type as much as possible. 
The below picture is what we, and your garden supply place, utilise to determine the soil type.  You don’t want to put more that 10-15mm on top of the grass. the more you put down, the longer it will take to come through. Ideally, you still want the tiniest amount of leaf still showing. 
If you're not sure a good way to check is to do a soil jar test, found here

The below image is the “soil texture triangle” combined with your Soil Jar test, you can use this to get a good gauge on your soil type, and any amendments that might be required. You read it via the arrows shown,  
Silt reads the 2–7 (red arrow) diagonal, sand reads the 10–4 diagonal (blue arrow), and clay reads straight across (orange arrow).

Liquid amendments. 
The second to last step is to apply your liquid amendments, this has 2 benefits. The first is things like wetting agent, soil conditioners, and growth promoters are best applied via liquid. And it also helps to wash the sand off the leaf, and help it settle to its final level.
During this step is also where you would apply your residual pesticides such as Barricade for weed control, and Acelepryn for insect control.

The last step! 
Is after about , or when the lawn has fully recovered return to normal programming with a controlled release fertiliser and your normal amendment program. 

 

If you would like more in depth information about these steps click below. 

For the Addicts keeping up with our warm season free lawn plans, you have another week off!

 

For the Addicts keeping up with our Cool season free lawn plans, were approaching the Kelpro application.

THIS WEAKS DEAL, TIME TO ACCELERATE YOUR LAWN!