On the second of September Jonno's (the guy in store that's not Ryan) middle daughter (yes he has 3!) was diagnosed with leukaemia. specifically B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia or B - ALL. She is doing well, and responding to treatment well. it was a longer journey and a bit of a hunch on their part to take her into emergency and get her tested. she is currently still in the Royal Children's Hospital. 

 

We ask for a bit of understanding and patience as we all navigate this, as Jonno's instore hours are currently drastically reduced. 

 

Today we’re going to revisit, a very important component of turf management, and that is soil health and balance. The reason we are going to revisit this is that it affects all aspects of turf, as this is where we’re trying to grow the grass. the soil been in good health and balance, can affect everything within the grass, and how it responds to our inputs.

When discussing soil composition, we need to monitor 3 key factors: pH level, soil moisture, and nutrient balance.

There are a few ways to do this, the best and most accurate (as previously mentioned) is to get a soil test. This will give us the best possible readings for all the above. otherwise, there is a bit of guesswork with nutrient balance and other growth stimulants. When can test for pH with small test kits from your local hardware store.

pH
“pH” is often overlooked but is quite integral to lawn growth and vitality. The further the pH falls outside the optimal (6.25-7.25) it can cause the nutrients to become increasingly unavailable to the grass. So, it is vitally important that we know where its at and and try to maintain it in that range. If it is just outside this range it is not worth correcting, some grass varieties are also more forgiving than others too.  However in this range the ALL nutrients are available range. Making it ideal to get the most out of your granular fertiliser applications.

In situations where pH is not ideal foliar applications of quality liquid fertilisers are a great option while we regain control of your pH.

 

Soil moisture. 
This is on a case-by-case basis however I have found the below picture which will hopefully clear things up. The freer draining soils (sand, sandy loam) will need more frequent water than the heavier soils (clay, silty clay). If the soil moisture drops into the red, then we need to add water more often, as it become unavailable more the grass to take up. Ideally, we start watering when we hit the yellow zone, to always keep the water content nearing field capacity. Field capacity is the most amount of water the soil can hold without been waterlogged. This usually occurs 24 hours after a heavy rain event that pushes the water content higher than it can handle. 

We can manipulate soil moisture with wetting agents. Yes, we’re going here again, wetting agents allow us to manage how well the soil can hang on to moisture. Think about the Hydrolink range. It’s not 1 is better than the other, they all do quite specific jobs, for their specific scenarios.

Organic Matter. 
There is a certain level of organic matter required in the soil. Organics are used to improve the structure of the soil. it will also give us a more “alive” soil. a soil abundant in beneficial bacteria, fungi and microbes will help with nutrient uptake and availability. Organic matter acts like a sponge, it will help with water retention, helping to relieve drought stress.

 

Amendments 
If we find that our soil is lacking or needing to be improved that’s where our soil amendments come into play. We find that smaller more frequent applications of amendments can hold the soil at a certain standard better than 1 big hit 2-3 times per year, as has previously been the case. this does require a lot more monitoring, but we’re not lawn addicts for no reason. Smaller incremental changes are often the way, as we can quickly overdose and go to far in the other direction, requiring more adjustments. 

 

. As we are still in reno season we are taking a couple of weeks off our scheduled reminders. we will commence these next edition. 

If you are wanting to take your lawn to the next level, here is the link to our fully personalised superintendent program.

Next instalment.

we are talking about the warm season grasses and how best to look after them during the spring summer and autumn.