| Welcome to our Turf Shades Page ... |
| Keeping the Color Green Through The Summer Season, in Multi Ways of Fashion... |
Matching Turf Cutting Heights to Fertilizer partical sizes :
.1/8 micro grade
.1/4 micro grade
.1/2 micro to mini grade
.3/4 mini grade
1" mini to std. grade
1.25" Std. grade
1.50" std. Or landscape grade
2.00" Std. Or landscape grade
2.50" Std. Or landscape grade
3.00" Std. Or landscape grade
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Mowing Programs
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7
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Mowing requirements for Height cuts.
( 1/8" to 1/2" ) ( 1/2" to 3/4" ) ( 1" to 1 1/2" ) ( 1.5" to 2' ) ( 2" to 3" )
everyday, or everyother day, 2 to 3 days 1 to 2 days once
everyother day. 3 days a week. a week. a week. a week.
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Yearly Outlook on Fertilizer & Pesticide Scheduling ...
@ = Fast Release Fertilizers.. / & / + = Slow Release Fertilizers..
< = contact Insecticides.. / & / > = systematic Insecticides..
* = Pre emeragence Herbicide..
Jan / Feb / Mar / April / May / June / July / Aug / Sept / Oct / Nov / Dec
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
+ + +
< < <
>
* *
This gives a basic idea of a yearly outlook on a fertilizer,and pesticides program.
Soil conditions play a major roll in how long the chemicals remain in the soil.
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| Getting the Yellow Out.... |
Starting in the early spring, lawns in the northeast tend to get yellow flowering plants popping up all about. Most of theses are known as Dandelion's, There are a few other plants with yellow flowers also, but I will keep to the main one that most encounter.
These weeds to most, are very hardy, and can grow under very low mowing conditions.
These can be hand pulled if in min. numbers, or one could reduce visibility of the flowers ( refer to : Timing of the cut ). They can also be treated chemicaly to rid your lawn - turf from there presents.
| Treatment : The Mechanical Way.
Hand pulling /plucking is very effective, if there presences are at a minimum.
This plant has a long tap root, and if it's not removed it will grow back within
a few days.
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Treatment : The Chemical Way..
A. Selective Broad leaf herbicide for grass area's.
B. Selective Broad leaf herbicide,mixed in combo with a NonSelective Herbicide,
where grass and weeds are not desired.((* be very careful around desirable plants with this mixture!)
C. Preamergent herbicide can also be added to prevent new seeds from
regrowing in the following months.
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Near by plants can be affected by shoes,and drift,due to tracking,evaporation,and wind. High Temperatures also escalates the process.
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| Getting the White Out.... |
Through out the season at different times you might notice untreated lawns ( turf ) go through shades of white appearances. This happens due to a few factors, here in the northeast, for example: We have the ;
Clover producing seed heads, Poa Annul Bluegrass producing seedheads , dull mower blades,( * ) lack of water, and or presents of frost.
These are the most common of the problems with having a white appearance, in your lawn - ( Turf ).
* Drying turf goes through numerous shades of color changes. .Keep this in mind when noticing dying out turf. the stages it goes through.
Fore what my eyes have seen.
Starting from green
goes to white,
goes to purple,
turns to blackish,
turns to golden brown color.
This is a summer dormancy mode in most perennial turf species, and will regrow upon receiving adaquite water and fertilizer. Wetting agents also help in speeding up the recovery, allowing the water ,and nutrients to penetrate a hydrophobic soil.
| Treatment The Mechanical Way :
The dull blades first. Dull blades have the tendency to tear the grass blades, rather then cutting them clean. This usually leaves a tore/tethered tips on the blades of grass. When they start to dry this is when white tips become more noticeable.
...Keeping the blades sharp helps prevent the damage to the tips of the turf.
The Clover and the Annul Bluegrass both have white seed heads through out the year,and there numbers of seed heads can give a lawn the white speckled appearance.
for a chemical free approach on reducing the white seed head appearance,
( refer to : Timing of the Cut... )
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Treatment: The Chemical Way...
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For treating the Clover in lawns,
A. Selective Broad leaf Herbicide needs to be used.
B. Pre emergence herbicide can also be included to prevent new seeds from regrowing.
The Poa Annul Bluegrass has to be treated in far different ways,and requires the use of, restricted use chemicals,and growth regulator. Not very commonly treated in home lawns, due to theses factors.
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| Getting the Green Out ... |
In late spring / early summer the soil temps start to reach the 50 degree mark.
These warmer temps start the germination stage of the CRABGRASS seeds that have laid doorment through the winter / spring months. The seeds will germinate at different times depending on the ground cover, turf density, area's with heavy
shade,or bare ground conditions. This is where a soil temperature gauge comes in handy.
It can be moved around through the different locations for accurate timing of treatments. Start taking readings where the bare ground,or landscape beds are..these area's will most of the time be the first place to reach 50 degrees. Turf covered area's may take a week or so to reach the 50 degree temp,and heavy shaded area's will be last to germinate.
This plant (A.K.A. Crab-grass ) when it starts growing will appear in a very light green color,or florescent green, and when it takes root,it will grow some 5 to 6 times faster then say common bluegrass. When the plant matures they produce seeds by the 10's of thousands,and can be very aggressive in taking over your lawn,and landscape area's.By the end of summer,into fall theses plants will get killed off by the first frost.Then they become very noticeable due to there dying out,and turning brown,where the bluegrass stays green for a few weeks afterwards,depending upon fertilizer conditions. Then the bluegrass will start going into winter dormancy.
| For Mechanical Control :
( refer : 2 Timing of the cut.)
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For Chemical Treatment :
This plant can be treated before it emerges in the late spring with a pre emergence herbicide application. A repeat application in mid summer gives good season control.
These applications also control a wide verity of other weeds that emerge from seeds.
Post Emergent treatment can be made after this plant is in it's 2 nd too 4 th tiller state and beyond.
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Through searching for the greener green, Keeping lawns and turf green through the summer has always been a task. Especially when irrigation is not available,or not cost effective to property owners.. I will try to shed some light on some old turf tricks, I got buried deep in the bottom of my dusty golf bag.
Some are as simple as raising the height of the cut before a drought,or not mowing at all through these times. Others are not so easy,and require 100% attention to the timing all of thee above & below.
Summer stress is where the attention really needs to be applied. This is where most of the mistakes take place, and stunting of the turf happens. Sometimes it's also best not to mow under high heat conditions,or in the mid day hours. when the turf is most venerable to heat stress. ( it don't take much to brown out turf in 80/90 degree temps.) also keep this in mind for pesticides & fertilizer
applications. They can be treated with the same respect. With that said I'll give a run down on the timings throughout the season to better explain the process.
Starting (say) mid April the grass comes out of winter dormancy, This is a good time to lower the height of the cut, the weather conditions this time of year favors the height change, with limited damage to the plants crown, this should recover quickly. This is also a good time to plan a weed control program, and a fertilizer program, if desired. This will all be a factor throughout the growing season. Timing the fertilizer is a big factor, if it's going to be used. Most fast release fertilizers provide a month of feeding, or accelerated growth. Keeping that in mind, we can skip along to the application that would be made around june 1. This would allow the turf to be in prime condition for the summer heat stress, and the
accelerated growth to slowdown for the height change that comes in late june early July. This height change comes when the crab-grass starts to emerge, if a chemical approach is used one would have to go off the weather conditions, but for the mechanical removal of the crab-grass, this is time to pay close attention to the growth of the crab-grass and not so much the turf grass. When the crab-grass reaches the mowing height ,this is the time to raise the height of cut in the lawn. One should try not to mow the crab-grass, because this will cause it to branch out and grow horizontally, at this same time the summer heat ,drought,& fertilizer conditions should be reducing the growth of the turf grass,and skipping a few mowing days in-between will allow the crab-grass to out grow the lawn. This is where the crab-grass can be scalloped,or stunted to rid it from the lawn. If mowing at 2" height you would want the crab-grass to be about the 5 to 6 inch in height. Now raise the mowing height by a half inch, and watch for a thunderstorm. Mow after the storm. Now watch for another storm,and this is a good time to spoon feed the lawn with a lite rate fertilizer to help the lawn to recover,and crowed out the remaining part of the crab-grass stem. Throughout the mid to late summer months it's best to mow the evenings after the storms. The later in the evening the better. The cooler evening temps and the morning dews help the turf grass survive the summer heat.
additions to be added!
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| This is the results from Sodium Chloride, (AKA) road salt , Rock salt. It was carried there by the car through the winter season. Parking in the lawn during winter months, may not rut up the ground while it's frozen, but it still has adverse consequences.
Recovery has been very slow. Reseeding may be required after the salt has been diluted from the soil. 5/8/09 recovery time has been very long, i took monthly photo's to show the natural recovery. keep in mind no fertilizer,or seed was applied. 6/1/09 . Turf growth still stunted, but it has been regrowing, and filling in . It can still be seen where the major damage was. full recovery will take till the end of June.
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| Some photo's and symptoms of a broad leaf herbicide in use. liquid herbicide is invisible to the naked eye, The symptoms arn't to a trained eye. This is some of the symptoms on mountain plantation, and another broad leafed weed. leaf curling,and wilting. the grass is not affected with this chemical, there are numerous chemicals that have the same end results.
And some photo's of homegrown grass seed in production.
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Some Beneficial plants commonly overlooked or eradicated.
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| * Nitrogen Producing Clovers.
`Red Clover
`white clover
`black medailic clover
* Dandelions.
* Lambs quarter.
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