Top reasons why reseeding fails

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#4- Seeding too heavy- Most people put down grass seed way too heavy.   More is better, right?  Not with seeding.  When seeding too heavily, you get lots of small grass plants too close together without enough space for their roots to grow.  As a result, most of the plants die, and you are left with very thin grass.   Study the label on your grass seed bag for instructions on how to properly apply the grass seed. The picture above shows the correct density of seed when reseeding.

#3- Lack of sunlight- Many times, people are reseeding because their lawns are thin in the shady areas.  As trees grow taller and thicker, the Kentucky Bluegrass under these trees starts to die as it won’t grow in dark conditions.  If you don’t improve the sunlight, the new grass won’t survive.  Trimming or removing trees may be necessary to grow grass.  Take a step back and assess whether trying to plant grass is the best option for your space.   Would a mulch bed with shady-loving plants be better for this area?

#2- Poor Soil Preparation- Seeding is all about preparation.  Simply broadcasting seed over your lawn is worthless.  Grass seed needs to be touching bare, loose dirt to grow.  There are two different options for preparing your soil for seed.   The first option is to use a hard-tined rake to rake the top inch of soil.  The second option is to add a thin layer of dirt.  We like to do both; rake the top inch of soil and add a thin layer of dirt.  Doing both options will give the roots of your new grass the best chance to grow.

#1- Not watering enough- For grass seed to grow, it needs to stay moist for 21 days in a row.  That usually means watering at least twice a day.  If you have an underground sprinkler system, we recommend setting your sprinkler system to come on four times a day for 4-6 minutes per zone.  You want the seeded area to stay moist, but you don’t want water to puddle.  At 10 days, ryegrass and fescue will start to germinate, but don’t stop watering!  If you stop watering at 10 days, the Kentucky Bluegrass won’t grow, and it is the most desirable variety of grass.  It doesn’t start to germinate until 21 days.

Grass seed needs three things to germinate:  It needs to be touching bare loose dirt, it needs sunlight and water.  If all 3 of these elements are present, you will win at seeding.   But if you are missing any one of these, your seeding will fail.  

How to check your mowing height

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There is one free and easy change that you can make to improve the health of your lawn.  Are you ready to do it?

For a great lawn, you must mow your grass at the proper height. For the summer months, your grass should be mowed at 3.5 inches.  Grass that is mowed below 3 inches lacks good color, has more weeds, and needs more water.

Here is how to check that you are mowing at the proper height:  After you mow your lawn, take a credit card and hold it sideways in the grass.  Your grass blades should be cut at the height of the card or slightly higher.  If you are cutting below the height of your card, (like in this picture), you need to raise the mowing height of your lawn mower.  Don’t trust the markings on your mower for height as they are rarely correct. Click here for more information on the benefits of a higher mowing height.

Spring Lawn Mower Maintenance

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Spring is a great time for some lawn mower maintenance. Follow these 5 steps and you will be ready to mow!

Change the oil. This is one of the most important steps. Also, check the oil periodically during the season to make sure it’s at the correct level.

Check the air filter. The air filter typically doesn’t need to be replaced every year. If it is slightly dirty you can clean it, but if it is very dirty or damaged, it is a good idea to replace it.

Check the spark plug. If you are having trouble starting your mower, this can be a common cause. If the plug is very dirty or dark on the end, then it may be time to replace it.

Sharpen your blade. You can sharpen the blade on your own with a metal file or a bench grinder, or you can have a pro do it. Either way, a sharp blade is vital to having clean-cut grass. This practice should be done a couple of times during the season. It may be a good idea to buy a spare blade to use while your other one is being sharpened.

Setting the mower height. For the best results, set the height at 3 inches during the cooler times of the year, and 3.5 inches during the summer months. A higher mowing height can aid you in keeping the weeds and crabgrass out of your lawn. This will also result in thicker grass and a lawn that will not dry out as quickly.

Click on the link below for a more detailed look at lawn mower maintenance.

Spring Lawn Mower Maintenance

Quackgrass vs. Crabgrass

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Each spring, we receive questions regarding an ugly, wide-bladed grass growing in lawns. Customers are mistakenly identifying this grass as crabgrass. It is a easy mistake to make because they look so similar, but this ugly grass is actually quackgrass, not crabgrass.

Quackgrass in the spring

Quackgrass is a perennial grass that is one of the first grasses to come out of dormancy each spring. Many homeowners confuse this thick-bladed “junk grass” with crabgrass.

Quackgrass has a huge root system so pulling it out is not a long term solution. Because quackgrass is a variety of grass, there aren’t chemical products available that know the difference between quack- grass and the other good varieties of grass in the lawn. Round-Up is good at controlling quackgrass, but applying it will also kill desirable grass around it.

We have heard of customers who have applied Round-Up in an interesting way. They will put a rubber glove on their hand with a cotton glove over the rubber glove. Then dip the gloved hand into Round-Up, and coat the quackgrass blades with the liquid. The Round-Up kills quackgrass roots and all in about 10 days.

Crabgrass in the summer

Crabgrass is a summer annual. It is similar in appearance to quackgrass because it grows in clumps and faster than the grass around it. It germinates in mid-May and starts appearing in lawns in July. Our first lawn care application includes a crabgrass pre- venter which is our best defense against this un- sightly grass. The second best thing to help prevent crabgrass is a high mowing height. We see less crabgrass in lawns that are mowed between 3 and 3.5 inches than lawns mowed below 3 inches.

Moles vs Voles

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Mole or Vole Damage?

Over the winter months, moles and voles continue to work in your lawn.  These two pests damage a lawn in different ways and identifying them is key in controlling them.

Click here for more information on identifying Voles vs Moles

Snow Mold – Gray & Pink Patches

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What are the gray or pink spots in my lawn?

Snow mold. There are typically two kinds of snow mold: Gray and pink. This disease is usually noticed as the snow melts in the spring. It is commonly found in those turf areas of greatest snow accumulation, such as along driveways or over the brink of a hill where snow drifts tend to accumulate. The most notable symptoms are white crusted areas of grass in which blades are dead, bleached, and matted together. Although this disease looks unsightly, it rarely causes permanent damage to your turf. A light raking of the affected areas will speed up the recovery. In most cases our spring application will stimulate enough growth to heal these areas.

Lawn Mowing Height

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Mowing is one of the most important cultural practices performed in lawn maintenance. Regardless of whether the lawn is fertilized, irrigated , in sun or shade, proper mowing practices are essential if a high quality lawn is to develop. Properly mowed lawns will have fewer weed populations, better moisture stress tolerance and generally better quality than lawns not properly mowed.

Research has shown the proper mowing height for cool season grass is between 3 and 3.5 inches. Mowing below 3 inches drastically reduces the quality of turf.

Advantages of higher mowing height:

Better Lawn Color

We see a much thicker, greener, healthier turf with lawns that are mowed at heights of 3 inches or above.  Here is a picture of 2 lawns that are maintained in a similar way. The major difference in these lawns is the mowing height. The lawn on the right is mowed below 3 inches:

Less Weeds & Crabgrass

Mowing height can play an important role in prevention of lawn weed establishment. Research has shown that higher mowing heights result in fewer weeds per unit area. This is due to higher grass providing more shading and competition to the weed seedlings during the initial establishment phases.

Less Mowing Maintenance

A general rule of thumb is not to remove more than one-third of the grass blade when mowing your lawn. The chart on the right provides different mowing heights and estimated mowing frequency.

Stronger Root System

A direct relationship exists between the height of the turfgrass and the depth and total mass of the root system.  Research with Kentucky bluegrass has shown that root growth was more than twice as great when the grass was mowed 1 inch higher.  In general, a lawn mowed too short will have shallow root system with little total root mass. The impact of shallow, weak root systems is most apparent during summer stress periods.
Some information provided by: William E. Pound & John R Street, Ohio State University, Horticulture & Crop Sciences

Turfgrass Seedheads

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Seedheads are starting to appear in big numbers in lawns this week This is a normal occurrence that happens every May across Michigan. Most of the common turfgrasses found in lawns produce seedheads including Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass and of course Poa annua (otherwise known as annual bluegrass). Seedheads not only detract from the appearance of the turf but the seed stalks are tough to mow so make sure you have a sharp mower blade. However, even with a sharp blade you still may see a sheen or whitish look to the turf after mowing due to the seed stalks. Resist the urge to try and mow down the seedheads by lowering the mowing height. Any golfers out there will tell you that Poa annua can produce seedheads at putting green mowing height so lowering the mowing height on the lawn is not a recommended approach.

Some things to watch for over the next couple of weeks as the seedheads hit peak. The turf may start to look stemy and lose density. This is natural. It will come back strong once this period of seedhead production ends. Basically right now the plant is putting a lot of energy into popping those seedheads. Once it’s done, the turf growth and density should return to normal levels.

Dr. Kevin Frank Crop & Soil Sciences

Also check out this great video from the Lawn Nut!

Spring Lawn Mower Maintenance

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It’s time to put away your snow blower and shovel and dig out the lawn mower! Now is a great time for some lawn mower maintenance. Follow these 6 steps and you will be ready to mow!

Change the oil. This is one of the most important steps. Also check the oil periodically during the season to make sure it’s at the correct level.

Check the air filter. The air filter typically doesn’t need to be replaced every year. If it is slightly dirty you can clean it, but if it is very dirty or damaged, it is a good idea to replace it.

Check the spark plug. If you are having trouble starting your mower, this can be a common cause. If the plug is very dirty or dark on the end, then it may be time to replace it.

Sharpen your blade. You can sharpen the blade on your own with a metal file or a bench grinder, or you can have a pro do it. Either way a sharp blade is vital to having clean cut grass.  This practice should be done a couple times during the season. It may be a good idea to buy a spare blade to use while your other one is being sharpened.

Setting the mower height. For the best results, set the height at 3 inches during the cooler times of the year, and 3.5 inches during the summer months. A higher mowing height can aid you in keeping the weeds and crabgrass out of your lawn.  This will also result in thicker grass, and a lawn that will not dry out as quickly.

The last step is to have fresh gas. Old gas is the number one cause of having trouble starting your mower. If there is old gas in the mower, drain it and replace with fresh gas.
Here is a more detailed look at mower maintenance:

Growing grass in the shade

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The reason turf performs so poorly in shaded are-as is because of a of lack of sunlight. Grass is like most other plants, it does best with an abundance of sunlight present.

Densely shaded areas are often characterized by:

1) Thin, patchy areas of grass

2) Bare soil

3) Tree roots

4) Moss

5) A lack of Kentucky Bluegrass

Some varieties of grass perform better in low light situations such as ryegrass and fescues. The most popular and desirable grass in West Michigan is Kentucky Bluegrass. It is a preferred grass and excels in full sun, but it will not grow in the shade.

To make matters worse, every year the canopy of your trees grows larger and thicker, making it even more difficult to grow grass beneath them. Unless drastic tree trimming or removal is done, over time, things tend to get worse, not better.

Sodding these areas is not an option.

The primary grass used in sod is Kentucky Bluegrass. Bluegrass will not grow in the shade.

So, what can be done to improve these areas?

1) Reseeding. You can reseed with a shady mix of grass seed. This will work especially well in areas that receive a mixture of sun and shade throughout the day. Just remember: you have not improved how much sunlight can reach the ground, so your reseeding results may be short lived.

2) Tree Trimming. Trees can be trimmed and their canopies raised and thinned out allowing sunlight to penetrate. After 2 or 3 years, the canopy usually will have filled back in and more trimming will be neces-sary.

3) Bark Mulch and plants. Rather than constantly battling shade, spreading bark mulch around the base of the tree can be a great option. Another idea is to add a shade loving ground cover like pachysandra or ground ivy, or some shade loving plants like hostas.

4) Accept the thinner grass and enjoy the trees. Sometimes we need to accept that our trees are a wonderful asset to our properties but aren’t going to make for the best conditions to grow grass. We care for many homes that don’t have trees, and would love some trees despite the problems they bring.

Make sure you are using proper cultural practices in these areas: Mow the grass at 3 inches or higher and keep these areas properly watered. Reduce compaction with aeration, keep grubs out of the lawn, along with a good fertility program to have the best chance at growing grass in shady areas.