Factors We Can Control

Mowing:
What is your mowing schedule like? Do you mow consistently as needed or just when you find time to squeeze it in? Does your mower have sharp blades? Do you bag or disperse the clippings if they get too thick? Do you mow the same pattern every week, beating down ruts in the yard, or do you alternate as often as necessary? Mowing habits play a major role in the quality of the turf. Proper mowing reduces weeds so that herbicides are needed less often. Proper mowing recycles nutrients back into the soil.

Pre-Emergent Application:
Do you apply pre-emergents for crabgrass and weeds at the proper time(s) of the year? Do you weed your landscape beds to reduce the number of weed seeds? Does the family dog scratch and dig up the yard regularly? (Scratching and digging the soil breaks the pre-emergent barrier and promotes weed germination.)

Nutrient Delivery:
Do you fertilize and treat for weeds on a scheduled basis as needed, or only when you happen to pick up a bag of fertilizer from the hardware store? Nutrient requirements vary, but in every lawn the nutrients need to be applied in a consistent manner for best results. The human body needs consistent blood sugar and hydration levels to maintain good health. Similarly, if your lawn is to develop strong roots and good color, it must have proper pH levels, adequate nutrients, and sufficient soil moisture.

When their requirements are met, your turf and landscape plants develop strong roots and good color. Their good health allows them to survive and perform even when summer heats up and winter goes bitter cold.

Secure Turf can keep your lawn looking great—for a fraction of the time and cost of doing it yourself. Give us a call today or Request A Quote on-line!

Factors We Cannot Control

Weather:
Mother Nature plays the biggest role in the health and beauty of a landscape. In the best of seasons Mother Nature provides just the right amount of rainfall and sunlight and just the right temperatures. Then our landscape is happy – if we also have good soil.

Soil and Sub-Soil Aggregates:
In the southern Piedmont, soil characteristics vary greatly. In some few parts of the region there’s good topsoil and good sub-soil conditions. In most areas the soil contains heavy clay that dries hard in the summer and stays soft during wet winter months. These fluctuations present a challenge and make human intervention a necessity—if we want a consistently healthy turf.

Many homeowners face the challenge of sub-soil aggregates, rock, concrete, and other construction materials that have been buried beneath the soil. When a neighborhood is constructed, topsoil is often removed to level building pads or backfill other lots. These practices make it difficult for a homeowner to grow and maintain a healthy landscape.

Sub-soil aggregates and rock create another problem: hard pan zones.

When the sun gets hot its heat penetrates 12-20 inches below the soil surface and warms the buried aggregates. That heat then radiates, and stresses turf roots. If the stress continues throughout the season, the turf will go dormant and may die. Even with several inches of soil covering the hard pan zone and a mowing height of 4 inches, some areas in the lawn will remain drought-stressed due to the heat radiated from the buried aggregates.

There are two solutions: additional irrigation, watering correctly and deeply; and excavation, to remove sub-soil aggregates and add new topsoil.

If you’re experiencing any of these sub-soil problems, give Secure Turf a call. We can help.