Posts Tagged ‘Lawncare’

Lawn Seed Preparation and Costs

Looking for ways to come up with a durable, more lasting lawn? Consider lawn seeding. Lawn seeding ensures that grass on your lawn are deeply rooted and will withstand the wear and tear that most lawns are subjected to.

Although seeding a lawn takes and awful lot of time to do, it is definitely a lot less costly than laying sod. The first step is to determine the type of turf grass to plant. This step requires serious planning and it would be a good idea to get professional advise on what grass to grow in your particular area. Seed dealers can offer a wide variety of lawn products and services to choose from: from seed costs, to labor costs, and other requirements. One tip: never use quick grow seed packages as these contain a high percentage of annual rye, which dies after only one season. How much seed to buy? The rule of the thumb in seeding bare ground is 5 – 6 lbs per 1000 square feet; for over seeding add an estimated 3 – 4 lbs per 1000 square feet.
The initial establishment cost in lawn seeding is generally lower costs related to sodding. This is basically because seeds cost less than sod. Where to plant? Seeding is not an option in areas where there is a high probability of soil erosion. Too much movement of soil particles will prevent the seeds from properly taking root and will prove to be more costly when the process of seeding has to be repeated. Also, herbicides may be needed during the first year of seed establishment to ensure that the young grass plants do not compete with herbs for much needed nutrients in the soil. The cost of herbicide application should be included in the computation of seeding costs.

Taking Care of Grass

Seeding is a good option when you want to have grass in a shaded area; just be sure to plant the right type of grass seeds for the site. Other things you need to do in seeding include loosening the soil, which is a basic requirement for any lawn establishment procedure, clearing the area of weeds and debris, leveling the ground and applying topsoil where needed. Your usual garden tools are often sufficient for these procedures: shovel, rake, pick-ax. A rotary tiller might be needed in areas that are tough to loosen, but renting one rather than buying would be sufficient.

For seed application, you will need a drop or a broadcast sprayer, and then a garden hose and sprinkler to dampen the area where the grass will grow. Make sure the prepared ground drains well. New sprouts can be protected from heavy rain or strong winds by covering them up with a fine layer of hay, which can be removed with a rake when the sprouted seeds are strong enough to stand on their own.

A professional landscaper usually charges around $201for a 2,000-square foot lawn; others may charge around $90 to work on a 1,000 square foot lawn. Just a reminder: be wary of so-called professional grass seeders who charge too little for the job. You might be in for more trouble. Most seed /landscaping companies stay competitive and their price range will lie within a competitive range, so costs should be fairly even.

For an average-sized lawn, you will only need around $50 if you plan to buy the seeds and plant it yourself. If you need to add topsoil, you’ll have spend a little bit more. Some shops have a grass seed calculator that can help you in the computation of costs in preparing your lawn.
Your starter fertilizer should be an 18-24-12 mixture; a 50 lb bag will adequately cover about 12,000 square feet.
A final advice: do your seeding in late summer or early fall, when cooler weather and rains are expected. That way, the tiny plants will be less subjected to stress and will pass through their growing season more peacefully. You will also lessen the probability of having to reseed due to failed initial seeding attempts.

And remember choose the best lawnmower you can to keep the grass trim, and it’s especially important to keep the blades sharp when grass is young as otherwise your mower will tear the grass rather than cut it cleanly.

Lawn diseases, Pictures and Information

Lawn diseases can ruin the appearance of the healthiest and tidiest of lawns. Many turf diseases are difficult to identify and to distinguish from problems caused by pests or by poor maintenance. But with proper management practices, serious damage can be avoided.

The development of disease is often associated with poor turf management practices, such as improper selection and planting of grass variety, insufficient and untimely watering, untimely fertilization, not using the right amount and balance of nutrients, irregular mowing and not mowing at the recommended height, improper amount of light and air movement, non-maintenance of good soil aeration and drainage, and poor thatch management.

But setting these aside, the most common remedy for lawn disease is fungicide. While this may treat the disease, it can also kill off good organisms and insects as well. It should therefor not be used to treat the whole lawn area. The best method of applying fungicide is as a spot treatment. This would minimize damage to the lawn ecosystem.

Several types of fungicides are available in the market and are differentiated by the action they make in stopping the spread of the disease. Contact fungicides remain on the plant’s surface on application and kill spores that come into contact with it. Systemic fungicides move throughout the circulatory system of the plant and stay longer inside the plant’s system. Penetrant fungicides are similar in action to systemic types, but act as a preventive to stop the growth of pathogens.

It can be difficult to identify some of the specific diseases and I will be adding some lawn disease pictures to this post shortly.

Below are some of the common lawn diseases:

1. Snowmold, common to regions where snow falls and sits on the lawn for extended periods of time.
2. Brownpatch, common in regions with high humidity and where the grass grows in the shade. The disease usually starts as a small spot that quickly spreads outwards in a circular or horseshoe pattern. It can cover up to a couple of feet wide.
3. Dollar Spots, common to humid areas. These are small, silver dollar-like discolorations that are brown or straw-colored in appearance which, left untreated, may merge into large patches that are several feet in diameter.
4. Fairy rings, unsightly, difficult to control circular rings that continue to expand with each growing season, leaving circular areas of with poor grass growth and dying grass.
5. Rust, caused by a fungus that gives a rusty appearance to leaf blades. It is not seen every year, but when infestation is severe, it imparts a yellowish to reddish-orange appearance to the lawn. Mowing the grass sends out a red-orange dust that settles on surfaces. Rust makes the soil susceptible to winter kill.
6. Grease spot, slimy-brown patches of grass that are surrounded by white cotton-like fungus.
7. Red thread, characterized by pinkish-red threads that form around the leaf blades, binding them together. The leaves turn brown eventually.
8. Powdery mildew, which covers the grass with whitish powder. Grass eventually wither and die.
9. Pithium blight, or the formation of irregularly shaded spots of wilted brown grass, with cobweb-like mass of fungus; patches form long cluster streaks.
10. Fusarium, light green patches that turn reddish brown; the leaf then dies.
11. Leafspot-Melting Out, brown to purple lesions possibly caused by too much nitrogen.
12. Slime Mold, covers the grass with a powdery substance that looks like crystallized frost that thickens, preventing sunlight from entering the plant cells.

These are the more popular lawn diseases that can be controlled, if not eradicated, by proper care and management of the lawn. It pays to keep the lawn clean in order to ward off these diseases. Often, proper watering and fertilizing are all that are needed to keep the lawn disease-free.

Electric Lawnmowers: The Future In Lawncare

The mower was invented in the 1830s in Englnad to replace the scythe in preparing cricket pitches and tennis. From this it evolved into the number one tool lawn.
  If you replace your lawn with Artificial (and for me that makes much sense, but I know I'm in the minority here) you'll still spend some time in your week to mow your lawn. Grass is beautiful when its 3 to 4 inches long, but after that it starts to look neglected. Your home is your biggest investment and it reflects your personality. . . and your lawn is the first part of your house that everyone can see forever.
  There are several types of lawn mowers on the market, encouraging the most rudimentary grass for the most sophisticated models of remote control, the result of over a hundred years of evolution lawnmower.
  Lawn mowers have been in existence since the 1830s, when an independent engineer in Gloucestershire, England under the name of Edwin Beard Budding taken a patent on the mechanism, and he entered mass production in the 1850s. Lawnmowers first hand-powered. The steam first lawnmower was released in 1893, and in 1930, the engine lawnmower petrol motor came on the market, and has finished.
  But gasoline engines are powerful, and they need some strength and technique to start. Et. . they are of the essence! There are a couple of solutions.
  For smaller lawns, lawn push the work to a feast. It's all muscle-power, if you get plenty of exercise out of it.
  For the lawn a little larger, the electric motor works very well. It is necessary for them to be plugged into an electrical outlet, and you'll be leaving behind a cord behind you. It is therefore imperative that you use care with these types of clippers so you do not run the cord and cut accidentally.
  Cordless electric mowers are available. Black & Decker makes a few models, as does Makita.
  And mops as you can now get remote-controlled and vacuum cleaners, you'll soon be able to get a remote controlled lawnmower. Evatech is a company that has developed such a device. It will take all year to mow your lawn, but it will still much fun as you go through the use of hand controls.
  The advantages of electric clippers
  1. Noise. Quite simply, the gasoline engines are noisy and you must wear ear protection, even with the smallest of them. And regardless of your own ears, the noise can irritate your neighbors if you choose to do inappropriate work.
  2. Pollution. A gasoline engine emits 2-3 times more pollution than a car engine is!
  So the electric lawnmower is the mower of the future.