Autumn Lawn Care
Put in the hard work now to prepare your lawn for the winter ahead. Just like the springtime, autumn is an extremely important time of year for your lawn. The time, care and effort you put into your lawn now will leave you in good stead from the colder months ahead and give you the best chance to keep your lawn healthy through the winter until next spring.
Lawn Grubs
The dreaded lawn grub (read more here) is out in force through the autumn. Lawn grubs such as army worm, cutworm and sod webworm can cause serious damage to your lawn unless you keep a keen eye out. Even turning your back for a week or two can end in tears for the avid green keeper.
Keep your eyes pealed for any sign of these nasty pests and treat as soon as possible with grub control chemicals. If you need some more specific advice, please give us a call on 3373 4999, 7 days a week!
Fertilising
Autumn is the perfect time to be fertilising your lawn to build up a healthy root system before winter sets in. The best type of fertilisers to use would be controlled-released, as the nutrients are released slowly and continually. This in turn allows the grass to take up the nutrients as it needs them, and they are less likely to leach in runoff into local native bushland or waterways.
If possible, use a fertilisers spreader. Generally you can pick one up for a small sum, and they will ensure fertiliser distribution is done at the correct rate. In some cases, over fertilising is worse then not fertilising at all! The best time to fertilise is early in the morning when there may still be dew or moisture in the lawn to help to activation process or before a rain shower. You don’t really want to be fertilising before a big storm, as more often then not, your fertiliser will wash away with the overland flow than really absorb into your soil.
Mowing
As the weather cools, grass growth will slow and your mowing frequency will reduce. It is best to keep your lawn slightly longer through the cooler months so it’s better equipped for photosynthesis and weed suppression. In saying that, you don’t want to let your lawn get too long! It is very easy to allow the lawn to grow out so you can mow less, but as a general rule, try to mow when your lawn is looking “shaggy”. If you allow your lawn to get too long between haircuts you run the risk of stress and scalping. Remove no more then a third of the green leaf blade.
Damaged grass is far more susceptible to pests and disease, so it is important to make sure it is being cut cleanly rather than “chewed”. Keep your mower blades sharp! Scalping can also cause serious damage. Scalping is when your lawn gets too long between mows and too much green leaf is removed. The lawn is placed under stress and is then susceptible to weeds.