LC/DBM provides landscape contractors with Educational, Imaginative and Practical information about their business, their employees, their machines and their projects.
Achieving a healthy lawn starts with timing, soil prep, proper irrigation, fertilizer and pesticide application, as well as aeration and follow- up care mowing.
Professional turf manager Bobby Walls outlines the steps to make the landscape contractors' next turf-seeding project a success.
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Successful Seeding Steps to
By Bobby Walls, development manager of turf products, FMC Professional Solutions E 1
veryone has seen a yard where new sod has been laid down, and then three weeks later it is brown and on it's way to becoming completely dead. This typically occurs because whoever planted it didn't properly prep the soil. With seed, the grass either comes in patchy or not at all; this too is usually the result of poor soil preparation, or other factors before and after the planting. Bobby Walls of FMC Professional Products outlines seven steps to successful seeding and the proper renovation techniques.
For proper growth of newly seeded turf, it takes more than just throwing down seed. A few extra steps in the beginning will save on products and labor later, and ensure healthy turf for years to come. Whether renovating turf in the spring or fall, here are seven steps to assure healthy lawns.
Education
Talking to your customers about the importance of turf health is always the first step. Providing proper education on establishing healthy turf seedlings en- sures clients know the advantages and disadvantages of correct renovation tech- niques should they choose not to aerate, use herbicides during establishment,
Middle: Aerifying the soil provides positive results, including breaking up compacted soil, which enables oxygen and water to get to plant roots. It is an advisable practice for both prepping the soil for seeding, and helping established lawns remain healthy.
Bottom: Turf areas that are in full sun need irrigation more often than partially shaded areas. Lawn edges and curb areas are easy to miss, so keep a close eye on these areas. Also, slopes always dry out faster than level areas, so program the irrigation system to compensate for this.
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