Maintaining a healthy lawn can be a challenge. A professional Lawn Care Cape Girardeau service can help.
Lawn maintenance includes weekly mowing, edging, spring and fall clean up of leaves/debris, and pruning shrubs/trees. It also includes soil testing, aerating compacted ground, overseeding, and similar practices that improve the health, color and resilience of your lawn long-term.
Insects
The dream of a lush, green lawn is shared by nearly everyone. But while managing mowing, watering, landscaping and fertilization is fairly straightforward, controlling the insects that damage your turf is often more difficult.
Insects can cause lawn damage by feeding on the roots or stems of grass plants, depriving them of nutrients and moisture they need to thrive. These pests often cause those unexplained brown patches that seem to pop up over and over again. The best way to manage insect pests in the lawn is to follow good cultural practices, which include choosing grass species appropriate for your climatic region and proper care of established turfgrass.
However, following good cultural practices isn’t enough to completely control all pests. Some pests, such as the white grubs of scarab beetle larvae and the masked chafer and Japanese beetle larvae that feed on turfgrass roots, can only be controlled by using a combination of cultural practices, fungicide applications and insecticides.
Other pests such as chinch bugs, billbugs and caterpillars (including cutworms, armyworms, and sod webworms) can cause brown spots by damaging or killing the grass plants they attack. Identifying these pests can help you determine the most effective control measures.
For example, sod webworms are the larvae of moths that create silk-lined tunnels in the soil, which eat the grass stems and leaves from the base, leaving brown spots behind. Similarly, cutworms shelter in underground burrows during the day and emerge at night to bite off grass stems at the base, usually leaving dead areas.
In addition to following good cultural practices, the best way to combat these insect pests is by treating them directly with GardenTech Sevin brand products. For instance, drenching with Sevin Insect Killer Lawn Granules early in spring can stop grubs from growing into adults and causing damage, while treating in late summer prevents egg-laying for next year. Applying granules to the lawn using a spreader and then watering immediately releases the active ingredient into the soil, reaching both aboveground and below ground. This treatment protects your lawn for up to three months.
Diseases
Sometimes a lawn can look great, then suddenly it starts to show signs of stress. A funk-colored patch, thinning turf, or brown spots can be caused by a variety of issues including insect damage, soil compaction, and drought stress – but they are often also indicative of a fungal disease.
The symptoms of many diseases appear as circular or tan patches in the grass that are matted, spongy, and usually dead, although they can coalesce into larger areas of discoloration. These spots are the result of pathogenic fungi that invade the blades, crowns, or roots of turfgrass. The fungi may also create a white, cottony growth or hardened structures called sclerotia. Typical symptoms of these fungi include frog-eye patterns (circular areas of dead grass with healthy turf in the center), rotting roots, leaf spots, stunted growth, and yellow leaves.
If you suspect your yard is suffering from a fungal disease, the best course of action is to collect a sample of the affected area and send it for laboratory testing. A sample should be placed in a plastic bag and kept cool for best results. Attach a written description of the lawn and symptoms observed as well as cultural management practices and any chemical applications made, along with your name, address, and phone number.
Some of the most common fungal diseases that cause discoloration in the turf are Red Thread, Dollar Spot, and Lawn Rust. Lawn rust is especially problematic on fine-leaf and tall fescues, and can be spread by raking, walking through, or riding lawn equipment in the spore-filled area. This disease thrives in warm, humid weather and is often exacerbated by nitrogen deficiency.
When the fungi responsible for these disease outbreaks are present, a few adjustments to the lawn care routine can help the damaged grass recover and prevent future problems. This includes reducing the frequency of nitrogen application, watering to minimize runoff and evaporation, and mowing regularly. Properly sized, disease-resistant turfgrass cultivars are a good alternative to the afflicted species and can be incorporated into the landscape. Fungicide sprays can be used to supplement these measures during periods of high humidity and disease pressure.
Poor Drainage
You probably know that lawns need regular watering to thrive, but you might not be aware of how much damage your soil’s health can suffer when it doesn’t have the proper drainage. Even the best grass and most lush plants can be damaged if your yard is consistently soggy or has an overall wet environment. Poor lawn drainage can cause a host of problems, from promoting fungal growth to suffocating your soil. The good news is that there are some practical lawn care solutions to help you achieve a better drainage system, like aeration, overseeding, mulching, and landscape grading.
The most common problem that causes brown spots in a lawn is poor drainage. Waterlogged soil restricts oxygen flow to plant roots, resulting in wilting and yellowing. It can also lead to root rot, in which the roots decay due to the prolonged wetness. Consistently wet conditions can also damage hardscapes and lead to structural problems, such as warped deck boards or sagging retaining walls.
To improve your lawn’s drainage, regularly aerate your turf and amend your soil with compost or sand. This helps create channels for water to penetrate dense, compacted soils, and it can be especially effective in clay-heavy environments. In addition to preventing root rot, regular aeration and overseeding promote healthy soils that are naturally more resistant to disease and insects.
Another great way to encourage proper drainage is by planting grass and flower beds with moisture-loving plants. This can reduce runoff and replenish groundwater, while creating a functional, beautiful outdoor space. Landscaping services, on the other hand, are much more complex, transforming outdoor spaces with man-made features and plant selections. These may include patios, fire pits, lighting, fences, gardens, trees, shrubs, and more.
To get the most out of your greenspace, consult a professional lawn care provider. They will have the experience and tools to assess your yard’s health and identify the likely culprit of any brown patches. Then they will be able to recommend the right treatments and preventative measures to transform your yard into a lush, healthy oasis.
Weeds
Weeds are one of the most common reasons that a lawn looks less than its best. They compete with grass for water, nutrients and sunlight. They also produce a lot of seeds that are dispersed by wind, pets and people walking through the yard. Occasional weed growth is normal, but consistent lawn care practices help create dense grass that crowds out most weeds.
Weed species vary depending on local climate and soil conditions. Annual weeds, such as crabgrass and annual bluegrass, complete their life cycle in one season, producing large amounts of seeds. They are easier to control because they have shallow root systems. Pre-emergent weed preventers work well to stop them before they germinate.
Perennial broadleaf weeds like dandelion, yellow and purple nutsedge and wild violets grow year after year with extensive underground structures like rhizomes or stolons that make them more difficult to eliminate. They germinate in the fall, flower and go to seed in the spring. Post-emergent herbicides work well to kill them as they come up.
Crabgrass has light green to egg-shaped leaves and grows quickly, spreading by seed and forming roots where stems touch the ground. It is most problematic in warm-season areas. Clover, which has light green to yellow leaves and grows in thick mats, is a nuisance everywhere, but especially in garden beds and sidewalk cracks. A nonselective herbicide can be used to kill both it and desirable lawn species, but it’s important to read and follow the label instructions carefully.
Aerating the lawn breaks up compacted soil and allows air, water and nutrients to reach grass roots more easily. Mulching and regular fertilization also improves soil quality by increasing the amount of organic matter, which helps reduce weeds. Using a flame weeder in gravel driveways and sidewalk cracks is useful for eliminating weeds in areas where other methods don’t work.