Ongoing maintenance
Lawns need regular maintenance, like any plant, to keep them healthy and looking lovely. We offer ongoing maintenance programmes including high-quality fertiliser, weed treatments and pest and disease treatments if necessary. The cost can be spread over the year in monthly instalments. It is important to keep you weeds, pests and diseases under control before they invade the grass and leave patches. Our maintenance visits insure that any issues are picked up as soon as possible, with experience and turf qualifications in identifying lawn problems. The soil can also be lacking nutrients which affects the grass health.
Useful information
Spring
Best time to undersow existing lawns or seed new lawns.
Extra fertilizer is beneficial for the increased growth, and fungal diseases often occur.
Summer
Water is necessary regularly on all lawns, lime/dolomite is beneficial so that autumn fertiliser is more effective.
A little fertiliser is helpful to continue grass health and growth. Fertiliser can burn the grass if applied in dry, hot weather.
Autumn
Good time to sow seed into lawns. Mow frequently or use a leaf blower to keep the leaves from shading the grass and creating dead spots.
Fertiliser is very beneficial if applied after a summer dolomite application.
Winter
Slow time of year for grass growth, and the moisture allows moss to take off. Weed treatments are good when its not too wet. Avoid walking on the grass when it is water-logged or has frost.
This is the perfect time to install an irrigation system.
Water
Morning watering helps reduce fungicide growth as the grass doesn’t stay damp overnight. This is always necessary for at least 30 minutes per day after sowing new seed, until it has germinated, and then less often but still watered until established.
Mowing
Most high-quality seed types need to be cut much higher than us Kiwi’s tend to. Moss and flat weeds love short grass. A good guide for mowing most lawns types is about 30-50mm high, with the exception of a fine fescue/brown top lawn which is 15-30mm long. Best to mow lawns frequently, every 5-7 days in peak growth periods. Remember to sharpen your mower blades as it helps reduce diseases.
Soil Tests
We conduct these for a small fee. They can be done prior to a maintenance programme to give us a starting point about the fertility of the soil.
Any additional treatments can be added to correct the fertility so the grass stays healthy.
Fertiliser
Looking after grass isn’t just about the grass, but also looking after the soil.
If you are looking to buy a fertiliser to spread yourself, check the application rates, as a high quality product uses a lot less fertiliser per square metre of lawn.
Weeds
Weeds are inevitable. They are carried by the wind, foot-traffic, animals and birds. A weak, unhealthy lawn leaves weeds able to choke out the grass. Our special weed sprayer has a clever brush-curtain to maintain spray drifts, and can be safely used around touchy plants like roses.
We can treat most weeds such as Oxalis, broad leaved docks, dandelion/flat weeds, Onehunga/prickle weed, clover, buttercup, willow, twin cress and many more. Call us today for a free quote. If you are spraying a lawn for weeds yourself, make sure you use a broad leaf spray not a broad spectrum (which is effectively round-up), which will kill all your weeds, and grass.
Prickle (Onehunga weed)
The most important thing to know about this weed, is that is needs to be treated BEFORE the prickles appear (they are the seeds that then get spread further and prick). This annoying little plant likes to irritate kids and adults alike, so free you lawn from this little weed so you can enjoy walking barefoot. Treatments are usually best around September/October. If you miss this window, it may still be beneficial to treat as it kills the plant and then the prickles lie flat, so you end up with less prickles in your feet.
Flat weeds / Dandelions
These can appear in many lawns, no matter how meticulous you are about maintaining it. They invade your grass, create an uneven surface, and leave bare holes. You are best to treat these before the yellow flower head matures into a white, puffy dandelion doom, and spreads all its seeds.
Diseases
Rust
Your lawn will appear to look yellow or hungry (for fertiliser). In bad cases your footwear can turn orange when you walk through.
This is most likely to occur from November to April or in cool to warm, moist weather. Watering at night or light often watering and shade from trees, reduce the occurrence and severity of this disease. Correct fertility in the soil (ie no too much high Nitrogen fertiliser) is also necessary to avoid this disease.
Red thread
This is one of the most common fungal diseases that can occur throughout the year. Your lawn will start with a red tinge and develop into patches of brown dead grass with red in it. Poorly aerated, nitrogen deficient turf is most susceptible. Mowing regularly also helps avoid it.
Dampening off
Dollar spot
Numerous sunken bleached spots which form larger irregular patches. Most prominent in summer or warm humid or dewy seasons either side of summer. If left the weeds invade the areas where grass foliage thins.
Fasarium patch
Pests
Black beetle
The biggest pest out for home turf. The warmer weather is favourable for these little bugs. The larvae/grubs eat the roots in summer and early autumn, while the adult beetles continue to destroy autumn sown lawns if warm enough. Infested grass turns yellow and dies off, leaving a dead mat of turf that can be rolled back like carpet. Two treatments a year is best to stop all those nasty pests from destroying your lawn in most cases.
Grass grub
A turf pest who lays eggs in the soil in the summer, and after a few weeks they hatch and feed on the grass roots until spring. In about November-December the flying adult beetle attacks the grass foliage.
Porina
Black field cricket
