ECOLOGICAL LAWN CARE

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On the other hand, mowing is stressful: Most plants could never tolerate the amount of pruning (which is what mowing is) that grass can take. Every time you mow, roots are slightly weakened and the plants become more vulnerable to disease.

Proper mowing is critical for ecological lawn care. First, consider the tool. You would never hack your favorite trees and shrubs with dull, battered pruning shears, so give the same consideration to lawn grasses. Keep the mower blade sharp by touching it up often with a file or be sure to have a spare, professionally sharpened blade on hand at all times. You can tell that the blade is dull if the lawn seems to brown up right after cutting. That happens when torn grass ends die and turn brown on the plants.

Another serious mowing error is to allow the lawn to grow too tall between cuttings. The primary photosynthesizing part of the grass plant is the upper portion of the leaf blade, so no more than one-third of the total grass blade should be cut at any time. If you mow your lawn to three inches, cut it every time it grows to four and one-half inches. If you mow to two inches, cut it every time it reaches three inches-no more. If you truly hate mowing the lawn, then fertilize and water less, grow slow-growing grass varieties or, better yet, turn your lawn into a vegetable garden.

The most important mowing factor is height. Forget the accepted mowing heights; they are simply too low. Increasing the height of your cuts by a mere one-quarter inch increases the photosynthesizing leaf surface by 400 to goo square feet over an area of woo square feet. A high cut results in deeper, more drought tolerant roots; less-rapid regrowth; hardier turf, a cooler, moister soil; greater resistance to weeds, insects and disease and less costly, time consuming lawn maintenance. Mow Northern lawns to three inches in height, Southern lawns of zoysia or Bermuda grass to one inch (three inches for saint augustine grass and Bahia grass). The one exception is that final fall mowing. Make it a shorter cut: two inches for the taller grasses and one half inch for the zoysia and Bermuda grass. This will reduce winter fungus problems.

Air, Thatch and Water

A number of other factors can stress or deteriorate your grasses. Any lawn that is heavily used will tend to compact with time. If you cannot push a screwdriver into your turf soil easily, then it is too compacted. Remedy that with the aeration techniques discussed earlier. If your lawn gets very heavy use, you may need to aerate it once or twice a year. Consider overseeding such a hard-packed sod in the fall with additional fescue grasses, which tolerate compacted soil.

Sometimes a lawn looks brown and ragged, even though the care and weather conditions are good. It may be suffering from a heavy thatch buildup. Thatch is the accumulation of grass plant stolons (runners) and roots that collect as a brown layer just above the soil, Contrary to popular conception, it is not accumulated lawn clippings. But a heavy thatch layer will prevent lawn clippings from decomposing properly. To check thatch buildup, cut out a cross section of the lawn. A buildup of one-quarter inch or less is good for the lawn; it acts as a mulch. More than that requires some remedial action.

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