Green Industry Pro's September / October 2021

Page 58

LAWN CARE

By Ryan Whisner

STEPS TO RECLAIM THE TURF

and Restore a Customer’s Lawn

E

nsuring that a customer lawn remains in that lush, vibrant condition is generally a part of professional turf managers duties. Sometimes those services elevate to some extensive renovation of the property to ensure the health of the lawn. Alyssa Cain, turf product manager for Barenburg USA offers some insight on the steps for a contractor to consider when going through the process of consideration of renovating a customer’s property and restoring the lawn. • Determine whether the customer’s current stand has the potential to be salvaged (greater than 50% green, healthy growth) or if they have need to consider a complete renovation of the area. • If they have mostly healthy grass (greater than 70%), there is the option to troubleshoot what they currently have with a fertilizer application. Cain says to promote this quick spurt of growth, apply about 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet on the existing grass. If you are using a quick-release fertilizer, you may go with a 50/50 blend of a quick-release and slow-release fertilizer (ex, half urea and half poly-coated urea) to ensure the

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021

plant is getting a little help now as well as some in the future as the fertilizer breaks down in the environment. • If there is some healthy grass (greater than 50%) but it is growing unevenly, this may call for overseeding. “When this is the case, you may decide to dethatch to get rid of the dead material, rake the seedbed to make it an even surface as well as removing the old debris, then use a drop spreader to apply the new seed on this prepared area,” Cain says. “Overseeding rates are usually a little higher than that of a new seeding because this accounts for the seed settling in unintended spaces, and not making soil contact for germination to occur.” She says you may decide to do another light raking once the seed is down to ensure it settles on the soil. Once seeded, this can be lightly top dressed with mulch or peatmoss to introduce more organic matter in the system and retain moisture on the seeds throughout germination. • If there is very little grass worth saving in the current stand, this will call for a complete renovation. She says the first step in this process is to remove everything that is currently present and prepare the area for new seed. This is typically done with an

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