Understanding and implementing a well-balanced fertilizer program is one of the most important factors in maintaining an attractive, healthy lawn. The three main nutrients required by your lawn are:
Nitrogen promotes dark green color, leaf and blade development, and density of the turf. Phosphorus is important for good root and rhizome development and promotes plant maturity. Potassium contributes to the general vigor of the plant and promotes wear, drought tolerance and winter hardiness.
The amount of phosphorus, potassium, sulphur or lime required by a home lawn is best determined by soil testing. In the past few years soil tests have shown that the soil base in Ontario contains high levels of phosphorus. As a result, the commercial Industry has removed it from its fertilizers. While there is no soil test for nitrogen, it is an unstable element in the soil and must be applied every year. As such, nitrogen represents a key component of every fertilizer in use today.
Specific soil conditions dictate what percentage of elements should be incorporated into fertilizer at any given time. For instance, if the lawn sits on sandy soil, higher potash or more frequent applications may be required because the soil is prone to leaching. On newly established lawns, higher levels of phosphorous and potash may be required. As a general rule, Kanata-Stittsville sits on a combination clay-bedrock foundation, with a shallow soil base. Potassium and nitrogen, therefore, represent the fundamental components of fertilizers used in this area.
Kodiak uses a commercial-blend, granular 20-0-15 fertilizer with a 60% slow-release, sulphur- coated urea. (The three numbers 20-0-15 represent the amount of Nitrogen (20%), Phosphorous (0%) and Potassium (15%) in our mix.) We apply this fertilizer at a rate of 2 kg/1000 Ft2 (100 M2) 4 times per season.
Kanata-Stittsville’s shallow soil conditions make the practice of regular feeding, mowing and watering essential to the healthy growth of your lawn. Infrequent or irregular routines can cause stress to the turf in much the same way that withholding protein from a bodybuilder can stunt his muscular growth.
To maintain steady levels of nitrogen and potassium in your lawn throughout the season, Kodiak applies fertilizer every 4-6 weeks, with the timing of applications being Spring, early Summer, Late Summer, and Fall or Late Fall.
Late-fall applications with a quick-release nitrogen fertilizer are especially important for preparing your lawn for its winter hibernation. By performing a feeding when the lawn has stopped growing but is still green, a Late-Fall fertilizer:
An even application of lawn fertilizers is very important for achieving a uniform green lawn. If using a drop-type spreader, operate it the long way of the lawn. First apply header strips at each end of the lawn to provide room for turning. Overlap one wheel's width when spreading the fertilizer and shut off the spreader when reaching the header strips.
With a centrifugal type spreader, make two split applications (half rate each) at right angles to each other. Always make sure the spreader is properly adjusted, to avoid striping or uneven colour.
In May 2010 Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment passed legislation banning the use of chemicals on lawns. Since then, homeowners and lawncare specialists have been forced to seek out more natural alternatives to pest control and weed management. As a result, the mentality surrounding lawncare has been forced to change.
Natural or ‘more’ natural alternatives as we shall choose to refer to them, are significantly less effective in the short-term. This is just the reality that we have to face. With consistent, long-term application however, they offer boundless potential for landscape sustainability that chemical options preclude. This is healthier for the groundwater we drink, for the animals we share our lives with and for the planet’s eco-system, hands down! Let’s start the discussion then with what we can expect, and what the long-term strategy must be.
Without a doubt, we can expect weeds. It is totally unrealistic to think that anything short of the efforts, budget, and fanaticism that a professional golf course superintendent puts into caring for his greens, tees, and fairways, will produce a weed-free lawn. A blanket herbicide application will therefore not reverse a heavy weed infestation on your lawn. This has been proven time and time again in field trials at universities across the country. The best approach to controlling weed populations is to actually employ a combination of different approaches over time and to stick with them.
1. Crowding out weeds with thick lawn cover
Regular control of undesirable plants and proper care for desirable plants should minimize weed growth without the need for chemical controls. Since weeds are simply plants that take advantage of open areas with available resources, the simplest way to control them is to eliminate the open niches they take advantage of. This means keeping the lawn thick and healthy to keep weeds from having any room to grow. A simple two-prong strategy: Mow the lawn high and optimally fertilize to keep the lawn as competitive as possible.
Kodiak also recommends reseeding lawns in the Fall to prevent weed growth. Since many weeds are already dead late in the season, there is less competition for space as grass seeds try to take root. Strong, high-quality grass seed is essential to this practice. Kodiak uses only seed with the highest germination rates and purity percentages available on the market.
2. Maintaining a healthy soil
Once the lawn has been populated with grass plants to crowd out the weeds, it is important to maintain a fertile, aerated and well-drained soil for them to thrive in.
The most obvious strategy for achieving this is to initiate an optimal fertilization program. Unfortunately, it usually isn’t possible to eliminate weeds simply by supplying some specific nutrient to the grass surrounding them. (As we all know, weeds benefit as much, if not more, from the application of fertilizer, as the grass does.) Anything that can be done to promote the growth of the desirable plants however, will certainly provide healthy competition for growth of the undesirable ones.
The second most obvious strategy for maintaining healthy soil is to perform a core-aeration every couple of years. Drawing cores of soil out of the lawn prevent soil compaction and directly expose the roots of the grass to air and water; elements which are beneficial to the growth and development of root systems.
Though weeds can grow in virtually any soil, soil improvements create a level playing field at least for all plants.
3. Prevent weeds from going to seed
A single dandelion can produce 15,000 seeds each year and each seed can survive for up to six years in the soil. Kodiak encourages its clients to be proactive in weed prevention themselves by pulling weeds before they have a chance to flower and distribute seeds. Doing so will deplete the seedbank, prevent the spread of weeds, and minimize weed control efforts in future years. While a small percentage of seeds remain viable for long times in the soil, the majority will either emerge or be lost to predation or decay within just a couple of years.
4. Pre-emergent Herbicides (Corn Gluten)
http://eartheasy.com/article_corn_gluten.htm
Another approach to preventing the spread of weeds is to prevent the germination of them altogether. As a plant food, corn gluten has a N-P-K ratio of 9-1-0, or 10% nitrogen by weight. As a weed suppressant, corn gluten acts as a natural pre-emergent. It inhibits weed germination by drying out a seed as soon as it cracks open to sprout. Even weeds that have managed to germinate and form a shoot, have been proven not to be able to form roots once treated with corn gluten.
5. Post Emergent Herbicides (Fiesta)
Developed by Neudorff North America, the broadleaf herbicide Fiesta (which contains 4.43 percent of the active ingredient iron in the form of FeHEDTA) has been shown to be efficacious in the control of dandelions, black medick, and to a lesser degree narrow-leaved plantain.
All applications of Fiesta are made with a pressurized sprayer to ensure good coverage of the product over the target weeds. For dandelion and black medick a second application roughly 4 weeks after the initial application is performed as a means of maintaining season-long control of these weed species. For narrow-leaved plantain, the current label rate may not give the same per cent control as for dandelions and black medick, but the results are still very promising considering there are very few alternatives that provide this level of weed control.
http://issuu.com/landscape_ontario/docs/may_hr_2010_for_web/25?showEmbed=true
Fiesta operates upon the premise of Iron toxicity, or by achieving oxidative damage at the cellular level. The excessive uptake of FeHEDTA by many broadleaf weeds leads to the contacted area to turn black and brown (tissue necrosis) and ultimately plant death. Broadleaf weeds (dicots) absorb and uptake Iron differently than turf (monocots) which provides the mechanism of selectivity. This allows the turfgrass to not be affected by the application and only the weed is controlled.
FeHEDTA is compatible with integrated weed management practices in that it is applied only when weeds have emerged and is not used as a "preventative" treatment.
In order to destroy weeds at the time of germination itself, you should use a pre-emergent weed killer. This product should be applied during early spring just before the seeds start to germinate. A post emergent herbicide works on young weeds and weeds that exhibit a steady growth pattern
A thick, vigorous lawn is the best prevention against weed invasion. A dense stand of turf can compete successfully with weed seedlings for light and nutrients. Low mowing encourages broadleaf weed invasion and invasion from grassy weeds such as creeping bentgrass and annual bluegrass. Provided that a lawn is mowed in a timely fashion, at the proper mowing height, fertilized regularly and irrigated properly, weed invasion can be kept to a minimum.
Problem weeds include both broad-leaved and grassy weeds. They may occur when there are thin or damaged areas or heavily trafficked areas.
7. Control
Control problem weeds by:
