Cynthia Warne Program Coordinator WSU Master Gardeners of Clallam County

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1 Cynthia Warne Program Coordinator WSU Master Gardeners of Clallam County

2 What is it about lawns that makes us love them so much? They can make the yard look neat and tidy They help us keep from tracking mud into the house They are a good place to wrestle with the grand kids They are an excellent place to relax and take a nap They smell so good after we cut them Lawns feel cool and soft on our bare feet

3 Seed Selection Clallam County gets very little rainfall between the months of June and October Certain types of grasses are better suited to our dry summer environment Choosing the right type of grass for our area will help reduce the amount of water and fertilizer needed to maintain a healthy lawn

4 Good Cool Season Grass Types Fine Fescues: Relatively easy to get established Play well with other grasses Most drought tolerant of the turf grasses Don t tend to develop thatch Needs less frequent mowing

5 Good Grass Types (con t) Turf-type Tall Fescues: Moderately wear tolerant Coarsest cool season turf grass Drought and water tolerant Moderately shade tolerant Bunch type grass-may need occasional over seeding

6 Good Cool Season Grass Types (con t) Turf-type perennial rye grass: Specify turf-type when buying perennial rye grass Plays well with others (grasses, I mean) Requires moderate fertility Very wear tolerant Not drought tolerant Needs full sun Establishes quickly

7 Bad Grass Types (not suited to our cool marine climate) Kentucky bluegrass: Not recommended for Western Washington Weakens and dies over time Needs full sun Not drought tolerant Susceptible to necrotic ring spot

8 Bad Grass Types (con t) Bentgrasses: High Maintenance Must be maintained at about ½ in height Severe thatching problems Susceptible to many diseases High water and fertility needs Not wear tolerant Only plant Colonial type bentgrasses not creeping type

9 Trivia Question Why do bentgrasses tend to take over pastures in our area? Because livestock eat them down till really short and other grasses can t survive that type of mowing

10 Other Grasses to Avoid Zoysia Bermuda Dicondra Centipede Carpetgrass St. Augustine Mondograss Buffalograss These are all warm season grasses

11 Plant a Mixture If you want the uniform look, plant 2-3 varieties of the same species Better yet, plant a mixture of species Including clover can reduce fertility needs Any type of mixture will generally be more disease and pest resistant than a monostand

12 Overseeding (con t) If lawn coverage is thin, it is a good idea to overseed. Put out turfgrass seed at about ½ the normal establishment rate after aerating the lawn to fill in the gaps and prevent weed invasion. Newly seeded grass plants will require some moisture in the soil throughout the summer to survive If you plan to let the lawn go totally dormant in the summer, do not overseed until fall, and wait until the rains begin. That will help you to SAVE WATER!

13 Lawns are a piece of cake to maintain.right? Mowing Fertilizing Weeds Diseases Watering!! (whew!)

14 What is Thatch? Thatch is the build-up of undecayed roots, stolons and stems. Thatch is not the build up of grass clippings Bentgrasses & some fescues are particularly prone to thatch build-up A thin layer of thatch is good < ½ More than ¾ restricts movement of air, water, nutrients, and other materials Thatch build-up is increased by mowing grass when it is too high Do not overfertilze Frequent, shallow watering increases thatch Keeping the ph above 5.5 helps reduce thatch

15 More on Thatch

16 How Do You Prevent Thatch? Don t over fertilize your lawn. Over fertilizing causes aggressive growth of roots Shallow frequent watering keeps roots on the surface of the soil instead of growing down into the soil Less frequent, deep, slow watering methods encourage roots to grow down into the soil to find water Consider holding off on watering lawns at the beginning of the season to force roots to go deeper in search of water

17 Mowing Most lawns are mowed too short and too often Mow at between 1 to 2 inches -- shorter in spring, longer in summer Mowing grass when it is too tall can encourage thatch build-up Mowing grass too short wastes water and stresses grass. Longer grass shades the soil helping to prevent evaporation from the soil Keep the mower blade sharp!

18 More on Mowing Try not to scalp high spots in your lawn. Scalping cuts into the roots and can create dead spots in the lawn Don t remove more than 30% of blade length per mowing If the lawn has gotten too long, mow twice. Wait a couple of days between mowings then adjust the height of the mower deck down on the second pass Recycle grass clippings into a compost pile, use them for mulch or send them to the municiple yard waste facility Or..

19 Grasscycling Consider grasscycling. Instead of collecting grass clippings in a mower bag, leave them on the lawn Grasscycling does not cause thatch and in fact recycles valuable nutrients like nitrogen back into the soil, thus requiring less fertilization Be sure to use a mulching mower or mulching blade and don t remove more than that 30% each time you mow Clippings are quickly absorbed back into the lawn

20 Watering and Fertilizing There are many factors that will determine your schedule for watering and fertilizing. One of the most important factors is soil type. Generally speaking, sandy loose soils will need smaller amounts of water, more often and smaller doses of fertilizer more often. Clay soils will need larger amounts of water, but less often and less fertilizer Loamy soils will need the general applications referred to in the following slides

21 Fertilizing Nitrogen is usually the nutrient your lawn needs most because it is water soluable and is used up quickly by grass and soil organisms Fertilize lawns in the fall and/or spring, not the summer You might want to have a soil test done in early spring to determine the acidity and nutrient make up of your lawn If your soil is very acidic, (less than 5.5 ph) you may benefit from adding lime at about 100 lb. per 1,000 sq. feet before seeding--for mature lawns use no more than 35 lb. per 1,000 sq. feet

22 Fertilizing (con t) For W. Washington lawns, a 3:1:2 ( ) ratio fertilizer is best lbs. (4 lbs most common) N per 1000 sq. ft. of lawn is generally recommended, spread over 4 applications--spring to fall Make the last application between mid-november and December 7 Sulfur has been found to improve lawn color, and help control some weeds and diseases If P and K are not limiting, summer fertilizer applications can be straight N Excessive nitrogen encourages shoot growth, not root growth

23 Organic Fertilizing Top-dressing with high-nutrient compost or other natural fertilizers (e.g., feather meal, dried poultry waste, fish meal, alfalfa meal, dried blood meal, etc.) can reduce or eliminate the need to add synthetic fertilizer Organic fertilizers tend to be a little slow to perform in spring, but provide good color and growth summer through fall It may be possible to spread a mix of organic fertilizers with a fertilizer spreader if they are ground or screened small enough

24 Fertilizing (con t) Fertilizing encourages healthy growth, however more is not better Use fertilizer sparingly and only just before watering. Don t apply fertilizer to a dry lawn without watering it in Over fertilizing wastes money and causes leaching of nitrogen into groundwater, streams and lakes Leaching of nitrogen caused by over fertilizing and over watering is harmful to aquatic life

25 Weeds Lawns that are properly maintained are capable of crowding out most weeds Pull weeds by hand or use a Dandy Digger when possible. Use herbicides sparingly and apply only to the target weed. Use the correct type of herbicide for the weed you are trying to control. Read and follow all label directions..its THE LAW! Broadcast spraying of herbicides and Weed and Feed type fertilizers are generally excessive in application and can cause other landscape problems

26 Diseases Healthy lawns can usually fight off most diseases Be sure to use the right type of grass variety for our area A stressed lawn is a susceptible lawn Poor fertility practices,over watering and compaction can all contribute to making your lawn more susceptible to disease Proper lawn ph also helps prevent disease problems

27 Pests Insect pests in lawns are not generally a serious problem in Western Washington European Cranefly larvae infestations do occur but are rarely so problematic as to need chemical treatment. Healthy lawns can withstand larvae per sq.ft. European Starlings and other birds are the best control for cranefly and usually keep them in check.

28 Watering

29 Watering Wisely Water infrequently and deeply enough to saturate the root zone (6-12 ) Lawns with heavy thatch, compacted or heavy soils, and slopes will not accept water rapidly. Water for short periods, rest, and water again until root zone is saturated Compacted soils may require yearly coring aeration to adequately accept water Using surfactants may help with water absorbtion Most lawns in Western Washington only need about 1 of water per week. Two inches per week in areas that get more daytime heat or have sandier soils.

30 Watering Wisely (con t) If thatch is very heavy, remove it. For small lawns a thatching rake may be enough. For larger lawns, a power thatching rake can be rented. Do this in the spring as overseeding will be necessary Control weeds that compete for water Over-watering leads to shallow root systems, leaches nutrients, encourages some weeds and can starve roots of oxygen

31 Watering Wisely (con t) Water in the early morning to reduce evaporation and to reduce the incidences of turf diseases Irrigate when the top 2 of soil becomes dry Most grasses can survive dry periods with minimal water. Lawns that are not watered in summer simply go dormant until the rains begin in the fall Perennial rye grasses need some water once a month in summer Automatic sprinkler systems are usually set to come on too frequently, even if it is raining and usually over irrigate or irrigate often but lay down too little water to reach the root zone

32 What is Eco-Grass or Eco-Lawn? Eco-Lawn is a mixture of grass seed and broadleaf meadow type plant seed that creates a lawn that needs little or no fertilizer or water during the dry season Eco-Lawns are low maintenance and drought tolerant These types of lawns do require irrigation the first year to get established. After that, maintenance is minimal They are not intended to produce perfect green lawns.

33 Eco-Lawn Mixes Some plants you might find in eco mixes: Yarrow Clovers English Lawn Daisy Chamomile Baby Blue Eyes

34 Why Choose an Eco-Lawn? They are intended to provide an alternative for people who don t want to or can t maintain a conventional lawn They are for people who want to save money on their water bill and fertilizer bills while enjoying life more and mowing less If you have to have a perfect grass lawn, Eco-Lawns are not for you

35 Other Options Consider allowing your lawn to go dormant in the summer If you do choose to let your lawn go dormant in summer, don t start watering it mid summer and then stop again. This will damage grass plants Perennial rye grass lawns will need some moisture through the summer to keep from severely thinning out

36 More Options What if you designed your landscape to be lawn free?? Or greatly reduced the area of lawn in your landscape to just a small patch?? In Western Washington, low water use landscapes can be beautiful and lush with the added advantage of being low maintenance WaterWise Garden at the Bellevue Botanical Garden Photograph by Richard Hartlage

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