Month: September 2010

Dollar Spot Disease, Lawn Care

Posted on September 30, 2010 in Lawn Care Tips, Lawn Disease, Organic Lawn Care

Lawn Disease, The Dollar Spot.

Dollar spot disease is a kind of lawn disease that kills and infects different kinds of grasses. This disease grows in distinct and small circles around the size of a small pancake or a silver dollar. It is easy to take the dollar spots lightly because they do not look dangerous but they can cause serious damage to the lawn.

Dollar spot disease survives during winter in the plant parts in the soil and thatch and it begins to start again as the temperature gets to sixty degrees. Aside from temperature, other factors that cause the disease include low fertility of nitrogen, low moisture in soil when humidity is high, too much mowing during hot climate, and too much thatch. A quality program is needed to provide the lawn proper mixture of fertilizers in order to prevent dollar spot. In addition, your lawn should be mowed or watered regularly.

Identifying Dollar Spot Disease


You can identify dollar spot disease in your lawn in two ways. The first way is through the size and shape of the area that is damaged. Usually, individual spots are very distinct and circular in shape, which are only a few inches in diameter. Another sign of dollar spot disease is the appearance of lesions on grasses. The disease can cause bands in hourglass shape across the grass blade, which is light tan in color with a reddish-brown edge. It can kill the entire grass and your lawn needs reseeding or renovation to control the disease.

How Do I Prevent, Or Get Rid Of Dollar Spot?

It is necessary to saturate your soil regularly because grass diseases including the dollar spot occur in soil with low moisture. However, make sure to avoid watering frequently during the late afternoons or evening. Use proper mixture of fertilizers in correcting the nitrogen fertility during the times of the disease activity.

You can apply treatments such as fungicide in getting rid of dollar spot disease. However, fungicide is not required in residential lawns if the levels of nitrogen fertility are managed properly and other cultural stresses are lessened. Dollar spot disease has different degrees of fungicide tolerance and there are some strains of dollar spot that have become resistant to fungicide, so a particular fungicide may be effective to one disease but not to another. In addition, the use of fungicides can increase disease and insect problems in the future because they can affect the soil organisms such as microbes and earthworms, which help in the decomposition of thatch. In addition, earthworms and other soil organisms improve the health of the grass and help aerate the soil.

You need to have a balanced nitrogen fertility program to control the disease because dollar spot disease is known to be most severe on nitrogen-deficient soil. With a balanced nitrogen soil, the outbreak of the disease will be delayed in the spring and the severity of outbreaks will be reduced. In addition, the performance of fungicide will improve and the recovery of turf will be faster.

Proper scheduling of irrigation is necessary to control dollar spot disease. This is due to how fast the period of dew is relative to the infection extent, so the prolonged practice of irrigation will greatly contribute to the outbreaks of the disease.

read more at blaircountylawnservice.com/articles/disease

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Lawn Disease, They Destroy Lawns Everday. Learn how to Protect and how to Destroy them

Posted on September 29, 2010 in Lawn Care Tips, Lawn Disease, Organic Lawn Care

Lawn Disease, They Destroy Lawns Everday. Learn how to Protect and how to Destroy them.

There is perhaps no single act more authentically American than fostering a beautiful, green lawn. There are magazines, books and even television shows dedicated to keeping your lawn green and healthy for as long as the seasons allow, but sometimes, unsightly yellow spots and dead areas can crop up out of nowhere. Most common lawn diseases are caused by fungus, but identifying and treating the particular disease that is turning your grass yellow is sometimes easier said than done. If you are serious about keeping your lawn in tip top shape, make sure you keep a lawn diary that charts the type of grass seed you are using, when you water, what fertilizer you choose to use and how often you water.

Lawns are never perfect. Even the greatest lawns have some problems owners have to address. Weakened, thinned, and discolored turf are often signs of a possible lawn disease. It is important to be diligent in identifying the possible cause to be able to apply the right solution. Disease can be caused by anything from nutritional deficiencies, drought, bacteria, fungi, or viruses.
There are three major factors that cause Lawn Disease

Vulnerable Plants
Appropriate Conditions
Pathogens
It is much easier to take preventative measures related to these three conditions rather than to heal an infected lawn. While you can’t do much to prevent your lawn from having pathogens, you can influence the conditions and vulnerability of your grass. Proper lawn care is the best thing you can do as a lawn owner to prevent disease. You can apply the right amount of fertilizer and water, while keeping the soil loose and aerated. You can also make sure to mow properly and encourage good drainage.

By far, the most popular and common lawn diseases are melting out and leaf spot. Both of these conditions are caused by common grass funguses, but there is a chance you may be enabling this condition without even knowing it. Leaf spot appears on individual blades of grass as purple or brown spots that begin to take over large swathes of your lawn over a period of weeks. If your grass is growing too thickly in spots or if you are using too much nitrogen in your fertilizer, you can accidently help to bring on this condition in your lawn. You can also enable this condition by mowing too closely and by not allowing enough sunshine to get to your grass. If you can aerate lawn a couple times a year, it can help prevent disease by developing healthier soil. Check to see what sort of proper fertilization schedule your particular kind of grass needs and make sure you are watering on a proper schedule and you will likely see an improvement in your lawn right away.

Necrotic ring spot is another common lawn destroyer that you may encounter. This condition is sometimes known as frog eye syndrome because of the ugly pattern of dead and infected grass it leaves behind. You may also notice a depressed area in the middle of an otherwise healthy lawn. This condition is most common during the beginning of your growing season and again at the end and is found on lawns that need a lot of help growing or on ones that are treated frequently, such as golf courses. You’ll notice a reddish hue in the infected areas that stand out against the healthy green of the grass around it. Change your watering schedule, fertilizer usage and consider enlisting the help of fungicides to beat necrotic ring spot.

If you have a lawn that is especially shady, you may have the same problem that a poorly ventilated bathroom might have: mildew. Powdery Mildew leaves a white residue on the blades of grass that can seriously inhibit natural growth. In serious instances, the powdery mildew can get so bad that it eventually yellows the blades and kills off an entire section of your lawn. Try and trim away hedges, bushes and trees that are killing off access to sunlight in infected areas and consider replacing the variety of grass you’ve chosen for that area with one far less susceptible to mildew.

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Leaf Removal

Posted on September 29, 2010 in Equipment Tips, Lawn Care Tips

Leaf Removal
Leaf Mulching
Leaf Mulching is one of the more organic methods of leaf removal. And, it is very lawn friendly.

If you have a push mower, it is more than likely that it is already mulch-capable. Most of the time, there is a plastic shoot where grass exits the push mowers deck. You should be able to remove the plastic shoot, and block the hole in the mowers deck. Most newer lawn mowers come with a mulching blade as well. If not, one can easily be picked up for around the price of $20.00.

If you have a riding lawn mower, attachments can be purchased (for most) to block the hole in the mowers deck. Mulching blades can also be purchased for a price in the area of $40.00. The prices and attachments vary by mower type, but most of the time the attachment is a small plastic cover with gumby straps that hold it to the deck. It simply fits of the exit hole on the mowers deck, blocking anything from escaping and in return mulching it.

So why should you mulch?

Well there is a few good reasons. The first, it is a lot easier than manually raking your leafs with a leaf rake. Depending on your yard size, leaf raking can be a long, pretty intense task. And with the technology available in this day and age, it is not a “must do” task.

The second, mulching leafs and returning them back to the soil is an excellent organic lawn care method. It return rich nutrients and iron to your lawn that grass strives on. By returning these nutrients back to the soil, you will notice a thicker, greener, all around healthier outcome within your grass.

The third is the cost factor. Tools like leaf blowers and vacuums can get very expensive. With some leaf blowers costing $300-$500 and up, and some vacuums costing $300-$1000 dollars you can easily see why mulching is extremely less expensive. You should replace blades every season depending on the use involved. So at the worst conditions, and the cheapest leaf removal tool it would take almost 8 years of purchasing mulching blades before you would reach the cost of a low-end leaf vacuum! Leaf Blowing
Leaf blowers are a very effective, but also very expensive method of leaf removal depending on the size of your yard. Small leaf blowers can run $140 to $300 dollars. While they are good for small leaf removal projects, sidewalks, and driveways, people with larger, tree filled yards will quickly become disappointed with the limitations on the smaller blowers.

For larger, leafier yards, I personally recommend the BR600 from Stihl. While there are more powerful models available, the BR600 packs a punch and is able to move large piles of leafs, wet or dry. It also moves snow with little problem.

Depending on if you live in a city, and what city that is, normally there are scheduled leaf pickup services. By blowing your leaves to the curb side or street side, large city trucks with vacuum hoses will come and remove you leaf piles as long as they are in an acceptable area. The city than compost or mulches the leafs for recycled use at a later time. And normally this is done free of charge! Leaf Vacuuming.. Compressing
Leaf vacuuming also provides a method of mulching or compressing your leaves.

My favorite leaf vacuum is the stihl hand held model. It is light weight and compresses leafs at a 14:1 bag ratio. The bag straps onto your back and has an easy unzip and dump feature. They run around $300 but are worth the money if you need to go this route. I normally use the BR600 to blow the leafs into a pile and then use the leaf vacuum to mulch and compress the pile. The mulched leaves can then be used for a compost or a cheap-organic fertalizer where needed.

Another type of leaf vacuum is the walk behind model. Troy-Bilt and Craftsman make notable versions of these. They basically look like a push mower, except they have a vacuum attached to the front and a fairly large bag attached to the back. They do what they are supposed to, however I am not a giant fan of these models. I would rather purchase the mulching attachment for a push or riding lawn mower and mulch the leafs. These pieces of equipment can run in the area of $500 depending on versions.

The other type of leaf vacuum is the riding mower attachment. It is the same principle as the push mower version, except for use with a riding lawn mower. I am not a giant fan of these models either and they are more for professional use. They are also very pricey, $600+.

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Zero Turn Lawn Mowers

Posted on September 29, 2010 in Equipment Tips

Zero Turn Mowers – Now Thats a Lawn Mower
The volume of zero turn lawn mower sales has been growing over the last few years while the number of conventional riding lawn mowers has been declining. In fact, the demand for zero turn lawn mowers has increased so dramatically that some companies no longer even make the conventional riding models. When comparing rear-engine riding lawn mowers, conventional and zero turn are the two types. While the older conventional rider models are relatively agile and nimble, they do have some disadvantages, particularly in turn radius. Depending on the model, a conventional rider will actually use as much as 28 inches and as little as 4 inches to make a 180 degree turn. Mathematically this is wasted movement that cannot be avoided in a conventional rider, at the end of each directional cut.

In comparison, a zero turn lawn mower does exactly as its name implies. It turns with no wasted movement or surface area coverage. A zero turn lawn mower actually turns around within its own track so that no movement is wasted at all. Not only that, but many zero turn lawn mowers also operate and travel at nearly twice the speed of a conventional rider lawn mower. The Main Primary Different Between Zero Turns and Convential Riders
One of the primary operational differences between these two lawn mowers is in how the steering system is designed. Conventional lawn mowers have a steering system where the wheel is placed in a position which enables the front wheels to turn with the radius controlled by the physical design of the lawn mower. Meanwhile, zero turn lawn mowers actually have two steering grips which independently control each of the two rear wheels. If the controller moves one of the grips forward while simultaneously putting the other one in a reverse position, the entire zero turn mower will make a complete rotation in one single spot.

The Cost Factor..

As convenient as it is to have a zero turn lawn mower, another factor that many people consider when choosing which rider to purchase is the cost of each lawn mower. There is a considerable difference between the two different types. A conventional riding lawn mower will range in price between $1,600 and $3,000, while a zero turn lawn mower will range in price between $2,600 and as high as $7,200. Many people would argue that that’s a substantial amount of money to spend on a machine that runs only one hour every week. Obviously there is another factor that buyers take into consideration when choosing which lawn mower to purchase – the fun factor. Up to 8 MPH…
Zero turn mowers are arguably much more fun to drive and operate than conventional models. They nimbly move and cut around trees and other lawn obstacles. Driving a zero turn lawn mower has been compared to driving a bumper car, except without crashing into other bumper cars. Also, like anything that is driven, speed is a factor that everyone takes into consideration. Conventional lawn mowers only move at about 4 miles per hour, while there are some zero turn lawn mowers that go nearly double that speed. Although people continue to buy conventional riding lawn mowers, sales for them are declining every year. It appears as though pretty soon all anyone will want are zero turn lawn mowers.

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