5 reasons your lawn looks bad!

  1. Insects When I used to treat lawns, I remember getting notes to go and evaluate some lawns when I was out and about. I would show up and the owner would come out and we’d start talking about all of the bugs that they thought they had in their grass. I would take one look and since I’d seen virtually every bug and lawn disease to that point I would hold their shoulder and say to them… I’m sorry it may be too late! They would say …Please help! I would say,…I‘ll help but please get the bugs out of your head. Destructive Lawn insects (in my humble opinion) are usually the least likely to do any damage to lawns. Now, I’m not saying Sod Webworms, Chinchbugs, Grubs, and other bugs don’t do any damage, but they are usually way down on the list. I will usually start with the next few items below before I go with Insects.
  2. Disease Diseases in lawns are much more common than insects are (again in my humble opinion). Disease can range from something very common like Snow Mold that develops right after the snow has gone away in the spring; to Fairy Rings, which are not common at all and usually develop from a rare fungus. Diseases can usually be prevented, but they can also be cured (for the most part) with consistent and diligent effort.
  3. Water...is the lifeblood of lawns and if they are getting enough and at the right time, lawns can usually withstand a wide range of environmental factors. Water is probably the most important part of the lawn care cycle that is usually overlooked by the average homeowner, and it impacts their lawn quite a bit.
  4. Fertilizer Putting the right kind of fertilizer down will help your lawn and bring it to lawn care Nirvana! Putting down the wrong kind of fertilizer or the right kind at the wrong time will probably either “burn” your lawn or it will not do anything to get it going. This is a pretty simple concept, but one that has kept lots of lawns from getting to that next level.
  5. YOU! This is by far the most common reason lawns fail. Most people will start to take care of their lawns in the spring and once the summer starts, they will continue to do what they were doing in the spring and expect the same results; or stop all together! Since they are not paying attention, not evaluating, they will start to see their lawn start to take a wrong turn. They then continue to do the wrong things and it just gets worse. Can you say the words vicious circle? I would say that as long as you can keep your eyes open and ask questions from a knowledgeable person, then you should be able to get and keep a nice thick, lush lawn!
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19. February 2011 by Robert
Categories: Lawn Basics | 1 comment

One Comment

  1. Tyson F. Gautreaux says February 28, 2011 at 9:53 am

    Ah that really helped, thanks I’ve been stuck on this for ages!