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Hi all,
So we bought our house in march this year. When we looked at it the lawn was pretty good and mostly green. By the time settlement came around they obviously hadnt watered it for 8 weeks and it was very brown! We then had issues with retic and it was winter so not too much effort put into it. Finally have got the retic fixed and started watering it. However... i'm not sure if too much damage has been done. It is horrible lawn anyway, a mix of all different varieties and weeds! We are planning on replacing it but not for awhile, so would like something more than dead lawn and sand over summer. It looks very dead (yellow and dry ++) and sparse in areas (puppy doesnt help!). Th only bits that look green are right next to the sprinkler heads (and I think that is buffalo). I have wetta soiled it, but will I be able to revive it with some fertiliser/lawn food or is it too far gone?
Thanks for any advice
Avoid fertiliser. You don't make sick people do physical things, so avoid the mistake of feeding sick lawns.
A photo will be good and a location too.
Wetting agents are varied for effectiveness. Then method of application has an effect on the further success of the product.
Get quality sprinkler heads on the pop ups. The cheap ones will waste an enormous amount of water and that is expensive.
How big is the lawn?
Hi Fu,
Thanks for your reply. Front lawn is approx 30-40sqm, back is similar, maybe a bit bigger. We are in Perth. Now able to retic twice a week. I used 'ball' wetta soil (not actual wetta soil brand) the ones which you sprinkle on the lawn and then water in.
Will try and post a photo later from home.
OK this gets easier.
Get "Seamungus crumble" in a green bucket and apply over both areas.
Then
Wetting agent of choice, "Saturaid". The best of them all hands down.
wet the soil first, then apply it. Then hose it in. Retic or rain are not sufficient enough to get them working properly. If you apply it to dry soil you will still get patches.
Top dress with 1 cube of cert organic compost from either thegreenlifesoilcompany.com.au or gardenersdirect.com.au Spread 1/2 over each lawn
Forget the weeds. Deal with them later. Get the lawn going stronger first. You won't need a new lawn and a bit everything lawns can be some of the best.
Then get molasses diluted in water. (see the molasses thread for details
)
When the lawn comes good, then we take care of the weeds. Doing it the otherway round won't be too effective in comparison.
Then use "Shades of Green" on it in a month or two time
No new lawn needed
Oh and break your watering times up into 3 3 min cycles rather than 1 ten min cycle to deliver the 10mm required. Shorter waterings will mean more effective use of the water. Far less run off and 9 mins total will deliver around 9mm and get better effect than 10mm delivered in a 10 min watering
Look to retro fit you popups with MP rotators available from every retic shop in WA
Longer watering needed but again more of the water will end up in the soil, not the air.
Thanks so much Fu. More info than I ever expected!! Will give it a start tomorrow. What is the best thing to do with the bare patches?
As mentioned, heavier covering of "certified" organic compost, and cut out some plugs of the good stuff from the better areas and plant them in the bare spots
Molasses and away you go. Make the plugs you cut about the size of a tennis ball.
When it does get going, use "shades of green" on it assuming you are here in the West.
Oh and go heavier with "Saturaid" in the bare spots.
MP rotators will replace the regular heads on your pop ups. Just unscrew the heads and screw on the MP's easy
They will pay you back in savings 10 fold
Available from The Water Shed, Total Eden etc
Watering times will need to be longer as they apply the water very slowly to the lawn
Fu,
you mentioned in a few posts the benefits of shorter watering, ie 3x3 mins rather than one ten minutes.
Could the shorter watering be applied to plants too ? ( Confused because it is always mentioned that we should give our plants a good soak rather than a light spinkle ?)
thanks
Yes this applys to anyplant because it is all about applying water slowly to any soil. If there happens to be plant in that soil, then it will benefit. I have posted details on this in a few threads. Most commonly used sprinkler heads are going to apply water at rates far in excess of the absorption rate if the soil.
Hand watering is the most inefficient means of watering. Bet that goes against what you thought. True though. Cities save water with hand watering restrictions because the percentage of people who actually do it is very small. If we all handwatered the dams would be empty in no time
it's based on people being lazy. If you rely on handwatering your water bill will be higher than what good irrigation will cost.
Deep watering is not only an ineffective outdated method it wastes an enormous volume of water.
Just use straw or tree Lopper mulch and break your watering up into shorter bursts and you get greater efficiency from any water emitting device.
You'll do more with less
Will be trying out the new ToroPrecision Series Nozzles soon
They kind of are a blend of MP rotator meet wobbler technology
Can be retro fitted to any pop up or shrub head nozzle
a little cheaper than MP's
http://www.toro.com.au/irrigation/catal ... fm?prd=655http://www.toro.com.au/irrigation/view_doc.cfm?doc=512
Does the breaking up into cycles still apply if you have MP rotators with their much slower watering rate? And how much slower are they expected to be? Parts of my lawn seem to need 40min to get 10mm of water
I also have large crispy dying patches despite application of seasol, powerfeed, and I used the riversafe soil wetter a couple of months ago (probably a bit too sparsely) and saturaid last week.
have to get the fruit jar lids out again and check it actually is getting its drinkies.
Quick not - I lost 3/4 of my newly laid sir walter last summer... retic broke and the housesitter 'didn't notice'.
12 months later and it is lush and thick again, well almost.
I used a lawn water retaining thing (very technical - I think it was a fertiliser too, not sure it just had a picture of green lawn on the front
),got it mowed every 3 weeks in winter, and I sectioned it off. Mainly to keep the the crazy border collie off it.
I water in the morning 2 days a week, 8 mins.
Sheznay, the sorts of gymicky products can be associated with the reason your lawn has done what it has done. Or more to the point it has taken so long to recover.
Most of my 6000 posts outline some really basic methods using natural things and the results can be amazing.
I work very hard to try guide you guys in the right direction.
Many times a week I get things from clients like "I've done all the right things, I've fertilised, I used lawn beetle killer, I have used water crystals, I used lawn starter, I used lawn mix, I used cheap wetting agents" etc and it really is no surprise at all that lawns go to pot and folks give up and get plastic grass. The advice the industry is full of is out dated and most of the products set you up not for wonderful lawns but problematic lawns that cost lots of money. The industry is on a path way to destroy itself if it doesn't change.
It frustrates all hell out of me and I can't imagine the confusion you guys must face!
You don't stand a chance really without Homeone and the sorts of great people I associate with
Fu - RE: 3x 3min cycles, what duration would you suggest between them for us perthians for our 2 watering days?
It will depend on how many stations you have. most homes have 6-8 stations so what ever it takes to cycle through.
Lets say you have 6 stations/zones (what ever you want to call them
) Have a start time of say 4am for 3mins per station. Then set the next start time 30mins later at 4.30am. All the stations cycle through for 3mins and then the last start time at 5am start with 3mins per station.
Then there is 30mins in between watering and that also allows for the use of the seasonal adjust function to be used to the maximum of 150% of the set programme when the heat arrives in Feb March
If you have an 8 station set up make it 40mins between cycles/start times.
If you have a 4 station set up make it 25 mins between cycles/start times.
The really good controllers allow even more start times and you can have say 8 or 9 start times and use a 1min watering each cycle with 15-20mins between cycles/start times.
Get an Irritrol or Toro wireless rain sensor fitted up too.
Avoid watering on low evaporation days like today (They don't happen very often here)
Hit the lawn up with Molasses, "Seamungus Crumble" in the green bucket and "Saturaid" and hand water them in well
For West Coast readers, Start using "Munns wetalawn and garden" fairly regularly, its different to what saturaid does. Over a long time it will make wetting agents unessential
I also recommend "Shades of Green" for West Coast readers
Have search for my how too on installing a rain sensor.
Have search for my how too on installing a rain sensor.
Already got one on there, system included with the front landscaping was pretty decent for a 6 Station.
Back is doing well, just the bits that had started to decompose when laying havent come back, going to rake to encourge some runners.
Front is the pain, we face west and it gets full sun all day. Been hitting it with Seamungus Green, Shades of Green, PowerFeed, Seasol and Mollases (use it in a Seasol type container watered down, so easy!) going to take a while to get it back to a decent condition, that last week of sprinkler ban hit it hard
If you can retro fit the popups with mp rotators or the new toro precision heads. A top dress of Gardeners direct compost will do wonders.
Hi Fu Manchu
Just re-starting this post as I am hoping it will be the answer to my lawn problems. We recently move to south west WA from the east. Our lawn was looking fantastic over winter and spring, then all of a sudden patches started dying. Originally I thought it was just a spot where my MIL had spilled a bag of blood and bone and so left it for too long. Anyway, then found out about this pesky lawn beetle that is over here - followed local advice and sprayed (twice over two weeks). Seemed to be ok for a bit, but now have part of the lawn dying again. It is a mixed lawn. The areas of couch are looking great but the areas of the other grass (not sure, but fine grass, not running variety) are dying. I haven't noticed any beetles but couldn't the grubs be back?
We have retic from our home bore (good quality, low salinity). So the lawn gets plenty of water (but will get new heads as you suggest).
My question is do I just follow your instructions to the first poster - the crumble mix, then wetting agent, molasses etc? Or is there anything else I need to do about the beetle first. It sounds like spraying for the beetle is a bad idea. We have birds and a outdoor pond as well, so I really prefer not to spray toxic stuff.
Cheers
edit: forgot to mention that it looks like there have been an explosion of ants in our front lawn. Are these going to cause strife?