Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jul 11, 2012 8:18 am Beatrix, you seem to be pretty knowledgeable in all things lawn etc. My Kikuyu was lush and green last week. Since we had two nights of frost last weekend its turning yellow and limp. I know you've said in the past that Kike will handle anything and will not go dormant during winter....i'm seeing otherwise. I alternate Gogo Juice, Seasol/Molasses/Powerfeed every few weeks. Should i hit it with something like Seamungus or do i just ride winter out? I don't like seeing my lawn in poor shape! I'm in the northern suburbs of Melbourne and the lawn was planted from seed just under 2 years ago. Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 2Jul 11, 2012 9:13 am Yes those were a couple of nasty frosts we had over the weekend some of the coldest in many years. Your kikuyu has gone yellow because the leaves have been damaged/burned by the frosts. Because july is the slowest growth period of the year it will take a few weeks for the kikuyu to recover a more green colour. Its normal reaction to sub zero temps, the fact that the kikuyu will actually recover from this in winter sets it apart from the other grasses. Couch would be brown as hay after those frosts. So pls dont be concerned, all warm season grasses go a bit yellow this time of year. Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 3Jul 11, 2012 10:32 am Yeah, it was freezing! It got down to minus 2 to minus 3 where i am. I'll keep up the Gogo Juice, Seasol/Molasses/Powerfeed every few weeks during this cold period in that case... Thanks for the response! Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 4Jul 11, 2012 10:56 am Sounds like a good plan, just skip the Powerfeed, Gogo Juice and Molasses at this time of year in vic. These products require soil microbes to be active to make them work and the soil temps are to cold for microbial activity so you wont get much benefit when you apply them. You can still do it but its a bit of a waste of money. Seasol is absorbed directly into plant tissue so you can still use it this time of year. Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 6Jul 12, 2012 11:51 am I planted Emerald Kikuyu from seed at the start of this year and mine is still looking lush and green which I am very happy about. I followed Fu's soil prep and couldn't be more impressed with the way the Kik has handled our very cold Melbourne winter including the frost. That was one of the reasons I chose Kikuyu over other lawn varieties because it stays green in winter compared to the Buffalos, Couches etc which brown off. Hopefully yours recovers quickly Krilnik and gets back to green as it starts warming up. Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 7Jul 12, 2012 11:58 am Radiuz, i too planted Emerald Kikuyu in various sections of my front and rear yard at the start of the year. Awesome grass. Can't wait for it to start spreading further during Spring. Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 8Jul 13, 2012 9:29 am radiuz I planted Emerald Kikuyu from seed at the start of this year and mine is still looking lush and green which I am very happy about. Are you sure it's even kikuyu you are looking at? Kikuyu from seeds takes a fair while to become a lawn, at least a full season from early spring to mid autum. Kikuyu will yellow in winter if it's cold enough, not that it matters it will bounce back quick as soon as the warm weather starts. Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 9Jul 13, 2012 8:42 pm Jetson, yes the kikuyu has definitely shot through. It was planted early January this year during the peak of our warm weather. while there is also still some rye grass blades the whole lawn is lush and green even after the frosts we've had in Melbourne. One happy kik owner... Even the neighbours can't believe how green my lawn is. Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 10Jul 15, 2012 8:22 pm jetson radiuz I planted Emerald Kikuyu from seed at the start of this year and mine is still looking lush and green which I am very happy about. Are you sure it's even kikuyu you are looking at? Kikuyu from seeds takes a fair while to become a lawn, at least a full season from early spring to mid autum. Kikuyu will yellow in winter if it's cold enough, not that it matters it will bounce back quick as soon as the warm weather starts. I agree. I planted mine in Sept last year and it wasnt until at least Feb/March that it started to look like a lawn. Now its just brown... but is to be expected the first winter... Will hit with seamungus/molasses etc once the weather warms up... At least i dont have to mow... Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 11Jul 31, 2012 12:25 am Apply zeolite to the lawn at 1kg m2. You'll buy it at Bun. (zeochlor) in the swimming pool isle. Every store in Aust has to stock it. Its about $20 15kg. Then apply some Bactivate http://bioasis.com.au Better still is http://www.maiaustralia.com.au/store/store.php?crn=205 A kilo would be enough for most lawn sizes. Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 12Jul 31, 2012 8:24 am Thanks Fu. I've been using Bactivate for some time now as per your advice in many posts around here and you've reminded me that i need more. Melbournians, apart from Diacos in Mornington - who else sells this stuff around town? Beatrix? Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 13Aug 02, 2012 12:50 pm It might not be frost so much as water in the soil. If you have a clay subsoil and there's a low part in your lawn, then with all the rain we've had you might have a perched water table. If so, the roots of the kikuyu are sitting in water and starved of oxygen, so it dies back. We have this issue on one small area of the grass, where it's lower than the rest and bordered by low brick garden edging. All the water runs to this point and the grass dies every winter, only to come back in Spring. This area will soon be the head of the swale that goes down the side of our house via some frog ponds, but in the meantime it is sodden. If this is an issue for you, then you need to get some drainage in there if you want to rectify it. Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 14Aug 02, 2012 2:41 pm Krilnik Thanks Fu. I've been using Bactivate for some time now as per your advice in many posts around here and you've reminded me that i need more. Melbournians, apart from Diacos in Mornington - who else sells this stuff around town? Beatrix? Hi Krilnik, Nah sorry I don't use Bactivate or similar products. I have to say, with all due respect to Fu, i don't see the point of using said products on Kikuyu. Kik isn't a fussy turf grass that needs any pampering whatsoever. Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 15Aug 03, 2012 2:55 pm BK is right - if you live anywhere around Melbourne, stopping it from growing is usually the problem! Besides, GoGo Juice (http://www.neutrog.com.au/liquid-pro-biotic/) is easier to find (Bunnings have stocked it for a couple of years) and better value for money. Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 16Aug 05, 2012 7:48 pm Exactly Kerry, mid/late winter and the kikuyu is rampant in the parks around the yarra in melb. I wouldnt give kik anything, let it eat/feed itself Makes a great turf around here, no inputs other than maintainence. Re: Att BeatrixKiddo - lawn health during winter 17Aug 05, 2012 9:49 pm Yeah, as per my initial post my kikuyu went yellow during the frosts we recently experienced in Melbourne. It's already bounced back. Two weeks later and it's back to normal. My neighbors couch is still yellow. Amazing. I remember at the end of last summer during the two weeks of 30-35 degree temps it went yellow. I went away for two weeks smack bang in the middle of that hot spell and wasn't home to water to lawn. Came back to a very dry and dead looking lawn. Apart from that, it's green and lush for the other 11 months of the year. As well as seasol/powerfeed/molasses/gogo juice i also give it a little fertiliser every now and then. Just chuck a little bit over it every so often. I alternate between organic and synthetic. I must say, Scotts Lawn Builder made my kikuyu go absolutely nuts. It made made the actual leaf blade so thick and strong...its been like that ever since. I've even found plenty of white curl grub in my soil. Didn't affect the lawn at all. i would suggest nothing is unreasonable for PCI. we did all sorts, including checking the hot water, checking all the GPO's had power, testing that the showers were… 9 98695 Just to makea point about this, an approach that some people have found sucessful in negotiating these rises down, Is to provide some workings to the builder, specifying… 4 81729 The only thing to add to these comments is that where possible it's always good to try and work with people than just say "no" because you can. Having someone… 4 17151 |