Lawn care, native lawns

Lawns

Whew- I got a little ambitious here. This is a long article.

Spring is a good time to learn about lawn care and April is National Lawn and Garden month.  Not every gardener in the US can grow a lawn, or should be growing a lawn, but there are thousands if not millions of people here that do want a lawn, or at least something approximating a lawn.  There are various sorts of lawns and the type of gardener you are will probably determine what type of lawn appeals to you.

There’s the carpet like, one species lawn that’s kept precisely mowed and looks like a plush carpet.  The person who likes this type of lawn generally doesn’t do much other gardening because the lawn work takes all of his/her time.  There’s the medium upkeep lawn, the gardener allows a few species of low growing plants but tries to keep out obnoxious weeds and maybe does some moderate fertilization and /or watering and keeps the lawn neatly trimmed.  Then there’s the “I don’t care” about lawns gardener who just allows anything to grow and sometimes mows it short. 

And recently another sort of “lawn” has become popular, the native species of grass lawn, which generally uses clumping, low growing grasses that aren’t watered or mowed.  There’s also lawn alternatives, which involve ground covers like sedum, moss, or no lawn, just flower or even vegetable beds or even various types of mulch in place of a lawn.

Should you have a lawn?  There are both benefits and disadvantages to lawns.  Keeping a lawn, an area of short vegetation around the home, helps with fire suppression, tick and mosquito control, cools the air and absorbs water coming off the roof and hard surfaces.  Lawns help delineate flower beds, a nice lawn around a flower bed is attractive.  Lawns can provide recreational space and outdoor living areas.

On the other hand, lawns are often a monoculture of a non-native grass species which has little value to wildlife, especially if it is a heavily pesticide treated and fertilized space.  Homeowners using fertilizers and pesticides on lawns contribute more pollution to the environment than farmers.  Lawns require fume belching mowers and trimmers and contribute to high ozone levels. If you want that carpet like lawn it takes a lot of time and work.

In this article I am going to assume you want a nice lawn that’s also environmentally friendly.  That’s the goal, not producing a lawn that looks like golf greens.  I’ll give several ways to achieve that goal.

Conditions that make a lawn appropriate

I have had many people ask me why they can’t grow grass under their pine trees, or maple trees.  There are two reasons, the most likely is that there is too much shade.  Even “shady” grass seed mixes need some sunlight, partial sun or dappled shade.  Grass that does manage to grow in a shadier location won’t handle foot traffic well and is more prone to disease and insects.

If your yard is very shady don’t expect to grow good grass.  You can thin out trees or remove them to let in more light in some cases. If you can’t provide more light you need to grow a lawn alternative such as a ground cover.

Sometimes competition with tree roots causes lawns to grow poorly also.  These roots may develop at the soil surface or close to it.  It can make mowing difficult too. Mulching areas with bulging roots is the best way to deal with this problem.  Plant your grass further away from the trees, where roots aren’t so close to the soil surface.

Compacted soil and low fertility soil are also poor grass producers. Compacted soil may be caused by foot traffic “beating a path” or heavy machinery as when a new home is constructed.  Poor fertility may be the result of subsoil being placed around a home or it may be the natural soil in the area has been depleted of nutrients. Poor soil fertility and compacted soil often grow moss instead of grass.

If you are having trouble growing grass have your soil tested and correct any nutrient deficiencies.  If you are going to be establishing a lawn after new construction, it’s vital to have the soil tested.  A contractor may drop a few inches of topsoil around the home, but because it looks dark doesn’t mean it’s going to grow good grass. Most grass can use some nitrogen fertilizer a few times a year but don’t assume it needs other nutrients until you get a soil test.  Over fertilization is the cause of a lot of environmental pollution.

Improving compacted soil is a bit more difficult.  First you must restrict foot or machine traffic over the area.  Do not just dump more soil on top of the compacted soil.  That compacted layer underneath is going to impede water flow and restrict root growth.  Instead this is one time when some rototilling may be helpful.  Loosen the soil to a depth of 8 inches at least and then spread a couple of inches of compost or topsoil and mix them into the existing soil.

After a good healthy lawn is established it can take some foot traffic without problems.  However, if the foot traffic is excessive or things like cars are being parked on it on a regular basis it’s time to forget grass and pave or mulch the area.

Grass will also not grow where it’s very hot and dry, unless irrigation is used.  Irrigation is being restricted in more and more places. If your environment is hot and dry and you can’t irrigate consider a lawn alternative.

To sum it up grass grows best in full sun, in loose fertile soil, and where it gets at least moderate regular moisture.

Varieties of grass

Before I go into what grass varieties to choose I’ll discuss grass biology a bit.  Grasses are monocots, they don’t have terminal buds and can repeatedly grow after the grass leaf blade is cut. Grasses have fibrous root systems which can grow amazingly deep in loose soil- up to 12 inches down.  Root development takes place primarily in very early spring and early fall.  The plant devotes energy to leaf and stem growth in late spring and summer.

Grass plants have narrow leaves that generally wrap around the stem at their base. Grass stems have swollen nodes along them where new leaves can develop.  Grass species can be tricky to identify, especially since we cut them before they flower and go to seed. Since there are only a few species that make good lawns gardeners that are interested can learn to identify them by using a key. I’ve provided a couple of links to turf grass identification below.

http://turfid.ncsu.edu/ItemID.aspx?orderID=GR&orderDesc=Grass

http://plantscience.psu.edu/research/centers/turf/extension/factsheets/cool-season-turfgrasses-id

After being seeded the best lawn grasses spread by stolons above ground creeping stems, and/or with rhizomes, underground creeping stems.  Some grasses also reproduce by tillers, which are “daughter” plants that appear right next to the original plants crown.  Lawn grasses make seed of course, but in lawns we rarely let them get tall enough to produce seed.  Lawn grass seed is produced in the northwest in huge fields.

Kentucky Bluegrass, (Poa pratensis), despite the name is not a native grass, it’s native to northern Asia and Europe.  It is however the number one species of grass grown for lawns in the US and there are many varieties/cultivars produced. Some of these have better disease resistance or color or tolerate shade better. This is the best grass species for planting sunny lawns in zones 3-8.  The better lawn seed mixes will mention specific cultivar names of Kentucky bluegrass, such as ‘Touchdown’.  Less expensive grass seed mixes will simply list Kentucky Bluegrass.  A blend of several cultivars of bluegrass is desirable. 

You may occasionally see rough bluegrass listed on seed packages.  This is not a desirable grass except for wet shaded sites.  It is light green.  If you have conditions where this grass may be helpful you may have to get it from a specialty supplier.

Perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L. ssp. perenne) is the next most appropriate grass for lawns. It grows rapidly and tolerates soils that are less fertile than needed for bluegrass. It is somewhat coarser in looks than bluegrass but there are now many improved varieties. Its often included in lawn seed mixtures and it’s a good choice where erosion may be a problem.

Annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), is often included in cheaper grass seed mixes because it germinates quickly and provides that green look faster.  It may also be called Italian rye grass. It only lives one year so it’s not a good grass on its own.  Don’t buy mixes with more than 5 % annual rye.

Tall fescue is an up and coming grass species for good lawns with many improved cultivars. It can take a lot of traffic and tolerates dry areas better than bluegrass. It’s still not as uniform and nice looking as bluegrass. Mixes for regular lawn use shouldn’t contain more than 15 % tall fescue. Higher percentages can be used for play areas and things like ball fields.

Fine leafed fescues are often used in shady lawn seed mixtures since they tolerate dry shade well. They won’t grow in wet areas or dense shade though.  They like less fertilization than other grasses, too much fertilizer causes thinning. They are also more prone to leaf diseases than other grasses.

Bentgrass is very fine textured grass commonly used on golf courses.  It’s not recommended for homeowners because it requires a lot of work, fertilizer and pesticides to keep it looking nice. It does not mix well with Kentucky bluegrass, avoid any mixtures of the two grasses.

Zoysia grass is a warm weather grass that may be suitable for gardeners in zones 8 and higher.  In colder zones it turns brown at the first frost and doesn’t green up until late spring, when its quite warm.  It’s planted as small plants, called plugs.  Gardeners in zones lower than 8 should not plant it, despite all the deceptive advertising this grass gets.

White clover used to be added to grass seed many, many years ago and then it fell out of favor because it attracted bees. Well times change. That’s the very reason some people are now opting to buy mixtures with white clover, because they attract and help pollinators. Clover can use nitrogen from the air and is good in low fertility areas.  Clover in lawns doesn’t make for the dense uniform look some people like in a lawn, but for those who want an environmentally friendly lawn add some white clover.

Seeding a lawn

Cool times of the year are best to establish a new lawn from seed. Spring is usually chosen because it is wetter in many areas than fall.  However mid fall, after temps have cooled is also a good time for seeding lawns.

You may want to seed after new construction of a home, or because your old lawn is a hopeless mess. To get a good lawn established remove any old sod and put it in the compost pile.  Sod is removed by slicing under the roots and peeling it off.  You can rent a tool that will make sod removal easier.  If the ground was nearly bare you can skip the removal and just turn any vegetation into the soil.  You may have to dig out deeply rooted weeds.

If you are not averse to chemical help glyphosate (Round Up) is a quick and less labor-intensive way to remove old sod and weeds. Use it when the grass and weeds are actively growing, follow label directions.  If weeds are blooming cut the lawn very short before applying the glyphosate so pollinators won’t be feeding on treated areas.  Usually the wait time before you can then work the soil and plant is about two weeks. Check the label.

Patching- You may just have a few bad spots in the lawn and these can be patched with seed.  Small patch kits are sold that have a mulch and seed combination and these can work well.  Otherwise just follow the directions for re-seeding below on a smaller scale.

Roto-till, plow, or spade up the lawn area after removing the old sod. If the soil is poor, incorporate lots of compost into the soil. Do not just add a couple of inches of topsoil on top of poor soil; work it into the existing soil.  Topsoil varies tremendously as to quality and fertility and color is no indication of good topsoil.  Compost is the better choice.  Before seeding try to get a soil test done.  You can more easily correct a nutrient deficiency or the pH before seeding.  Soil pH for grass is ideally 6.5 to 7.5.

Choose your grass seed carefully.  A bluegrass mixture is recommended for most sunny zone 3-8 lawns.  Grass seed labels tell you the percentage of each type of grass.  The mixture should contain less than 10% annual ryegrass and /or perennial rye grass or other seed.  It should be mostly varieties of bluegrass.  If your area is shady look for shade grass mixes.  These will have grasses like fine fescue along with shade tolerant bluegrasses.

Smooth the lawn surface and rake out lumps and rocks.  Fill holes and hollows.  Now scatter the lawn seed evenly over the prepared ground.  Rolling the seeded surface with a lawn roller half filled with water gets seed in contact with the soil.  You can rent lawn rollers.  Don’t worry about covering the grass seed with soil.

New seed seems to do better if covered lightly with mulch.  Straw, preferably chopped, is the cheapest option for large areas.  Bags of green fluffy mulch material are often sold in garden stores for smaller areas.  After mulch is applied water carefully, making sure not to wash the seed off or into clumps. 

If it turns dry and hot where you are, newly seeded areas need to be watered at least once a day.  Don’t let newly planted seed beds dry out for the best germination.  If the soil does not feel cool and moist it needs to be watered.

Hydro-seeding is done by a company that applies a slurry of grass seed, mulch and water.  Homeowners could do all of the prep work to save money and then hire a company to hydroseed.  Make sure you check to see what seed mixture the company uses.

Overseeding is sometimes done in an effort to improve a thin lawn. In this case grass seed is simply sown over existing grass.  It helps to loosen the soil on bare areas and to remove thatch by raking the lawn before overseeding.  Thatch is a build up of dead grass leaves and stems near the base of grass plants.

Sodding a lawn is rolling out strips of already growing grass.  It can be very expensive or just slightly more expensive then seeding depending on how close you are to sod farms.  Homeowners can do sodding if they have a way to get it delivered.  Most sod is Kentucky bluegrass. 

The prep for sod is the same as for seeding.  You slightly overlap each roll of sod as you roll it out. It is usually lightly rolled after laying to get it in contact with the soil.  It must be watered every day for a while unless it rains, or the soil is very wet.  Keep traffic off it for a few weeks.  Don’t mow it until its 4 inches high, then only take it down to 3 inches.

Lawn fertilization

All lawns can benefit from some nitrogen in the spring.  Whether you need other nutrients should be determined by a soil test.  Michigan and some other states have banned the use of phosphorus in fertilizer unless you have a soil test that shows you need it.  Most fertilizers on the store shelves in these states will not contain phosphorus, so you will need it buy it separately, probably at a farm supply store.   Fortunately, few home lawns will need it.   

Suggested fertilization of home lawns for a minimum care lawn is twice a year, once just as the grass gets growing well in spring and once again in early fall for good root development.  For more intense lawn care fertilize in early spring, (April to mid- May, early summer (mid-June) and early fall -(September). MSU recommends 3 lbs. of nitrogen per 1000 sq. feet.  Slow release fertilizers are less likely to burn lawns and less likely to leach out or wash off to pollute the environment.

Apply fertilizer according to the label directions and be careful not to use too much or spill it on the lawn or you will burn the grass.  Apply it evenly.  Do not get fertilizer on hard surfaces like sidewalks, where it can wash off into drains.  Don’t fertilize within 15 feet of lakes, ponds and other natural water features. This keeps the fertilizer from polluting the water.

Check the fertilizer label carefully.  Some products called weed and feed, contain weed killers.  Make sure you want to kill weeds with a pesticide before using these. Do not get these fertilizers on or near plants you don’t want killed although large trees are seldom bothered by applying them to grass under them.

If you just like something green to cover the ground, you don’t need to fertilize the lawn at all.  After all, fertilization just makes the grass and weeds grow faster so you have to mow more often.  All lawns will benefit though, if lawn clippings are allowed to remain on the lawn after mowing, which returns nutrients to the lawn.  MSU states that using a mulching mower to return grass clippings to the soil will save you one fertilizer application a year.

Lawn mowing

Mowing your lawn properly will make a difference in how healthy it is and can help make the lawn more environmentally friendly.  Grass needs its leaf blades to produce food for the plant, so it can grow new leaves and support the root system.  Every time you cut the leaf blade off you reduce the plants ability to make food.

Longer grass is healthier grass.  Most turf experts believe grass should be kept at about 3- 3 ½ inches in height and that only a third of the blade length should be removed at one time.  So, in the spring you can let the grass get 4 inches long and then cut it back to 3 inches.

If you let the grass get very long you might have to take more than a third off in some cases.  After you mow really long grass you’ll notice the remaining lawn will look a little yellow.  That’s because you have removed the chlorophyll filled upper parts of the leaf.  If there is enough moisture and mild weather the grass will quickly recover its green look but it’s not a good idea to keep letting the lawn get too long before trimming it.

Keeping the lawn at around 3 inches will help shade out weeds and may prevent some weed seeds from sprouting.  The grass will look thicker and its roots will probably be stronger. Longer, thicker grass holds the soil moisture longer and provides more of a cooling effect for the nearby environment.

Those of you who like to support pollinators and allow some weeds in the lawn may want the lawn even a bit longer.  If you allow white clover and other common lawn weeds like ground ivy and hensbit a chance to bloom the pollinators will be happy.  Allowing dandelions to bloom in the spring will please pollinators even more.  Later in the summer when many plants are blooming you could trim the lawn a little closer. If you have a big tick problem in the area a shorter lawn may be better.

In mild wet weather grass may grow so fast that it needs to be mowed twice a week to keep it at the height you have chosen without taking off too much blade at one time.  But as the summer heat and drier conditions come on your mowing should become less.  The last mowing in the fall should take the lawn down to 2 ½ - 3 inches because longer grass going into winter can cause fungal problems under the snow.

Always use a sharp mower blade when mowing.  Dull blades shred the leaf tip instead of leaving a clean slice across it.  This looks less attractive and may make the grass more susceptible to disease.

Using a mulching blade on the mower is highly recommended.  This returns the grass clippings to the soil, along with the nutrients they carry.  You won’t notice the clippings if you are keeping up with the mowing and not letting the grass go too long between trimming. You can use one less fertilization treatment (if you are using fertilizer) on the lawn if you mulch the clippings back into it.   And by using a mulching blade you won’t need to rake clippings or empty collecting bags. 

You can also mow over leaves in the fall with a mulching mower and allow that organic matter to feed the lawn.  That’s better than having to rake them.

If you don’t use a mulching blade you’ll probably need to rake off grass clippings or collect them in a mower bag, especially in the spring when the grass is moist and long.  Big piles of clippings look bad and turn the grass beneath them yellow.  If you are re-claiming a long, weedy mess of a lawn you may need to rake even if you use a mulching mower.

Lawn watering

There are varying ways of watering lawns to achieve different goals or styles of lawn.  Some people don’t water at all by choice or they may be prohibited from watering lawns.  Their lawns may brown and go dormant in hot dry weather.  Most lawns recover from this in cooler, wetter weather.

Some people water their lawns just enough to keep them green.  That’s probably an inch of water in a week, usually in one deep watering. This may be done by hand. An environmentally friendly lawn doesn’t get watered a lot.  It learns to put down deep roots and go dormant through dry spells.  Weedy lawns require less water to look green in hot dry weather.

Other people want a deep, plush green lawn all season and set up sprinkling/irrigation systems if they are allowed to do that in their area. If you do this please respect the environment and use a system that does not come on in the rain, nothing annoys people who want to protect the environment more than a sprinkler running in the rain.  Make sure the system only waters the grass and not sidewalks and driveways, where the water runs off and is wasted.

If fire suppression around the home is one reason you have a lawn, then it should be kept green.

Thatch management and lawn coring- aeration

These techniques are generally used by those people who want the higher maintenance, more perfect looking lawns.  Thatch is an accumulation of dead plant tissue around the base of grass plants.  It’s normal and natural and eventually decomposes.  Sometimes however the rate of decomposition is slow and a build up of more than a ½ inch of thatch occurs.  That’s the threshold when lawn experts say it may begin to affect lawn health.

Excessive thatch can prevent water and fertilizer from reaching grass roots and in some cases, it becomes a favorable environment for certain pest insects. If you believe thatch may be contributing to lawn problems, you may decide to remove it.  It’s a bit of work, and frankly many gardeners will choose to just let it lay there. 

Power raking uses a special piece of motorized equipment that rakes out thatch.  They used to be popular among lawn geeks and it was a status symbol to own one.  Special blades for mowers that aided dethatching were also sold.  Newer field research has found that power dethatching is actually harmful to grass and not very effective at removing thatch anyway.

If you are worried about thatch you can use a hand rake to remove it, which is easier on the grass plants.  But the best method for dealing with deep thatch seems to be coring, sometimes called aeration of lawns.  Coring simply means running a piece of equipment over the ground which takes out little cores of soil. This allows water and air to enter the soil better and is especially helpful if the soil is heavy clay or compacted.  Grass roots quickly expand into the holes left. 

The little cores of grass and soil are left to dry on top of the lawn for a few days and then something is run over them, like a thatching mower, or dragging something across the lawn, to break up the little cores and re-distribute them.  Coring is best done in early spring or mid-fall.

Weed control

If you have been around gardeners a lot, you have probably heard the term 60 mph lawn.  That means when you drive by at 60 mph the mowed lawn looks nice because you can’t see the “weeds” in it.  But every gardener should appreciate a “weedy” lawn.  Lawns with weeds are actually healthier than a monoculture of bluegrass.  There will be more beneficial insects, more helpful soil microbes and earthworms (also non-native by the way) if a lawn is composed of diverse species.

There has been research that suggests a “weedy” lawn also distracts rabbits from munching on ornamentals and vegetables near the lawn.  Rabbits prefer some plants like white clover over bluegrass and your precious flowers and vegetables.  Birds like to pick through a diverse mix of species and pollinators appreciate flowering plants in the lawn.

If you aren’t leaving the flowers for the bees and the clover for the bunnies, April is a good time to apply weed control, either in combination with fertilizer or as a separate application. There are the fertilizers sold as “weed and feed”.  Make sure you don’t get weed control fertilizer or other weed killers anywhere you want flowers or vegetables to grow.  These fertilizers cannot differentiate between dandelions and lettuce or clover and roses.  They kill all broad-leafed plants.

To kill crabgrass in lawns, use a special “crabgrass preventer”.  This doesn’t kill crabgrass that’s started growing; if it did it would also kill your lawn grass.  Instead it keeps crabgrass seed from germinating.  Crabgrass is an annual plant which comes back from seed each year and it doesn’t germinate until the weather is quite warm.  In zone 5-6 maybe 7, April is the best time to apply this preventer. March is the best time for zone 7-8 application.  You cannot put crabgrass preventer on a lawn that you are trying to patch with new grass seeds or where you are totally re-seeding a lawn, because the lawn seed won’t grow.

Of course, an environmentally friendly way to weed lawns is to do it by hand.  There are tools that help you pop dandelions out of the ground.  And even better for the environment would be letting some weeds grow and flower to help a wide assortment of pollinators and other friendly insects.

One note here: cornmeal will not kill weeds or keep weed seeds from germinating when sprinkled on the lawn.  Corn gluten meal, an entirely different product you can’t buy in the grocery, has had some success in some areas of the country in keeping weed seeds from sprouting.  You will have to buy that in a garden store or farm supply store.  Regular cornmeal will only attract mice and ants and mold.

Treating lawns with pesticides to get rid of weeds or insects is not an environmentally friendly act.  It’s not healthy for you or your pets either.  While pesticide applicators may tell you differently, pesticides on lawns frequently poison pets.  Just ask any vet.   Pesticides kill pollinators and helpful insects.  They wash into surface waters like ponds and streams to kill fish and aquatic life.  Most insects, like grubs, don’t affect “weeds” much.  Leaving the weeds means that your lawn will still look green when lawn insects strike and there is some evidence that a lawn of diverse species helps prevent infestations of insects that destroy grass roots.

Lawn diseases and pests

When homeowners have disease or pest problems in lawns many time better care practices will help the problem.  As with other considerations people have different approaches in how they would want to control pests and disease. Some will prefer an organic lawn, where no pesticides are used. Others want that perfect carpet of green and don’t mind using pesticides to get it.

 

moss

Moss

Mossy patches in the lawn mean the conditions aren’t favorable for grass and need to be corrected.  Moss grow where it’s too shady or wet for grass, on compacted soil or in very acidic soil. If the shade can’t be lightened by pruning tree limbs you may need to plant ground covers in the spot or use mulch there.  Drainage and compaction might be corrected by digging up the area and incorporating some good compost, and then re-seeding.

If you suspect the soil could be too acidic have a soil test done and follow the recommendations to correct it.  Moss is easily raked off an area but that might leave a bare spot.  Sometimes warmer dryer conditions will allow grass to expand back into the area.  There are people who have acidic soil and lots of shade that actually encourage moss to grow and have a beautiful moss lawn.

Algae

If the lawn has been flooded for a long period or is very waterlogged, algae sometimes develops on the soil.  Algae can only be corrected by improving soil drainage, which may mean filling in low areas or adding drain tiles underground.

Snowmold

In the spring after the snow melts and the weather is still cool and wet the gardener may notice gray or pinkish fuzzy patches on the lawn.  This is snowmold. It most often occurs on those well cared for lawns, that were fertilized in the fall but left a little long going into winter.  Snowmold doesn’t kill the grass and good weather conditions will banish it.  There is no need for chemical treatments.

Leaf spot

Leaf spot usually occurs in cool wet weather in spring or fall. It most often affects older varieties of bluegrass and fine leaved fescue grass.  Grass blades first get straw colored spots surrounded by a reddish to black border.  If not treated the grass plant leaves and roots eventually rot away.  Contact your local County Extension office for a definite diagnosis and for a recommendation for chemical controls.

Dollar spot

Dollar spot usually appears in late summer when days are still warm, but nights are cool. Bleached looking spots the size of a silver dollar appear first, these may run together to form larger areas over time. In this case watering and fertilizing the lawn will generally help it recover.

Rust

You’ll know you have rust, a fungal disease if you walk across the lawn and your shoes get covered in a rusty orange dust.  The lawn will have a rusty dusted appearance and examining a grass blade will reveal tiny reddish raised areas on the leaf.  Rust occurs in summer and is most often found on bluegrass and perennial ry.  A fungicide may help if applied early, contact your County Extension for a recommendation.  The grass will probably recover even if not treated.

Other diseases of turf grass

There are a few other turf diseases that pop up in extensively managed lawns. If you have a problem don’t listen to folk advice and spray the lawn with things like mouthwash. Instead have a grass expert look at it or take a sample to your County Extension office to be diagnosed and for control recommendations.

Fairy Rings and other mushrooms

A fairy ring is a dark circle of green grass with lighter green grass in the center.  Sometimes in summer a circle of mushrooms will pop up along the rim of the dark circle. Fairy rings and other mushroom outcroppings are often connected to buried organic debris in the soil and more common in compacted soils.

There’s no real cure for mushrooms and fairy rings in the lawn.  Remove mushrooms as soon as you see them to keep pets and children from eating them, as some are deadly.  Fertilizing the center of a fairy ring will make the center blend with the ring.  Coring the center is also recommended.

Grub control

Grubs are the larval stage of several beetles.  Japanese beetles and European Chafer beetles are the most serious and common grub producers.  The Bluegrass billbug and Black ataneius beetle may also have destructive grubs.  Just because you have mole hills or runs in the yard does not mean you have a serious grub problem.

Homeowners do not automatically need to use grub control products every year.  If you don’t have a lot of grubs, it’s best to forget the grub control.  Turf should survive a small amount of grub damage. Some of the grub control products aren’t effective in spring, even though they are marketed as such, and you’ll be wasting your money.  And most of these products will kill other soil creatures, and bees and other pollinators which may visit weed flowers in the lawn.  These products can also poison pets that walk on the lawn or eat the grass too. 

European chafer beetle
MSUE

Here’s how to check for grubs. In early spring the grubs of European Chafer beetles and Japanese beetles will have overwintered, and be quite large.  If you notice patches of lawn that seem browned and not growing well you can lift a section of sod, slide a shovel under it and try to lift it off like a piece of carpet.  If you do have extensive grub damage this will be easier to do.  The grubs of both beetle species are similar looking to the average person, whitish fat worm-like creatures with darker heads, usually curled into a C shape.  You may see them laying on the soil when you pick up the sod piece you cut out.  Turn the sod piece over and examine the roots and soil there for grubs too.  If you see more than 12 grubs in a foot square area, treatment may be indicated.

If you have a lot of lawn damage and you are sure it’s from grubs, you may want to treat lawns in spring. Be aware that spring treatment of lawns is not a preventative; it only kills existing grubs from last year’s hatch. Even if you treat your lawn for grubs in early spring and kill them all, adult beetles will come from other areas when they mate in the early summer and lay eggs on your soil.

Preventative products are applied after the adult beetles lay eggs this year, those products are applied in late summer.  Turf specialists think preventative products, applied in late summer, are more effective grub control than spring pesticides that kill overwintered grubs.  And unless your area has lots of grub damage you do not need to apply preventative products either.

For killing grubs in spring, check the ingredient list on the product bag for these chemicals; chlorantraniliprole, carbaryl and trichlorfon (usually just one of these).  Use these exactly as the label directs.  Grub control products with these ingredients; imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, or clothianidin will not kill grubs in the spring; they need to be applied in late summer to work well.  Don’t let salespeople tell you differently.  Those products are in the store every spring hoping you’ll buy them, and then buy them again later.  Don’t apply useless chemicals to the environment where they do more damage than good.

According to Michigan State University other useless products for grub control are lambda-cyhalothrin, gamma-cyhalothrin, bifenthrin, deltamethrin, cyfluthrin, permethrin, or spectracide- Triazicide.  If these are the only active ingredients listed for grub control don’t buy these products. 

When you use insecticides on the lawn (grub control), mow the lawn short first to get rid of any flowers in the lawn that might attract pollinators.  Be prepared to water the products into the soil. MSU turf experts say that a good watering in of the product is critical to success.  Keep pets and kids off the lawn at least the recommended time on the bag/product label.  I’d keep them off longer; I have heard about and seen too many cases of pet poisoning from these products, even when directions were followed.  Don’t let lawn care people tell you these products are safe as soon as they dry.

What about organic, or natural predator grub control?  There is no effective organic product for grubs. Soap solutions, vinegar, cinnamon, diatomaceous earth, mouthwash, all of the home remedies often touted have been proven to be ineffective on grubs. 

Milky Spore disease and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora nematodes are natural pests of grubs that can control the population.  You buy these and water them into your lawn.  The problem is that it usually takes several years and several applications of these products to obtain any noticeable results.  Milky Spore works only for Japanese beetle grubs and researchers believe many Japanese beetles have developed immunity to the disease.  In many areas European Chafer beetles are more prevalent and damaging than Japanese beetles.

Moles

For controlling moles without folklore and myth please see this article.

https://gardeninggrannysgardenpages.blogspot.com/p/mole-control-wiithout-myths.html

“Native” and non-lawns

Some of the native only fanatics will give advice as to planting things like buffalo grass instead of a lawn.  That’s fine, but it won’t look like a lawn as people define them today.  Almost all native grasses do not grow well when mowed. Moss is sometimes used in place of a lawn or small groundcovers.  These can be good choices but once again they tend to be mono-cultures.  Less diverse ecosystems have more problems and aren’t as environmentally friendly.

You can remove your lawn areas all together and instead make them gardens with mulched areas and paths.  There are multiple solutions to this depending on the light, soil conditions and your idea of beauty.  Being without any lawn area takes some getting used to for most gardeners, you may slowly want to decrease your lawn area each year by adding more flower beds, shrubs and groundcovers.  For most gardeners having more space to grow plants is a good thing.

When you decide to go the no lawn route make sure to take into account any rules or laws that may be place in the area you live in.  Planting in the front of the house may be limited or there may be height restrictions on what you choose to grow in place of a lawn.  When planning, try to make the replaced lawn area look neat and more like a garden than an abandoned field.

You’ll also want to think about the care of the non-lawn and how much time it takes.  You will probably want to choose low maintenance plants.  Don’t take on more work than you can handle.  It takes a lot of time to mow, but it’s pretty easy work. Plants that need frequent pruning, deadheading or other care may not work in your situation.

 While a thick green plush carpet of Kentucky bluegrass looks nice, so does a lawn sprinkled with yellow dandelions or white clover flowers, if you train your eyes to see it that way.  Let a diverse ecosystem flourish in your lawn and you won’t have to feel guilty about having one.