Gretna Area Lawn Care Blog

     Proper watering techniques and practices, along with proper mowing, are critical to maintaining the health and appearance of your lawn. Improper watering practices promote a shallow root system and helps promote lawn disease outbreaks. The entire key to watering your turf properly is the regulation of the amount of water your turf receives. Measure the amount of water applied to your lawn from the irrigation source during a 20 to 30 minute time period. Use a collection device such as rain gauge or tuna can to collect water applied. Adjust the runtime to deliver the proper and required amount of water.

1)    Water your lawn when it shows signs of dryness. Such signs are grass blades showing a faded color or turf does not bounce back when walked on, but instead lies flat. If a sharp object such as a screw driver has difficulty penetrating the soil, then it is time to water.

2)     Deep water so that it reaches the root zone. Desired amount of water applied should be to about 1 inch below the root zone. This encourages deep root growth. Use a screw driver to poke the soil to make sure the water is being absorbed into the root zone.  Water 20 to 30 minutes per station on rotors and 10 minutes for pop ups as a general guideline.   

3)     Avoid light ...

Proper mowing techniques and practices, along with proper watering, are critical to maintaining the health and appearance of your lawn. One common mistake of homeowners is mowing their type of turf species too short. Another common mistake is removing too much of the leaf blade at one time. You are really asking for trouble if you mow your lawn with a dull mower blade. All three poor mowing practices can spell disaster for the health and appearance of your lawn. Below are some guidelines to help you avoid these common mistakes.

Mowing height - Mow bluegrass at a height of 3 inches. Fescue turf should be mowed even higher with a height range of 3 1/2 to 4 inches. The lower range is fine in the early Spring or the late Fall, however, generally speaking the higher number is the preferred height. Within reason, you actually can't mow your turf too high except for personal preferrence for appearance or mechanical limitation. Not all residential mowers have height adjustments this high, so as a general rule mow at the highest setting or one notch below.

Mow frequently - Try not to remove more than the top 1/3 of the leaf blade per cutting.

Sharp blade only - A dull mower blade will severely damage your turf by tearing instead of making a clean cut on the leaf blade. You are at greatest risk for turf diseases if the grass blade is damaged or torn by a dull mower blade. This is particularly true in warm months of late...