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#1
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Sir Walter - "frizzling" in hot weather
Howdy... looking for some friendly advice.
Around this time last year I laid a Sir Walter turf lawn in my backyard and it took off fantastically well - particularly with all the rain we received in January/February. This year the lawn is not going so well however - I live in Sydney and have not had any reasonable rain for at least 4 or 5 months. The subsoil for the lawn is effectively a small amount of topsoil on top of a sandstone shelf. In some places in the yard the sandstone would be only 20-30cm or so beneath the surface. In others there is a few metres. During winter the lawn browned off a bit, so early spring I decided to give it a good treatment to try to bring it on again. I watered (every couple of days for an hour or so) and fertilized (using "Buffalo blend" as recommended by the grower). This seemed to get the lawn greening up a bit, but as soon as I stopped watering for a few days or we had a hot day (30 odd degrees) some patches in the lawn start to "frizzle". The leaves curl up and look dry and start to go white. Give it some more water at it comes back... Interestingly, the patches do not seem to conincide with where there is only a small amount of topsoil. Now, with the lawn, the runners are pretty much on the surface - 30/40mm (my mowing height) below the tops of the blades of the grass (I assume this is normal?) but it was suggested to me I might try a light topdressing to bury the runners and provide protection for the roots. As an experiment I topdressed half the lawn - bottom line is that the top dressing doesn't seem to have any affect on what I am seeing with regard the frizzling or indeed on the growth of the lawn - it happens on both the topdressed and the non-topdressed part of the lawn. It pretty much seems obvious to me that given the shallow and sandy subsoil and the lack of rain, unless I water pretty much every second or third day, I won't be able to stop this frizzling from happening... but does anyone have any other ideas? Could I be missing certain elements/is what I am seeing a sympton of a Ph problem in the soil? Is it worth getting the ph tested? I'd like to keep the lawn soft under foot as I have a toddler who uses the lawn daily. Thanks for any advice. Ciao, Dave. |
#2
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Sir Walter - "frizzling" in hot weather
Dear Dave, First of all you need to identify what type of soil you have this
will be instrumental in determining how much water to apply and how you apply it. For example if you water sandy soil it will drain through very quickly so it needs to be watered often. If you have clay soil it will need to be watered slowly for a long time or the water will run off. It may take 3 hours of watering to get a good soaking and ensure you bring the water level up. There is a great technical book about soils, watering etc called Gardening Down Under available from Florilegium books in St Johns Road Forest Lodge (GLEBE). May also be available from Royal Botanic Gardens bookshop. It also talks about evapotranspiration, mulching etc. Ideally you want to get long roots on your lawn which you achieve by a good soaking a 2-3 times a week (depending on soil type). The long roots and height of grass (approx 5cm) will ensure that your grass becomes more drought resistant and won't start to die off on a hot day. Thatching & coring is also important you can hire thatchers & corers to ensure that your lawn is kept in optimum condition lawn in optimum condition is necessary because you can effectively shade out weeds and minimise their chance of striking seeds on bare patches. Yes do test your soil pH. All the best with it. Heather. "Dave" wrote in message ... Howdy... looking for some friendly advice. Around this time last year I laid a Sir Walter turf lawn in my backyard and it took off fantastically well - particularly with all the rain we received in January/February. This year the lawn is not going so well however - I live in Sydney and have not had any reasonable rain for at least 4 or 5 months. The subsoil for the lawn is effectively a small amount of topsoil on top of a sandstone shelf. In some places in the yard the sandstone would be only 20-30cm or so beneath the surface. In others there is a few metres. During winter the lawn browned off a bit, so early spring I decided to give it a good treatment to try to bring it on again. I watered (every couple of days for an hour or so) and fertilized (using "Buffalo blend" as recommended by the grower). This seemed to get the lawn greening up a bit, but as soon as I stopped watering for a few days or we had a hot day (30 odd degrees) some patches in the lawn start to "frizzle". The leaves curl up and look dry and start to go white. Give it some more water at it comes back... Interestingly, the patches do not seem to conincide with where there is only a small amount of topsoil. Now, with the lawn, the runners are pretty much on the surface - 30/40mm (my mowing height) below the tops of the blades of the grass (I assume this is normal?) but it was suggested to me I might try a light topdressing to bury the runners and provide protection for the roots. As an experiment I topdressed half the lawn - bottom line is that the top dressing doesn't seem to have any affect on what I am seeing with regard the frizzling or indeed on the growth of the lawn - it happens on both the topdressed and the non-topdressed part of the lawn. It pretty much seems obvious to me that given the shallow and sandy subsoil and the lack of rain, unless I water pretty much every second or third day, I won't be able to stop this frizzling from happening... but does anyone have any other ideas? Could I be missing certain elements/is what I am seeing a sympton of a Ph problem in the soil? Is it worth getting the ph tested? I'd like to keep the lawn soft under foot as I have a toddler who uses the lawn daily. Thanks for any advice. Ciao, Dave. |
#3
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Sir Walter - "frizzling" in hot weather
Hi Heather,
From below I'm guessing you think the "frizzling" is probably due to a lack of water? Does anyone else have this problem? The soil is very sandy and shallow (sits on a sandstone shelf) and as you've noted it drains very well. Given the nature of the soil, I would guess my best approach is to continue watering every 2 or 3 days depending on the weather for an hour or so rather than less often and longer? I currently water at night (around 8/9pm) as I don't have time in the morning - would it be more beneficial to water in the morning? Thanks again, Dave. "Heather Edwards" wrote in message ... Dear Dave, First of all you need to identify what type of soil you have this will be instrumental in determining how much water to apply and how you apply it. For example if you water sandy soil it will drain through very quickly so it needs to be watered often. If you have clay soil it will need to be watered slowly for a long time or the water will run off. It may take 3 hours of watering to get a good soaking and ensure you bring the water level up. There is a great technical book about soils, watering etc called Gardening Down Under available from Florilegium books in St Johns Road Forest Lodge (GLEBE). May also be available from Royal Botanic Gardens bookshop. It also talks about evapotranspiration, mulching etc. Ideally you want to get long roots on your lawn which you achieve by a good soaking a 2-3 times a week (depending on soil type). The long roots and height of grass (approx 5cm) will ensure that your grass becomes more drought resistant and won't start to die off on a hot day. Thatching & coring is also important you can hire thatchers & corers to ensure that your lawn is kept in optimum condition lawn in optimum condition is necessary because you can effectively shade out weeds and minimise their chance of striking seeds on bare patches. Yes do test your soil pH. All the best with it. Heather. "Dave" wrote in message ... Howdy... looking for some friendly advice. Around this time last year I laid a Sir Walter turf lawn in my backyard and it took off fantastically well - particularly with all the rain we received in January/February. This year the lawn is not going so well however - I live in Sydney and have not had any reasonable rain for at least 4 or 5 months. The subsoil for the lawn is effectively a small amount of topsoil on top of a sandstone shelf. In some places in the yard the sandstone would be only 20-30cm or so beneath the surface. In others there is a few metres. During winter the lawn browned off a bit, so early spring I decided to give it a good treatment to try to bring it on again. I watered (every couple of days for an hour or so) and fertilized (using "Buffalo blend" as recommended by the grower). This seemed to get the lawn greening up a bit, but as soon as I stopped watering for a few days or we had a hot day (30 odd degrees) some patches in the lawn start to "frizzle". The leaves curl up and look dry and start to go white. Give it some more water at it comes back... Interestingly, the patches do not seem to conincide with where there is only a small amount of topsoil. Now, with the lawn, the runners are pretty much on the surface - 30/40mm (my mowing height) below the tops of the blades of the grass (I assume this is normal?) but it was suggested to me I might try a light topdressing to bury the runners and provide protection for the roots. As an experiment I topdressed half the lawn - bottom line is that the top dressing doesn't seem to have any affect on what I am seeing with regard the frizzling or indeed on the growth of the lawn - it happens on both the topdressed and the non-topdressed part of the lawn. It pretty much seems obvious to me that given the shallow and sandy subsoil and the lack of rain, unless I water pretty much every second or third day, I won't be able to stop this frizzling from happening... but does anyone have any other ideas? Could I be missing certain elements/is what I am seeing a sympton of a Ph problem in the soil? Is it worth getting the ph tested? I'd like to keep the lawn soft under foot as I have a toddler who uses the lawn daily. Thanks for any advice. Ciao, Dave. |
#4
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Sir Walter - "frizzling" in hot weather
It sounds like you might have grubs in the lawn eating the roots. Try
fenamiphos granules (from a garden centre). |
#5
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Sir Walter - "frizzling" in hot weather
Yes I would suggest it would be from a lack of water. It may also be a
nutrient problem or a soil compaction problem in that the water may run off the soil. So you may need to decompact the soil by using a corer or simply ramming in a garden fork. Wetting agents may also help but on large areas make it difficult. I think I agree on your watering strategy. Watering at night is okay but the lawn will not take it up until the next morning. So if your soil does drain quickly your lawn will miss out on water. There are some very cheap timers you can get for your tap which you simply manually set each time so it would literally take you 1-2mins to get your watering started. http://www.sprinklersonline.com.au/ Check that one out to see what they've got. Best of luck. Heather. "Dave" wrote in message ... Hi Heather, From below I'm guessing you think the "frizzling" is probably due to a lack of water? Does anyone else have this problem? The soil is very sandy and shallow (sits on a sandstone shelf) and as you've noted it drains very well. Given the nature of the soil, I would guess my best approach is to continue watering every 2 or 3 days depending on the weather for an hour or so rather than less often and longer? I currently water at night (around 8/9pm) as I don't have time in the morning - would it be more beneficial to water in the morning? Thanks again, Dave. "Heather Edwards" wrote in message ... Dear Dave, First of all you need to identify what type of soil you have this will be instrumental in determining how much water to apply and how you apply it. For example if you water sandy soil it will drain through very quickly so it needs to be watered often. If you have clay soil it will need to be watered slowly for a long time or the water will run off. It may take 3 hours of watering to get a good soaking and ensure you bring the water level up. There is a great technical book about soils, watering etc called Gardening Down Under available from Florilegium books in St Johns Road Forest Lodge (GLEBE). May also be available from Royal Botanic Gardens bookshop. It also talks about evapotranspiration, mulching etc. Ideally you want to get long roots on your lawn which you achieve by a good soaking a 2-3 times a week (depending on soil type). The long roots and height of grass (approx 5cm) will ensure that your grass becomes more drought resistant and won't start to die off on a hot day. Thatching & coring is also important you can hire thatchers & corers to ensure that your lawn is kept in optimum condition lawn in optimum condition is necessary because you can effectively shade out weeds and minimise their chance of striking seeds on bare patches. Yes do test your soil pH. All the best with it. Heather. "Dave" wrote in message ... Howdy... looking for some friendly advice. Around this time last year I laid a Sir Walter turf lawn in my backyard and it took off fantastically well - particularly with all the rain we received in January/February. This year the lawn is not going so well however - I live in Sydney and have not had any reasonable rain for at least 4 or 5 months. The subsoil for the lawn is effectively a small amount of topsoil on top of a sandstone shelf. In some places in the yard the sandstone would be only 20-30cm or so beneath the surface. In others there is a few metres. During winter the lawn browned off a bit, so early spring I decided to give it a good treatment to try to bring it on again. I watered (every couple of days for an hour or so) and fertilized (using "Buffalo blend" as recommended by the grower). This seemed to get the lawn greening up a bit, but as soon as I stopped watering for a few days or we had a hot day (30 odd degrees) some patches in the lawn start to "frizzle". The leaves curl up and look dry and start to go white. Give it some more water at it comes back... Interestingly, the patches do not seem to conincide with where there is only a small amount of topsoil. Now, with the lawn, the runners are pretty much on the surface - 30/40mm (my mowing height) below the tops of the blades of the grass (I assume this is normal?) but it was suggested to me I might try a light topdressing to bury the runners and provide protection for the roots. As an experiment I topdressed half the lawn - bottom line is that the top dressing doesn't seem to have any affect on what I am seeing with regard the frizzling or indeed on the growth of the lawn - it happens on both the topdressed and the non-topdressed part of the lawn. It pretty much seems obvious to me that given the shallow and sandy subsoil and the lack of rain, unless I water pretty much every second or third day, I won't be able to stop this frizzling from happening... but does anyone have any other ideas? Could I be missing certain elements/is what I am seeing a sympton of a Ph problem in the soil? Is it worth getting the ph tested? I'd like to keep the lawn soft under foot as I have a toddler who uses the lawn daily. Thanks for any advice. Ciao, Dave. |
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