Nice Lawn, Low Inputs

I was thinking recently about the “organic” approach to getting a nice lawn and I began to brainstorm about how I could achieve a nice lawn without adding alot of unnecessary chemicals? So I came up with an illustration that is very simple: A Table.

Most tables have 4 legs. If you remove one leg, the table will mostly function. If you remove two legs, the table will fall. Think of your lawn as a table with 4 legs, each leg being a key component of health: Irrigation, Nutrition, Mowing, and Pest/Disease. These are the 4 “legs” of the table.

I would say the biggest and most important “leg” is irrigation. This is foundational for everything else. Too much or too little water is the root cause of all other issues. So if your irrigation system is not functioning properly, then remove that leg from the table. Your furniture still works but not for long.

The second leg would be mowing. Mow your lawn too short and you will introduce many unwanted problems such as weeds and disease. I am speaking mainly about St Augustine grass as that is the most common lawn in our area. You want to cut bermuda very short and zoysia can be cut low as well. However, you want to leave St Augustine grass as tall as you can tolerate. I cut my St Augustine at 4″ height.

The third leg is nutrition. Too much or too little fertilizer will pull another leg from your table. Remember 1# of slow release Nitrogen per 1000 sq ft of lawn. The slow release should be at least 50%. I will post later about the fertilizer label and how to figure that out. But for now, a simple way to calculate that is to take the first number of the bag and divide it in half. This will tell you approximately how many square feet the bag will cover. For example, if you have a bag of 15-0-15, then you can cover about 7500 sq ft per bag. Apply this about 4x per year. You can apply about 4-6# of Nitrogen per 1000 sq ft per year. For the sake of brevity, I will write more about fertilizer later.

The final leg is Pest and Disease. If pests attack your lawn (it does happen but most healthy lawns can handle normal pest pressure), you will want to address the issue right away. This is especially true regarding Chinch bugs (Again I am speaking mostly about St Augustine since this is the most common grass in our area). But whether or not it is Chinch bugs, Webworms, Grubs, Billbugs, Ground Pearls, Nematodes, etc., you have to pay attention to any changes in your lawn and act quickly. The same should be said for disease. If any disease pops up, it should be treated right away with the appropriate fungicide. If pests or disease grow unchecked, that leg is gone and your lawn will soon follow if left untreated.

So that it is all about that. Want to have a nice lawn that is mostly “organic” then keep the right amount of water, the proper mowing height, don’t over fertilize, and keep an eye on the pests and/or disease. By doing these things you will greatly reduce the need for extra chemicals. Maintaining the proper “cultural practices” ensures less weeds, less fungus, and less problems. Keep all 4 legs of the table in place!