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I need a small area of visually perfect lawn for photographic purposes. I laid an area of about 25 square metres about three weeks ago. The turf is coming on fine but I want perfection as soon as possible.
What is the best management regime to get it looking green and gorgeous?
The soil is clay and was rotovated before laying - the preparation was mediocre at best.
Should I feed?
How high should I be cutting
Collect or not?
How often to irrigate?
etc. etc
Here are some shots of how it looks today:
I think some of the grass is not of high quality but I'm no expert - is this Poa annua - what's to be done?
You do have infestations of Poa Annua which show up as the lighter green.
There also looks likes Red Thread too (although this could be dead grass sheaths too).
The turf have shrunk as well so a top dressing with a fine washed white silica sand mixed with some soil or compost and a little seed will help but you may not have enough time for this all to germinate and knit together before your photo shoot.
The Red Thread can be eased with an application of Nitrogen fertiliser - the turf does look hungry and dry so a good watering will be needed a few days before your shoot to make the grass look turgid and fresh.
Take a look at these which you can buy over the internet.
http://www.thelawnshop.co.uk/shopping/index.php?cPath=30&osCsid...
Thank you for the challenge, always up for it! The pictures provide a good snapshot re condition. Grasses are quite resilaint. You should have fertilised the lawn as soon as it had been laid and mown after a few weeks taking no more than 25% off the growth each time with a remaining height of at least 19mm so about setting four on a standard Hayter. The tips of the grasses look a little ragged which highlights a blunt mower blade. Getting a nice clean cut is so important for the grass and visuals.
If you want it 'perfect' then 3 weeks is not enough time as it should ideally be top dressed with a light sandy loam or recycled compost 10mm to fill in the gaps inbetween the turf which were there following turfing or as a result of a little shrinkage due to natural water loss. Sand has a too high bulk density and will not disappear that quickly.
I can see that the turf clearly has signs of Red Thread Disease and to highlight the area - second picture bottom right hand side of image and about nine O'Clock on the same picture too. There is a Technical Leaflet that you can view on this disease and reasons for and control. If the turf had been fertilised soon after laying you would have given it a great helping hand in preventing the outbreak of this disease.
Picture three shows signs of Poa Annua which is a weed grass but hard for the turf grower to keep out of the sward but how hard they do try!
Programme from here on for a quick fix - Feed, Wetting Agent Tablet - see Technical Leaflet, buy a new mower blade, keep to height, alter direction, mow twice or three times a week. If you have a little longer time - do all the above and top dress to fill in holes but no more than 1/4" of an inch and work it well in with a Trulute.
About one week before the photo shoot, you could apply a light solution of Sulphate of Iron to stimulate the natural Chloroplasts cells that provide the 'greenness'. Normally this is used to kill moss but at lower rates it is used for cosmetic greening up, sometimes mixed in with a little Seaweed. You might get a few dark footmarks for a few days but with natural rainfall or watering they will soon disappear.
Watering - lay a shallow saucer in the line of the sprinkler. When this is full, move to new area. Do not over water. Set the kitchen timer for no more than 10 minutes.
Hope this helps. Send us ongoing pictures as it improves.
Mike
Tell me about the use of a roller.............
oh........and should I always collect the mowings?
Thanks very much
Cheers
Richard
As an absolute last resort you could try using this florist's spray paint to mask some of the poorer areas. I believe it should be safe to use on grass.
Well thank you. Use a roller and you will live to regret it. They should be banned in gardens. Please collect clippings each time you mow. Keep the watering up to get the top dressing worked in and a better and quicker result from the fertiliser application.