QuestionQUESTION: I have a fairly new front yard. A couple of yrs old, I have runners all over my yard and they are at the top, and visable. I water 3 times a week and fertalize every 3 months. I mow twice a week. What can i do?
ANSWER: I am not sure what you want to do. Do you...
...Want to mow less frequently?
...Want to water " "
...Want to get rid of the runners?
...Want to hide the runners?
It would appear that your lawn is the result of the way you treat it totally. Depending upon what you want to do, you will have to change the way you do some or all of the things that you do to it.
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QUESTION: The only thing I'm worried about is the runners. I want a deep lush lawn with no runners visible. I want to get rid of the runners,I injoy mowing?
Answer A runner describes a stem that runs above (but close to) the ground. Many grasses (like St. Augustine) spread by runners which root readily when the conditions are right. From what you write, you have provided the right conditions for runners to grow; the trouble is that they are not in contact with the ground and therefore cannot root. Watering 3 times a week and fertilizing every three months is approaching "Golf Course" standards and I expect that your lawn looks very appealing. But now you have to make a choice. To get rid of those runners, you have to stop fertilizing and cut back on watering in that order. The lawn will lose color and show temporary wilt. Sometime soon you might have to verticut the lawn. This will stress the lawn for sure but you do not have to follow suit because things will recover. The verticut machine has depth-adjustable blades which are mounted vertically. Imagine that this machine, set very shallow, makes a pass (east to west) over the lawn. Do you see it cutting those runners right at the top? Well now the machine will make another pass (north to south) and cut the others. You now have little pieces of runners and already the lawn looks pretty messed up. Now all those pieces have to be raked out and removed. The lawn looks distinctly horrible because there are not many leaves and you can see a lot of brown. If done right, the remaining runners have no leaves but are in contact with the ground. Some people make doubly sure by top dressing with sand or top soil. Now you have to return to frequent watering to get the runners rooted and leafed out. But soon the watering can be gradually scaled back and the fertilizing done only when necessary (once a year?). The whole rehabilitation process will hinge upon the operator of the verticutter. Choose one very, very carefully. And for the preservation of your own good inner self, you might want to take that time-share vacation while he works on your lawn. That was supposed to make you smile!
