Question
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Followup To
Question -
Hi Kenneth,

I have a small sports-grass/heavy duty grass lawn (10*10 meters), which sees quit a bit of our 2 dogs (female dog urine dump problem). I have couple of q's:
1- could yu give me a general calendar of what to do when with my lawn
2- how do i analyse what to do if my lawn starts looking "patchy"(some dead spots, overall densiness leaves to be desired)
3- I suspect I may need to add special nutricients (other than fertiliser) to correct the "balance": how to do this?
Answer -
Michael, I would love to help you..

I suspect that you are either domiciled in Canada or the UK (based on fact that you talk meters rather than feet). But to be sure, can you tell me approximately where you are, so that I can put together the calender accordingly (the climate does matter a lot in this respect).

Let me know by return, and I will put a calender together for you. In the meantime, I will start working on your other questions. Thank you in advance.
Kenneth

Kenneth,

I live in Switzerland.
Regards,

Michael

Answer
Wow, Switzerland, I would not have guess that...

Fertilize your lawn in late spring, early fall and late fall. Do not fertilize your lawn too early in spring and not during hot summer months. e.g. late May, early September and mid November would be good times.

Use regular N-P-K lawn fertilizers, or single nutrient fertilizers such as ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrates, etc. A good garden center or farm supply store should be able to help.

Mow your lawn frequently and mow tall. Set the mower to mow grass 5-8 cms high. Start mowing in early spring when the grass starts growing and continue weekly until the grass stops growing in late fall (when the grass has not grown for two weeks in a row in late fall it is time to put your November fertilizer application down).

If you water your lawn, water infrequently, but deeply, such as once every week for 2 hours, rather than 15 minutes daily.

If a lawn looks pathy it is probably due to urine damage from the dogs, dehydration (grass mowed too low, fertilized during hot summer days, or not given enough water during hot summer months). If insect damage is suspected, it can be hard to correct without pesticides, but mowing high (5-8 cms), and frequently, fertilizing in spring and fall, and watering deeply one time every week can help strengthen the grass so it can fight bugs on it's own. Grass is usually only attacked by bugs when it is weakened.

A good all-around N-P-K fertilizer usually have all the nutrients the grass needs. In some rare cases, a soil may be deficit in some of the smaller quantity essenstial elements which it needs (sulphor, magnesium, calcium, zinc, boron, etc), but unlikely. If you are concerned, try to secure a truck load of compost (well composted garden refuge) and spread a thin 2 cm layer evenly over your lawn and work it into the grass with a broom or push broom. It is a big job and probably not worth the effort (in my opinion).

I would have the pH value checked, however. You should be able to buy pH tests (litmus papers). Take a handful of soil and put in a dish. moisten it until it is dripping wet (soil solution is very moist) but add water gradually. Use distilled water. Then wait 30 minuttes and squeeze a handful of the soil and test the pH value from this soil solution. The target pH should be 6.0 - 7.0. If it is much below 6.0 then consider adding DOLOMITIC LIMESTONE. this is lime (calcium carbonate) and magnesium. Both are essential elements needed for grass growth and it help raise the pH value of the soil. DO NOT LIME IF SOIL PH IS ABOVE 6.0.

Generally, you do not have to worry too much about soil pH, but for best growth it is worth it. I don't know about switzerland, but in Denmark for example, regular liming is required (I used to live there). Same for eastern part of USA where I live now, although western part of USA has sweet soils and liming is not requried.

I think you get good results if you start fertilizing your lawn in spring and fall (not during hot summer months), mowing high and mowing frequently, and then watering deeply once per week if no rain.

Note: dog urine, especially from female dogs, can damage grass. the salt contents will kill the roots. If you notice the dogs going on the lawn then flush with plenty of water to wash the urine past the root zone. Otherwise, once you notice the damage, it is too late. Your best option is to try train the dogs to go somewhere away from the lawn (yeah, I know .. no chance .. !!)

Kenneth