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Diy Organic Lawn Care Part 2

Know what healthy soil is and how to attain it.

Healthy soil is teaming with biolife, organic matter and nutrients. 

Soil Fertility

Adding natural ingredients to the soil increases soil microbial activity.  Soil microbes fix the nutrients needed for plant growth and release them slowly as plants need them.  On the other hand, petrochemical/synthetic fertilizers are high in soluble salts that are detrimental to microbes and plants alike: they greatly decrease microbial activity and plant uptake.  Although these fertilizers are high analysis N-P-K, the plant use efficiency is very low. The plant utilizes only 7-8% of most chemical fertilizers while the rest becomes run-off that can contaminate surface and groundwater.

Natural organic material can be classified into two categories according to their carbon and nitrogen content: Green material and Brown material.

"Green materials, such as fresh grass clippings, manure and other living plants (weeds) and plant products contain large amounts of nitrogen.

"Brown" materials such as dried leaves and plants, branches, and woody materials (leaf stems) have high carbon content but are relatively low in nitrogen.

Basically, "Green" materials supply food for the biolife (bacteria, fungi, and small invertebrates such as worms) which intern manufacture, supply, and facilitate nutrient uptake for the plants.  The "Brown" materials provide a home for the "Green" material biolife.

Organic Material and Organic Matter

Organic material is anything that was alive and is now in or on the soil. For it to become organic matter, it must be decomposed into humus. Humus is organic material that has been converted by microorganisms to a resistant state of decomposition. Organic material is unstable in the soil, changing form and mass readily as it decomposes. As much as 90 percent of it disappears quickly because of decomposition providing food and nutrients to biolife.  The other 10 percent becomes humus (fertile soil).

What Are the Benefits of Organic Matter?

Nutrient Supply

Organic matter is a reservoir of nutrients that can be released to the soil. Each percent of organic matter in the soil releases 20 to 30 pounds of nitrogen, 4.5 to 6.6 pounds of P2O5, and 2 to 3 pounds of sulfur per year. The nutrient release occurs predominantly in the spring and summer, so summer crops benefit more organic-matter mineralization than winter crops.
 

Water-Holding Capacity – Organic matter behaves somewhat like a sponge, with the ability to absorb and hold up to 90 percent of its weight in water. A great advantage of the water-holding capacity of organic matter is that the matter will release most of the water that it absorbs to plants. In contrast, clay holds great quantities of water, but much of it is unavailable to plants.
 

Soil Structure Aggregation – Organic matter causes soil to clump and form soil aggregates, which improves soil structure. With better soil structure, permeability (infiltration of water through the soil) improves, in turn improving the soil's ability to take up and hold water.
 

Erosion Prevention – This property of organic matter is not widely known. Data used in the universal soil loss equation indicate that increasing soil organic matter from 1 to 3 percent can reduce erosion 20 to 33 percent because of increased water infiltration and stable soil aggregate formation caused by organic matter.

Humus consists of different humic substances:

Fulvic acids: the fraction of humus that is soluble in water under all pH conditions. Their color is commonly light yellow to yellow-brown.

Humic acids: the fraction of humus that is soluble in water, except for conditions more acid than pH 2. Common colors are dark brown to black.

Humin: the fraction of humus that is not soluble in water at any pH and that cannot be extracted with a strong base, such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH). It is commonly black in color.

The term acid is used to describe humic materials because humus behaves like weak acids.

Non-humic substances: significance and function

Non-humic organic molecules are released directly from cells of fresh residues, such as proteins, amino acids, sugars, and starches. This part of soil organic matter is the active, or easily decomposed, fraction. This active fraction is influenced strongly by weather conditions, moisture status of the soil, growth stage of the vegetation, addition of organic residues, and cultural practices. It is the main food supply for various organisms in the soil.

What to do to build fertile soil for your lawn:

Recycle your grass and fall leaves with a mulching blade on your mower.

Use a soil building organic fertilizer.

Top-dress your lawn at least once a year.

Do not use chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or insecticides.  Fertile soil has no need for these.

Apply a soil amendment rich in humic acid and natural organic substances such as liquid seaweed such as kelp.

Irrigate your lawn deeply and only when needed.  Except for new grass, watering every 10 days or so is sufficient.  You can easily determine when to water by observing the stress level of your grass.  The roots need the water not the grass blades.  The time to water is when the grass blades start to curl or dry out.  Early morning is the best time to water under normal circumstances.   Early evening is the most watering is more efficient during times of drought.

Soil Composition and the Health of your Lawn

Soil composition plays an important role in lawn quality.  Deficiencies can slow or halt turf development.  Proper pH can slow weed production and propagation.

Soil Deficiency

Acidity: In acidic soil: phosphorus, calcium, magnesium availability is reduced.
In alkaline: iron, zinc, manganese and copper are not available.

How to Correct: To decrease acidic soil pH, add sulfur. To increase alkaline soil pH, add lime.

Boron: Slow growth, pale green tips, bronze tint

How to Correct: Apply an organic soil amendment containing trace elements.

Calcium: Reddish-brown leaves, may curl and die

How to Correct: Apply an organic soil amendment containing trace elements.

Copper: Yellow and stunted leaves, tips die

How to Correct: Apply an organic soil amendment containing trace elements.

Iron: Pale leaves, turning yellow

How to Correct: Reduce phosphorus fertilization

Magnesium: Yellow stripes on leaves, turning red

How to Correct: Apply an organic soil amendment containing trace elements.  Adjust soil pH.

Manganese: Yellow spots on leaves, withered at tips

How to Correct: Apply an organic soil amendment containing trace elements.

Molybdenum: Yellow and withered leaves

How to Correct: Apply an organic soil amendment containing trace elements.

Nitrogen: Light green or yellow-green leaves, may start dying at tips

How to Correct: Apply an organic fertilizer suited to your turf grass. Centipede, for example can be harmed by too much nitrogen.

Phosphorus: Thin sod, thin curled leaves, dusky blue-green with purple tint in cool weather

How to Correct: Raise pH (reduce acidity)

Potassium: Yellow tips on leaves, may turn brown and die at tips

How to Correct: Apply an organic soil amendment containing Kelp.  Adjust pH.

Sulfur: Yellow leaves

How to Correct: Usually an indication of low pH.  Add sulfur.

Zinc: Small and yellow leaves

How to Correct: Apply an organic soil amendment containing trace elements.

Microbial activity: Soil microbes are essential to the health of a lawn.  They convert nutrients to useable energy plant roots can absorb easily while detoxifying the soil.

How to Correct: Use only organic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.  Synthetic/chemical products kill soil microbes.  Apply a bio-enhanced dethatcher.

 

Proper Watering

Warm-season turf grasses (Bermuda grass, Zoysia grass, and Centipede grass and St. Augustine grass) are more drought resistant than cool-season grasses (Tall Fescue, Perennial Ryegrass, Kentucky Blue Grass) and require about 20% less water.

Grass blades contain approximately 75% moisture.  Hot temperatures and wind will diminish blade moisture.  However, if the root system has adequate moisture, the turf will flourish.

When your lawn needs watering

Contrary to popular belief, lawns should be watered sparingly. 

Established lawn watering should be done when grass shows any of the following signs:

The leaf blades are folded in half lengthwise-this is the grasses way of conserving moisture.

Footprints remain visible after it has been walked on

Your grass has a blue-grey color instead of green, and then ultimately turns brown.

Wilting leaves.

Rolling leaves.

When you do water, water deeply; soil should be moist two inches below the root zone.  Root length and grass height are directly related.  If you mow at three inches, the soil should be moist to a depth of five inches. This generally requires about 1 inch of water and should last 7 to 10 days. Monitor your lawn for the above signs to determine watering frequency.  Early morning (4 – 6am) is the best time to irrigate, while evening irrigation is more efficient.  Too much or too little irrigation causes lawn diseases. 

Soil Requirements

Soil Type

Sand
Sandy Loam
Loam
Silt Loam
Clay Loam
Clay

Infiltration inches per  hour

2.0 inches
1.0 inches
0.5 inches
0.4 inches
0.3 inches
0.2 inches

           Time for 1 inch to soak in

            0.5 hours
            1.0 hours
            2.0 hours
            2.25 hours
            3.3 hours
            5.0 hours

 

 

 

Watering Rate

How do you determine your watering rate?

I place "tin" cans (aluminum cans will blow away and/or tip over easily) randomly around my lawn. After a watering session, I measure how deep the water is in each location. I average the depths to get one value. That value is the average rate for the lawn for the elapsed time. If I water for two hours and there is an average of 2 ½", the watering rate is 1 ¼" per hour.

Watering new seed or sod

When installing new grass seed or sod you must keep the soil moist for it to survive. It is OK to water frequently (2 to 3 time a day) for a short period of time (10 to 15 min.) to keep the soil moist. This will promote rapid seed germination and root development. Typically, these watering habits should only be used until the root system of the new grass has started to develop. Once the roots have started to develop, you should follow the regular water guidelines.

Be kind to your lawn.  Don't overwater!  You'll save money and have a healthy lawn.

About the Author

The author has been involved in lawn care for over 25 years.  Owns and operates Stout Services Lawn Care Plus in South Carolina. 

He can be contacted at (843) 639-5229 or emailed at store@swstout.com.

Product Web Site: http://www.theorganiclawncarestore.com/

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