The Lawn Coach is Moving!

Hi everybody!  GREAT NEWS!  

The Lawn Coach Blog has moved to integrate with the new website

www.TheLawnCoach.com.

I'm incredible excited about the new site and I sincerely hope you'll come join me there!  It has all the same things, just laid out in a far more user friendly fashion.  Come take a look and tell me all the good and bad about your lawn.

I hope to see you soon!

Sincerely,

C.J. Brown

Column: Bentgrass

The Lawn Coach™
Bentgrass Is Best Left on the Fairway
By Christopher J. Brown

Q: I have patches of “bentgrass” in my lawn that are driving me nuts. I’ve tried to get rid of them, but they keep coming back each season. Weed products don’t seem to help, but I’ve been told that this is a weed.

A: First, let’s define “weed.” A weed is simply a “plant out of place.” If you don’t want bentgrass in your lawn (and I can certainly understand your position), then it is a weed. That said, the weed control products you have been trying don’t know that.

Bentgrass is generally used as a golf course grass since it does very well under low mowing conditions. In fact, university scientists spend about a gazillion dollars annually to try and develop stronger varieties that can be mowed even shorter without dying. Currently, they’re working on a variety that can be cut down to the molecular level so that men in funny pants can roll a ball even faster. These life changing benefits do not extend to creating a great lawn though.

In a lawn, the patches of bentgrass are solid and do not allow for other grasses to encroach. This creates a very spotted, patchy appearance. Here’s the thing though; bentgrass (as the name glaringly implies) is actually a type of grass. That said, spraying a weed control product on it would be akin to hunting a deer with a fishhook poked through a squiggling worm. It works well when going for trout, but that doesn’t mean that anything in the animal kingdom will fall prey to it.

For bentgrass, you need grass killer. Seeing any difficulties with this yet? A grass killer will also kill the good grass! SO, you’ll have to be careful to ONLY SPRAY THE BENTGRASS PATCHES! Let me give two quick pieces of advice that you must take lest you kibosh this entire process. FIRST: When spraying, do not walk through the sprayed spots! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve diagnosed “mysterious” lawn problems that suspiciously looked like footprints leading from a dead patch of bentgrass toward the gate leaving the back yard. SECOND: Make sure that the grass killer is not a “season long” grass killer. Certain products not only kill the grass, but will also make it impossible to grow grass in that area for a full season. These are great for a gravel driveway, but not so much your lawn.

Okay, fast forward 2 weeks. You now have a lawn with patchy brown spots where the bentgrass once was. What should you do? Rip it out? Nope! That’s the best part. You probably won’t believe this until you see the end results, but here’s one of the coolest things I’ve yet seen in a lawn. All you need to do is rent a core aerator (which many rental places have) and run over the dead spots a few times to create a bunch of holes through the dead mat. Then sprinkle some seed generously throughout and scratch the whole area a bit with a rake to mix it up. If the patches get consistent water, you’ll be able to watch the new grass grow through the holes and fill in the area. The bentgrass will completely die off and the new stuff will take over in just a couple of months.

When done correctly, this procedure will rid your lawn completely of the unwanted bentgrass and you can enjoy a non-polka dotted property once again.

You can visit me on the web at http://TheLawnCoach.Blogspot.com or email me at TheLawnCoach@aol.com. Check out past columns, send in your questions, or even photos and videos of your lawn problem!

Column: Tall Fescue in Long Island

The Lawn Coach™
Tall Fescue on Long Island
By Christopher J. Brown

Q: I saw on your blog that the North Carolina gentleman probably was using a Tall Fescue down in North Carolina, whereas in Connecticut where you were ....that Kentucky Blue Grass was the preferred grass. I've been using Tall Fescue seed for years, at my home on Long Island, where I have sandy, soil - as I'm a 1 mile from the North Shore. Would you recommend that I switch to a Kentucky Blue grass in the future? Thanks ...I found your video on YouTube extremely helpful!

A: Thanks for checking out the blog and thank you for your question! This actually brings up a great point that I’ve been actively and bluntly making in my own strange way for years. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Has anybody trademarked that yet?

Have you ever wondered why you never see a one stop shopping fruit plantation? Wouldn’t that be great? Row A is lined with Apple trees. Row B has Bananas. Row C, Clementines, Row D is full of Dates. I’ll stop before I get anywhere near Row X, but hopefully you get the idea. Why wouldn’t that work? Simply put, these different fruit trees grow best in different climates. Most folks seem to intuitively understand that. Well, grasses are no different.

Tall Fescue is a fantastic type of grass that is starting to really come into its own. Grasses like Kentucky Bluegrass and Tall Fescue have a certain climate where they do best. Visualize a band stretching from coast to coast. The top of the band runs along the Canadian border. The bottom of the band runs from Maryland over to the northern part of California. This is where Kentucky Bluegrass does best. Now, take that entire band and shift it about 200 miles south. Now you are looking at the ideal areas for Tall Fescue. Keep shifting it south and you’ll get out of Tall Fescue territory and into Bermudagrass and Zoyzia territory.

While Long Island may be dead center of the Kentucky Bluegrass region, it is also within the northern parts of the Tall Fescue region. The great part about that is the heat tolerance Tall Fescue brings when Summers up here become cruelly abusive to our “ideal” grasses. The Tall Fescue hangs in there and survives the Summer heat spectacularly. Have you ever walked around outside in sauna-like conditions only to see some clearly imbalanced person who has the nerve to be wearing blue jeans? I’m wearing a goofy hat and paper thin clothes as I make a mad dash to the nearest air conditioned building while this lunatic has the nerve to seem happy to be roasting alive. I don’t quite get how those people do it but suffice it to say, some folks love the heat. They are the human equivalent to Tall Fescue. I have to imagine that the Kentucky Bluegrass is just as annoyed with Tall Fescue as I am with those walking bacon strips.

So, why hasn’t Tall Fescue gained more widespread popularity up here in Yankee country? Simply put, people are stuck in their ways. Tall Fescue used to be less desirable because it had very thick, coarse blades and was very clumpy. Nowadays, scientists have bred newer varieties that are much finer bladed while still retaining the tough characteristics you would be looking for.

So back to your question... Is the Tall Fescue doing well? Then it ain’t broke. Don’t fix it.

You can visit me at http://thelawncoach.blogspot.com/ or email me at TheLawnCoach@aol.com. Check out past columns, send in your questions, or even photos and videos of your lawn problem! You may get to see your answer in print right here!

Welcome to The Lawn Coach!

Pics from Judy!

Good news! Judy from VT was able to get me some pictures to help more positively diagnose her lawn problem. If you'll recall, I had posted a video response to her first question about possible grubs. Check it out here: Grubs in VT in August?

This is definitely NOT grub damage. It appears to be Dollar Spot, which is named for the silver dollar sized patches it leaves on a golf green. In a lawn, the patches are a bit more sporadic and uneven. Dollar spot is caused by a fungus that LOVES lots of water. The incessant rains are basically to blame here. It also thrives under lower nitrogen conditions, which result when the incessant rains flush all the nutrients out of the soil.

Luckily, this very rarely becomes too serious. Most of those patches will actually bounce back again and be fine. In the meantime, definitely plan on getting a good fertilizer application down in the beginning of September. When you see Dollar Spot, that means the lawn is getting hungry.

Why not fertilize now? Well, just as Dollar Spot thrives under LOW nitrogen conditions, there are other far more destructive fungi that thrive under HIGH nitrogen conditions when the temperatures are hot. That's why we wait until September, when things are beginning to cool off. Otherwise, it'd be like taking a carcinogenic chemical to treat a headache.

Good news on this one. It could have been much worse!

Read "The Lawn Coach" in These Newspapers!

MI- Metro Observer: Serving Metropolitan Detroit
MI- Macomb Observer: Serving Macomb County
MA-The Tinytown Gazette: Serving the towns of Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset, Scituate and Hull
MD- The Picket News: The Tri-State's Community Interest Publication

You're Not in Kansas Anymore Toto

Q: Hi Chris, we have been trying for about 4 years to establish grass in the area or dog used to be tied up in. We no longer have any pets but in that area grass will come up good but after about six weeks it dies out. The dog was tied up there for about 15 years. Is there anything we can do for the ground? We live in North Central Kansas where the summers are usually hot & dry.

A: Hmm. That's a tough one, but I CAN tell you that the remnants of the doggie wee wee are long gone. This problem is coincidentally in the same area where the dog was, but is not a result of the dogs residence. Dog urine has high concentrations of ammonia, which dissipate quickly with rain. It'd be gone only a week or so after the dog was no longer marking the territory.

Can you send in some pictures or a digital video clip? It'd help me get a good idea of what you are looking at. Get a few from further away and a few from close up. Thanks! Hopefully others will also learn from this.

-Chris