The lawn is the visiting card of the site, and every summer resident wants to see it healthy and well-groomed. But even the strongest grass, which withstands the scorching sun and active trampling, can get sick. How to restore the lawn to its former beauty, suddenly covered with red spots or white flowers?
dollar spotting
Under this intriguing name hides a disease in the form of yellow or brown circles about 10 cm in diameter. From a distance, one could really think that gold coins are scattered on the lawn. Dollar spot typically infects grain crops, and particularly bluegrass meadow, which is often used in roller and seed lawns.
The main cause of this disease is a lack of nitrogen in the soil. And to find out, it is not necessary to do a chemical analysis of the soil. Just look at the green spaces. If flowers and shrubs grow too slowly and their leaves turn yellow and fall off, you should beware. The long absence of rain is another reason to sound the alarm. The risk of dollar spotting is particularly high during dry seasons.
To avoid dollar spots, do not forget to water the site, adding nitrogen fertilizers to the water. Another effective measure is ventilation during the season. We are talking about drilling the ground at an angle of 45°, which is necessary to improve ventilation in the turf and loosen the soil. You can do this by walking on the lawn in special shoes, wielding a pitchfork or using a hand tool – a spiked roller. But the GREENWORKS GD40SC38II Cordless Aerator-Scarifier from the 40V line of tools will do the best job. It simplifies the supply of oxygen, water, nutrients and minerals to the roots of the grass and, thanks to its working width of 38 cm, even a large lawn can be treated quickly with it.
image source: GREENWORKS
GREENWORKS GD40SC38II comes with 2 spare shafts. One – with steel blades – is used to thin the lawn and loosen the surface. The second shaft – with spring steel tines – helps to create perforations for aeration and additionally remove moss, weeds, plant debris, dry grass and other plant debris, removing them sending to the 45 l collection box.
The scarifier aerator is equipped with an advanced DigiPro brushless motor. Such an engine is environmentally friendly and has lower noise and vibration levels, less wear, longer life and does not require complex maintenance. The aerator is powered by 40V batteries with a capacity of 2 Ah, 4 Ah or 5 Ah, compatible with all GREENWORKS G-MAX 40V devices.
Snow mold (fusarium)
With this disease, spots with a diameter of 25-30 cm form on the lawn, and a white coating is visible on the stems, similar to snow or frost. Fusarium appears in wet weather, due to standing water. Another reason is excess nitrogen in the soil. This is signaled by flowers and shrubs. They grow slowly, but have abnormally thick stems and an overly bright green color.
The prevention of the disease goes through immunizing fungicides, as well as regular aeration. Another useful procedure is grass scarification or, in simple terms, combing. Using the GREENWORKS GD40SC38II Aerator-Scarifier, a layer of dead, hardened stems is removed from the lawn, improving the access of water, oxygen and nutrients to the soil.
Usually, scarification is carried out in the spring, and the procedure is repeated when the layer of straw reaches 5 mm in thickness. After combing, it is worth sowing the grass to avoid “baldness” of the lawn.
image source: GREENWORKS
But back to snow mold. For its treatment, you can use the same fungicides as for dollar spotting. For the rest, you need to do the exact opposite – use low-nitrogen fertilizers and reduce watering to a minimum.
An excellent prevention against snow mold is an effective drainage system that prevents standing water.
powdery mildew
This disease usually appears in July-August and most often affects Kentucky bluegrass. It looks like a white canvas, which thickens and darkens over time. If measures are not taken in time, the stems dry out and the lawn noticeably thins out. It happens that the lawn dies from this disease and needs to be sown again.
The causes of powdery mildew are frequent weather changes, high humidity, excess nitrogen in the soil and a lack of ultraviolet radiation.
To protect the lawn from this disease, you need to regularly cut it to a height of 5-7 cm, so that the sun’s rays warm the ground well. You also need to give up evening watering and minimize morning watering. It is important to aerate to ensure oxygen access to the roots. And finally, feed the grass with fertilizers with a reduced amount of nitrogen and a mixture of phosphorus. For uniform dressing, it is best to use a sprayer, and in order not to get tangled in the wires and not to breathe gasoline exhaust, it is recommended to use the GREENWORKS G40BPS battery-powered sprayer from the 40V line. Its 15-litre tank straps to your back like a backpack, leaving your hands free, while wide straps and a belt around the waist ensure a secure fit.
The pressure created by the 0.5 MPa pump provides a capacity of 1.9 liters per minute. This is much higher than hand pump and lever models which require pumping. Even large trees can be sprayed with the GREENWORKS G40BPS. The kit includes 5 nozzles: a cone, a double cone, a sprinkler, a flat nozzle and an adjustable nozzle.
The sprayer, like the aerator, is powered by 40V batteries with a capacity of 2 Ah, 4 Ah and 5 A*h
witch circles
This extremely unpleasant disease is known to many summer residents. Mushrooms growing in circles (usually mushrooms) appear on a neatly mowed lawn. The mycelium, which extends several meters deep, absorbs so much moisture from the soil that the grass simply dies.
There can be several reasons for the appearance of witch circles:
- the presence of fungal spores in the seed or rolled grass;
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the proximity of the site to the forest, from where the spores are carried by the wind;
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a layer of peat soil under the lawn;
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high soil humidity;
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the presence of decomposing organic residues (old stumps, planks, animal excrement, etc.)
To fix the problem, you first need to get rid of fungus. It is impossible to kill them with poison without damaging the grass, so they must be dug up manually. It’s digging, not cutting – so there’s a higher chance of damaging the mycelium.
The same purpose – to kill the threads of the mycelium – is served by special means, such as “Agat-25K” and “Chistotsvet”.
Collected mushrooms should be burned, and the damaged area of ​​​​the lawn should be fed with nitrogen and potassium fertilizers. Watering will need to be minimized for some time, as mushrooms can again sprout in wet soil.
After treating witch circles, you need to strengthen the immune system of the grass cover by airing and sprinkling the affected areas with sand.
image source: GREENWORKS
Mosses and lichens
These pests rarely infect a healthy lawn. Their appearance indicates an excess of humidity or a lack of sunlight. To get rid of moss and lichens, watering with dilute lime will help. But before that, you need to determine the level of soil acidity using special litmus paper. Acidity, requiring correction, starts from 0 to 5.5 pH.
Another possible reason is stems that are too low. Zero cutting weakens the immune system of plants, so it is better to use wheeled lawn mowers with adjustable cutting height for lawn treatment. For example, a great option is the GREENWORKS TWIN FORCE G40LM49DB cordless lawnmower from the 40V range with 2 motors, 2 blades and 2 battery compartments. The deck blades are not parallel and spin in opposite directions, creating an aerodynamic updraft effect that lifts the grass just before the cut. The presence of two compartments for batteries with alternating work and a grass collection box of increased volume of 60 liters with a filling indicator makes it possible to mow for a long time without stopping, and the adjustment of the cutting height between 35 and 85 mm allows for a perfectly even cut and a healthy lawn.
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