Grass Clippings - Lawn Advice From a Team of Lawn and Turf Experts

Controlling Worm Casts in your Lawn

At last, a nutrient based unique blend of worm deterrent and soil penetrants containing more than 5% Amino Nitrogen and more than 15% Organic Sulphur.  A real solution to worm casts on your lawns this autumn.

The Team at The Lawn Shop have been so busy packaging up product to send out the the end user and taking technical enquiries on this revolutionary product, they have asked us to put some more technical information on the available worm cast product to assist those seeking the information just ahead of buying some to solve their worm cast problem.

CastClear is a unique combination of nutrient materials that have been clearly shown to reduce worm-cast levels on sports turf and lawns large and small. 

Dry Patch areas in your lawn

Dry Patch is a little know problem of turf in amateur lawn cirlces but one that has an incredible impact in ensuring consistent colour, growth, nutrient status, run of the ball and most of all visual impact and continuity of grass cover.

You may notice a darkening halo on parts of the lawn, visible from the upstairs window. This is a good indicator that the soil underneath is starting to or has dried out. This little known phenomenon is not only related to drought conditions but even if you are watering the lawn on a regular basis all throughout the year, some areas will still never become wet naturally to a depth, thus promoting grass growth in these areas. The surface of these areas will become dry and crusty and thatchy and be void of grass that cannot grow without water.

A Wetting Agent is used to alleviate localised ‘Dry Patch’ areas on a lawn or grass area. These areas have appeared because the soil-acting bacteria have made the soil hydrophobic (repelling water) and until you can get these areas wet again, nothing will grow. A bit like trying to wet an old bathroom sponge, almost impossible.

Time to improve you lawn mowing habits

Visit any professional Green keeper's office and you will see two clocks on the wall. The first clock is the one that signals the time for lunch and home time. The hands on the other one do not move as fast, but they do change daily - to advise the green keeping team the direction of the mowing of the golf greens for the day. The next day, the direction will change and the clock will announce this change.

Controlling Leatherjackets in your lawn

There are a few lawn pests that will eat away at your grass roots thus destroying a lawn and one of them is Leatherjackets - the larvae of the Daddy Long Legs or Crane Fly to be technically correct.

We have passed the time of the year when the adults are flying around and being batted by the Cat but their work as adults is now done! They have laid their numerous eggs in your nice green sward and soon they will be hatching into hungry larvae ready to start attacking your nice new grass roots. Never ever underestimate the damage that a troop of Leatherjacket larvae can inflict on a grass area.

Installing a fake plastic lawn or real turf?

Every Mans home is his castle and making up the largest part of the landscaped grounds around the bricks and mortar will be a nice natural turf lawn. The lawn is nearly always the largest part of a garden but the one aspect of soft landscaping that is least understood by amateur and professional lawn owners alike.

There has been a dramatic rise in the use of artificial grass for key areas in landscaping and in gardens and lawn areas once occupied by thousands of grass plants has been replaced by plastic.

Lawn Treatment Franchise for only £6,000

A new challenge and an opportunity to get a slice of the growing lawn treatment industry for only £6,000. Buying a lawn treatment franchise can traditionally be anything between £16,000 and £25,000. The Team at The Lawn Company have managed to come up with a simple but effective concept for only £6,000 which includes the customer management and treatment software, initial equipment to make successful lawn treatments, personal protective equipment to help you comply with pesticide legislation, some stock of fertiliser and chemicals to get you going, and 5,000 marketing leaflets for you to distribute locally to spark consumer interest in your new service.

Dog urine burns in lawns

All lawn owners with dogs have been there. Their green lawns polka dotted with brown pee marks from their beloved pooch. There are the many old wive's tales of adding tomato juice into their dogs' food or water bowl to reduce the impact of their dog urine burn mark on the lawn.

The Team at Grass Clippings have been busy trialing a new product that actually works! They have also given some consideration to repairing the damage afterwards, one that is 'soil less' and very effective.

Factors affecting successful lawn treatments

As a lawn owner, application timing of treatment products is critical to acheive the best results from your efforts. 

All too often, you can spot applications being made too early in the year or too late in the year or when the lawn is under stress. 

If the lawn treatment products are applied in the non-growing season or under times of stress, the desired results will not be acheived and the lawn owner will quickly lose faith in their chosen product when after all, it may not be the products fault in the first place, just that the timing was wrong in the first place.

Ride on Mower traps Event Rider

A former British international event rider is in a critical state after being left trapped under his ride-on mower for ten hours as it leaked fuel over him.  

Hendrik Wiegersma got caught underneath his vehicle while he was cutting grass at his farm in Highampton near Hatherleigh, West Devon.  Worse followed for the 62-year-old as the mower's petrol seeped onto his skin, causing severe chemical burns to his legs leaving him with multiple injuries including a broken hip, a punctured lung and kidney damage.

Red Thread Disease in Lawns

Red Thread Disease in you lawn season is now upon us.  Warm and wet environmental conditions are ideal for an outbreak of this unsightly lawn disease.  

It is fairly easy to prevent an outbreak of this lawn disease.  The majority of lawns were fertilised in the spring months and now the benefit of that feed is wearing off.  Add into the equation that some of the nutrients in the turf grass plants end up in the mower box as grass clippings and you can soon build up a picture as to why the grass may become weak and susceptible to an attack of Red Thread Disease.  The presence of the Red Thread pathogen is unfortunately within some grass species and purchasing good quality certified grass seed is important as these are usually the top ten cultivars for a specie where everyone in the supply chain has tried hard to improve the rating for 'freedom of Red Thread'.

Dyeing to see where you have sprayed

When lawn owners make liquid or chemical applications to their lawn, they are faced with a big dilemma - how can they mark where they have sprayed already?

Professional Turf Managers have been using Spray Pattern Indicator Dyes for decades but these have never been widely available before to the amateur lawn owner. 

Turf Managers also use what is called a foam bout marker on their large sprayers which leaves a trace blob of foam down the travelled run of the fairway so that the operator can match up with the last pass on the return run.  The foam soon disappears after an hour via sunlight.

Lawn Care Calendar

The majority of lawn owners require a helping hand with their lawns but most importantly sound lawn care advice to guide them with their lawn care throughout the year.

A lot can happen to a lawn in 12 months, especially with varying weather patterns from year to year.  There are lawn treatments and lawn mantenance tasks to perform plus renovation tasks should the lawn require a major overhaul.  Where do you initially look for guidance in these specialist lawn tasks and how can you be sure that you may rely on the advice given?