Aerating Your Lawn

If you manage your lawn with chemicals and pesticides, be sure to aerate at least three times a year in spring, mid-summer and fall.  Top-dress with screen compost and pest-resistant seed.  However, it is best if you can get your lawn off these abusive chemicals and use organic methods of pest and weed control.

If your lawn has just been sodded, aerate in spring and twice during the summer.  Top-dress immediately after aerating with very coarse sand and finely screened compost.  Aerate again in the fall, adding pH balancers and fertilizers.  These steps must be followed with procedures to minimize pests, disease and weeds throughout the year.

Test for Pests

Before you mow your lawn, select four areas of your lawn to test for pests.  These should be approximately one to three feet square, depending on the size of your lawn.  One area should be close to a sidewalk or patio.  The reason for this is that cement causes soil to heat quickly.  This allows insects to multiply at a faster rate.

Examine each area of lawn that you have selected for signs of pests as well as slow growth and yellow or brown spots.  If pests seem to be particularly heavy in one area, take a sample for proper identification.  Your local garden center is equipped to handle these types of inquiries and will quickly identify the insects that you provide them with.

If you notice dying grass, cut three sides of a one-foot square in the sod, lift and look underneath for root feeders.  Count them and collect specimens.  Some root feeders pose no threat but certain species are dangerous even in low numbers.

Mix a capful of dish detergent in a pail of water and sprinkle it over the affected area with a watering can.  Webworms and pests will come to the surface of the sod where they can be counted.

To detect chinch bugs, remove both ends of a one pound coffee tin.  Push it into the sod and fill it with water.  Within five minutes, chinch bugs will float to the surface.  This method is a great way to involve your children in enjoyable environmental monitoring.

Natural Pest Control

As a further preventative, encourage pest-eating birds to visit your property.  Birds of the Fringillidae family love to feast on weeds and insects.  Cardinals, buntings, goldfinches, juncos, grosbeaks and most varieties of sparrows belong to this family.  Sunflowers, portulaca, cosmos and marigolds attract these birds with their seeds but during spring and summer they will consume great quantities of weeds and insects.  Remember, in order to attract these birds, you must let the flowers go to seed.

Another preventable measure is to introduce praying mantis and ladybugs to your lawn.  These can be purchased from suppliers.  The staff of your local nursery can point you in the right direction.

Ants are another pesky problem.  They are drawn to dry soil that is low in organic matter.  Though they are natural aerators, they damage your lawn’s root system when they build their hills, though the damage is not severe. 

To rid your lawn of ants, apply sand, bleach, diatomaceous or bone meal to the colony openings.  These substances kill the ants and the colony will be deserted.  Commercial traps can be purchased from your local nursery if you feel more comfortable using them but the old favorites work very well.

To avoid an ant problem, be sure to top dress your lawn with compost.  This retains moisture and more likely than not, the ant problem will take care of itself.

Sod webworm moths hatch from a caterpillar in thick thatch.  The caterpillars skeletonize and cut off blades of grass.  If your lawn is thatchy and dry, you may have a problem.  One sod webworm can do extensive damage to your lawn.

To check for sod webworms, use a capful of dish detergent in a pail of water.  Sprinkle this on a two-foot square area.  This will bring webworm caterpillars to the sod’s surface within ten minutes.  If they appear, rake them up and drop them into a pail of insecticide soap. 

Re-seeding will repel webworms and fill damaged areas as well as crowd out weeds.  Aerate and top-dress with endophytic grass.

Caterpillars love lawns that are hot and dry throughout the day.  Top-dress with a quarter inch of finely screened weed-free compost, followed with irrigation.  This will correct your caterpillar problem.

In order to find the larvae of white grubs, you have to monitor your lawn by lifting the sod.  These grubs are C-shaped with soft, white bodies that range from one quarter to three inches.  White grubs are root feeders and can cause your lawn to turn brown and die.  Your best defense against white grubs is to have a healthy, dense lawn.  Aerate, de-thatch and keep surface moisture minimized by watering deeply and infrequently.  When weeding, dig out the entire root.  Grubs prefer weed roots to grass roots.

Disease

All disease can be attributed to a deficiency in your lawn’s ecosystem.  The best preventative is proper lawn care.  Be certain to monitor your lawn each week in order to diagnose and treat disease in the early stages.  Aerate and top-dress with a disease-resistant ryegrass.

Brown patch is a fungus that thrives in humid, shaded areas, heavy thatch and areas with high nitrogen levels.  This disease appears in crescent-shaped or round brown patches.  Aerate, moderate nitrogen levels, de-thatch and prune shrubs and shade trees.  If you have dead patches, re-seed with endophytic rye grass. 

Dollar spot is a fungus that thrives on lawns that have too little nitrogen and too much moisture above the soil.  These are both products of that build-up and improper watering.  This disease appears in spring or fall as circular bleached dead spots.  To avoid dollar spot, de-thatch, aerate and test nitrogen levels in fall.  Amend with a slow releasing organic product.  Water in early morning and roll your lawn to level out uneven areas where rain water pools.  Dollar spot thrives on grass that is cut too short and too often.  Once you take measures, the problem will subside.

Mildew appears as a gray, white powdery or cobwebby growth.  It usually appears on the upper surface of grass blades.  This fungus is more severe in wet, shaded areas that have poor air circulation.  To correct this problem, prune shade trees, aerate and never water in the evening.  Fertilize your lawn and mow your grass high with very sharp blades.

Toadstools often appear in lawns during wet spells in summer.  They are an above-ground growth of a fungus that is growing on underground organic matter – for example, a buried root or stump.  Toadstools are the result of excessive shade and poor drainage.  These can be removed easily by raking.  They are harmless and there is no other method of killing them without damaging your lawn.  They thrive on calcium deficient and slightly acidic soil.  Be sure to test your calcium content and pH balance.  Add wood ashes and dolomitic limestone to bring your pH up to 6.5.

Weeds

Excessive thatch, soil compaction, improper mowing and unbalanced pH and nutrients in the soil cause most weed problems.  Aerating, de-thatching and maintaining proper pH and nutrient balance will rid your lawn of weeds without the use of chemicals. 

Get your Lawn off Drugs, Now

It is neither environmentally safe nor necessary to continue drenching your lawn with toxic chemicals.  You can enjoy a beautiful, healthy lawn that is maintained organically by following the suggestions in this article.  Do yourself and your family and the environment a favor.  Get your lawn off drugs now!