Mountain Lakes Environmental Commission Recommends

Healthy Lawns

Benefits of a Healthy Lawn

Working With Nature: A Preventive Health Care Program for Your Lawn

The secret is to work with nature.  This means creating conditions for grass to thrive and resist damage from weeds, disease, and insect pests.  It means setting realistic goals for your lawn whether you or a professional lawn care service will be doing the work.  If you think about lawn care as a preventive health care program, then the object is to prevent problems from occurring so you don't have to treat them.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  A healthy lawn can out compete most weeds, survive most insect attacks, and fend off most diseases before these problems ever get the upper hand.

Good soil is the foundation of a healthy lawn.  To grow well, your lawn needs soil with good texture, some key nutrients, and the right pH, or acidity/alkalinity balance.  Start by checking the texture of your soil to see whether its heavy with clay, light and sandy, or somewhere in between.  Lawns grow best in soil with intermediate or loamy soils that have a mix of clay, silt, and sand.

Whatever your soil type, you can probably improve it by periodically adding organic matter like compost, manure, or grass clippings.  Organic matter helps to lighten a predominantly clay soil and it helps sandy soil retain water and nutrients.  Also check to see if your soil is packed down from lots of use or heavy clay content.  This makes it harder for air and water to penetrate, and for grass roots to grow.  To loosen compacted soil, some lawns may need to be aerated.  This will increase the percentage of air in the soil to the ideal of 12% to about 15%.  Use a core aerator, which will remove a ¾ inch diameter plug, 3 to 4 inches deep.  Check for soil moisture before aerating.  If it is too wet, the cores will not come out of the tubes, if soil is too dry, the machine will bounce.  This process creates air spaces, so water and nutrients can penetrate to the grass roots.  Enzymatic soil conditioners and gypsum also help loosen the soil.

Test soil at least once each year to identify imbalances and show if you are improving the soil over time.  Local garden centers often have soil testing kits, or the Morris County Rutgers Cooperative Extension Office will provide information on soil testing.  The Extension Office can also help you choose the right fertilizer, compost or other soil amendments.  Phone them at # 973-285-8300, M-F, 8:30 to 4:30.  The Horticultural Consultant is on hand at the same number M- F, 9:00 to 12:00 and Friday again from 1:00 to 4:00.  (Remember, local ordinance requires use of non-phosphorus fertilizers.)

Grass is best able to absorb nutrients in a slightly acidic soil, with a pH of 6.5 to 7.0.  Mountain Lakes' soils are largely acidic and can be sweetened with lime.  Soil that is not acid enough can be made more "sour" by adding sulfur.

Plant proper varieties of grasses. Choose several appropriate grasses for your soil and light conditions.  After soil test, over-seed in the spring, and the fall, to establish a strong turf.  If you are putting in a new lawn, it will be worth your while to do some research to identify the best grass types for your needs.  If you are working with an established lawn that fails to thrive despite proper care, consider replanting with different varieties.  New grass varieties and mixtures come on the market every year.  This is another good question for our Rutgers agent, or your lawn professional.

Mow high. Longer grass has more leaf surface to take in sunlight.  (Shade is certainly an issue in Mountain Lakes.) This enables it to grow thicker and develop a deeper root system, which in turn helps the grass survive drought, tolerate insect damage, and fend off diseases.  Longer grass shades the soil surface keeping it cooler, helping it retain moisture, and making it difficult for weeds, like crabgrass, to germinate and grow.  A lawns ideal length will vary with type, but many turf grasses are healthiest when kept between 3 ½ and 4 inches.  You may need to readjust your mower, most are set too low.  Its also very important to mow with sharp blades to prevent tearing and injuring the grass.  Its best to mow often, because grass adjusts better to frequent than infrequent mowing.  The rule of thumb is to mow often enough that never more than one third of the grass height is cut at a time.  Save some time and help your lawn and the environment by leaving short clippings on the grass where they recycle nitrogen.  This reduces the need for synthetic fertilizers.

Watering properly will help your lawn grow deep roots that make it stronger and less vulnerable to drought.  Most lawns are watered too often but with too little water.  It is best to water slowly and deeply.  This trains the roots down.  Frequent shallow watering trains the roots to stay near the surface, making the lawn less able to find moisture during dry periods.  No established home lawn, in an area like Mountain Lakes, requires daily watering.

Water in a way that imitates a slow soaking rain by using trickle irrigation, soaker hoses, or other waterconserving methods.  Water in the early morning, especially in the summer, to reduce evaporation.  Apply about an inch of water-enough so it soaks 6 to 8 inches into the soil.  Then let the lawn dry out thoroughly before watering again.  The way to tell is when the color dulls and footprints stay compressed for more than a few seconds.

Correct Thatch build-up. All grass forms a layer of dead plant material, known as thatch, between the grass blades and the soil.  When thatch gets deeper than ½ inch, it prevents water and nutrients from penetrating to the soil and grass roots.  Some grasses tend to form a thick layer of thatch.  Overuse of fertilizer can also create a heavy layer of thatch. 

You can reduce thatch by raking or using a machine that slices through the thatch layer to break it up.  Sprinkling a thin layer of topsoil or compost over the lawn will also help.  In a healthy lawn, microorganisms and earthworms help keep the thatch layer in balance by decomposing it and releasing the nutrients into the soil.  Organic fertilizers also help break down thatch naturally.

Setting realistic goals will allow you to conduct an environmentally sensible lawn care program.  Did you know that a lawn with 15% weeds could look practically weed-free to the average observer? Even a healthy lawn is likely to have some weeds or insect pests.  But it will also have beneficial insects and other organisms that help keep pests under control.  Also know that there are just some spots in which grass will not grow well.  At the base of a tree, you might have better luck with wood chips or a shade loving ornamental plant like ivy, periwinkle or pachysandra.

Monitor and identify problem areas. Is the grass getting sufficient sunlight and air? Are diseases evident or are there pests? Serious ongoing pest problems are often a sign that your lawn is not getting what it needs and may be a symptom of an underlying problem.  You may need to correct the underlying problem to reduce the chance that the pest will reappear.

All pesticides are toxic by definition.  Even when applied properly, they can also kill earthworms and other beneficial organisms, disrupting the ecological balance of your lawn.  Biological control means using natural enemies to pests.  Horticultural control involves the use of gardening methods like mowing high to shade out weeds.  Use appropriate controls, and treat only the problem that exists.

Attract birds.  They are one of natures best biological insect controllers.  Plant trees that birds love and use as food sources, such as Bittersweet, Crabapple, Flowering Dogwood or Holly.  Use beneficial insects such as ladybugs, praying mantises, and lacewings that kill pests such as aphids.  Use plants as pest repellants, such as marigolds, nasturtiums, geraniums and tansies.  These have natural pesticide properties.  Choose native species of grasses, flowers, shrubs and trees that are suited to the north Jersey climate and soils and require minimum care.

If all else fails, resort to least toxic methods of pest control.  Use biological pesticides such as Bt for leaf-eating worms and caterpillars; milky spore disease for Japanese beetle grubs and other closely related grubs.  Other pesticides from nature include pyrethrum, rotenone and sabadilla.  Use beneficial nematodes to control soil pests.

Taken liberally from various sources listed below:

Suppliers of Beneficial Insects and Organic Materials