10/29/2020
Great information
THATCH: WHAT IT IS & WHAT IT ISN’T
Recently, one of our customers asked us to check out her lawn because it was turning brown despite her watering for 10-15 minutes every morning. Note: We have been in a drought for 9 weeks and temperatures were in the 80s-90s almost daily. When we looked at her lawn, we found that the grass in the main area of her lawn had turned brown because the soil was actually completely dry. WHY? Because there was a 1-1/2 inch layer of thatch that was soaking up all the water before it got down to the soil. Most of the actual grass roots were tied up in the thick thatch layer instead of the soil. The weakened grass was stressed and had some areas of dollar spot fungus, and a lot of the grass was completely dead.
Thatch: what is it?
Thatch is a naturally occurring layer of roots, stems, dead grass and other pieces of organic debris from tree leaves and seeds. Some thatch is good, and can help your lawn regulate the temperature of its roots, by blocking sun, and insulating at night. A thin layer of thatch (1/2″) is great for preventing your lawn from drying out from the hot summer sun. Too much thatch, however, can wreak chaos on your lawn, as well as looking very unsightly. Thatch basically occurs when new grass growth occurs faster than the decomposition of the old growth and can build up over years.
Thatch: what it isn’t.
Contrary to a popular myth, leaving clippings on the lawn does not cause thatch. Grass clippings are mostly water, so as long as you mow regularly at the right height, they will break down and disappear rapidly.
The problems caused by thatch buildup.
Thatch that is too dense, or too thick, can prevent water and nutrients from reaching the lawns’ root system. Instead, water runs across the top of the lawn, taking with it the natural nitrogen that comes with rain, and potentially any nutrients added by fertilizing. Another problem with thick thatch is it can be a great home for destructive insects and disease organisms/fungus.
What to do?
For extreme cases of thick thatch, we can apply N-Ext D-Thatch™ 3-0-0 to your lawn. It is designed to reduce thatch build up in lawns that do not have the ability to be mechanically adjusted due to cultivar or time of season.
D-Thatch™ focuses on composting thatch faster by encouraging microbial activity at the soil surface and increasing heat. This exothermic release by increased soil activity will breakdown thatch from the soil level up. Thatch is quickly reduced and the organic matter is captured as a food source for your turf.
For large areas of dead grass, we also suggest aerating and over-seeding to promote new grass going into the Fall - it's the best time to seed since there isn’t much w**d germination at this time.
