We hope that this part of our website will help to inform you about our approach to lawn care.
We try as much as possible to take account of prevailing weather, environment & soil conditions when choosing products and processes for the service.
Thatch control is high on our list of priorities. Keeping thatch at healthy levels will in turn influence disease and grub control.
Regular aeration promotes healthy root growth and improves the circulation of air, nutrients and water. This will help the microrganisms in the soil to thrive. Microrganisms and healthy bacteria will help to consume/control thatch.
Grubs are potentially a real problem, that can develop unseen. They weaken turf while birds and animals will make a mess of a lawn when they dig the grass up to get at the grubs. Treatment is not straightforward.
Our recommendation is to treat lawns that have had grub issues in the past with preventive insecticide, perhaps combined with nematodes if circumstances dictate, in an integrated approach. However, insecticide will not give immediate results (perhaps needed if a lawn is getting pulled apart by predators) whereas a nematode treatment will reduce grub numbers, if successful. Nematodes can only be applied if soil temperatures and moisture levels are right due to them being live, microscopic worms that infect and destroy the target pest. They are awkward to store, transport and mix into spray solution.
Other key points:
- irrigation is crucial after treatment with particularly nematodes but is also beneficial to insecticides
- insecticide application is limited to one per year, nematodes can be used multiple times
- cutting and dropping clippings for a few cuts following application of insecticide will help
- nematodes are available as a DIY product, insecticides are not