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30 March 2013

Kansas City Landscapers- Grass Treatments

By Derek Einstein


A driven home-owner with sufficient time on his hands doesn't need to pay a professional landscaper for basic lawn care. But a simple once a week trim is not enough for an immaculate yard. This post will briefly discuss techniques professional Kansas City landscapers utilize.

You must acknowledge the requirements of your grass as a living thing. Failing to meet these needs will result in a lawn which will be unsightly and prone to disease. And yet realizing the wants of this creature called "grass" isn't going to answer them. You must apply that understanding attentively and with strategic skill.

Professional landscapers in Kansas City always treat the first few inches of soil, if possible. The correct preparation should ideally provide a loamy texture. Professionals know the important of soil that is conditioned for the ideal water retention and oxygen exposure.

The next step in soil-preparation is the acidity of the soil. Kansas City landscapers make use of uncomplicated pH testing kits that you can get at many garden-supply retail stores. Then adjust the levels up (more alkaline) or down (more acidic) to provide the perfect acidity and texture. A pH level of between 6.5 and 7.0 is ideal. With all of the various methods and materials out there, refer to a Kansas City landscaping company.

Kansas City's water run-off tendencies can mean pools of standing water or heavy erosion on your property, which can not only harm the grass roots but expose the yard to disease from stress. Grass needs to have several inches of well-drained, yet moist soil. Fungus and other diseases come from standing water, along with a suffocation of grass leaves and roots. Grass that is not well-rooted will be killed by fast-moving water and the essential top layer of soil will be removed. To prevent this you should re-grade areas that are too steep or that are prone to standing water. For areas that are too steep you may need to re-landscape or put sod down.

When cultivating a new lawn or covering a bare area you'll need to choose between sod or grass seed. The less expensive option will always be seed, but it takes far more time and labor to bring it to maturity.

If your yard has one or more stressful condition that one variety of grass can't handle well you should look into two or even three types of grass to be planted together. This is a common practice used by professional landscapers in Kansas City to provide a healthy shield against varied conditions and knock out competing plants. Seek advice or help from a professional for your unique regional needs.

A smart landscaper knows that watering too often can be just as bad as not watering enough. Keeping the soil partially damp but not flooded is the advised approach given by Kansas City landscapers. Too much water too often can result in fungus or a layer of dead grass called thatch. The soil conditioning plays the largest role in deciding how to water. If it drains too quickly without retaining water or does not drain well you will have to adjust. You shouldn't need to water more than once per week, except in extreme cases.

If thatch is left for several years or becomes excessive it will be a menace to your yard. This breeding ground for pests and disease can harm the grass in several ways. Nonetheless, a modest amount of thatch under a lush lawn is fine. It can even help hold water and micro-nutrients in the soil.

This means that sometimes you will need to de-thatch the lawn. The most common method employed by Kansas City landscaping professionals for de-thatching is a power-rake. The goal is to draw much of the thatch out of the yard and remove it. Once removed, the thatch can be easily composted (if it's not contaminated with fungus or insects) or simply thrown away.

Each year water fall (rain and snow) will compact the soil around your grass roots. Water and nutrients will be held away from roots, thus preventing the yard from prospering.

Kansas City landscapers take care of this dilemma by aerating. To aerate the yard you will need to rent or borrow an aerator and run it over the yard repeatedly. This will relieve the compression and permit the roots to do what they do best.

In order to keep weeds from even awakening, Kansas City landscapers work with a pre-emergent. A pre-emergent is a chemical that, just as you may guess, stops weeds before they even can emerge. So the weeds don't even take root. This will save a lot of time and labor trying to take out established weeds.

Just like any other organism your lawn needs nourishment to grow. Nutrients are leeched out of the soil from sunshine, wind, and other processes. The yard must have these essential elements or it will be malnourished and prone to deadly stresses. Professional Kansas City landscapers recommend two or three feedings every year to replace the leeched nutrients. Chemical nutrients are a common method for feeding or, the more effective method, garden compost and manure.

At the time for fertilizing, be sure the grass isn't so long that it effects the spreading pattern or else the nutrition will never reach some areas of the yard and be too strong in others. At the same time, if you just cut the yard, the nitrogen can pull water out of the tender leaves and burn the yard. The grass can be harmed any time you cut the yard too short. Professional landscapers in Kansas City understand this and use higher settings to avoid it.

Once a year Kansas City landscapers apply a fungicide for preventing the spread of disease. Untreated grass will be prone to mold, mildew, and fungus that can destroy a yard. Kansas City landscapers keep a continual eye on the yards in their care, but the ounce of prevention will cost much less than the pound of cure.

Intelligent Kansas City landscapers will keep the yard in the healthiest state possible. Strategic care will always save you work and headaches later on. Neglecting the yard not only makes it look bad now, but means it will die in tough times and consequently need to be replaced.

The good Kansas City landscaper will tell you that it is hard work but it is necessary if your lawn is going to be healthy and happy. Nobody said it would be easy but it usually is worth the time. And there are few activities that will so quickly and completely become a source of joy and value for you and your household. So get out there and enjoy the work!




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1 comment:

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