Get Answers for Commonly Asked Questions About Turf Maintenance

Natural turf serves as a natural air-conditioner. This is easy to experience. Stand on a lush lawn and then stand on the pavement, bare feet. The heat reflected off the lawn cools the environment. The turf on eight average-sized healthy front lawns has the cooling effect of 70 tons of air conditioning, enough for 16 average homes. It also traps dust and smoke particles from the air and acts as a filter for the air we breathe. This is particularly important in urban areas where dust generated by cars and trucks can be trapped and washed down into the soil, preventing further movement.

Artificial turf may be as harmful as asbestos. Whether it is your yard or your sports field, buy sod from Highland Turf Farms Ltd. Inhaling carbon black nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes found in pulverized tires and the tire crumb used on artificial turf fields can be harmful. In May of 2008, in an article by Larry Greenemeier for Scientific American, he quoted one study that went so far as to suggest, “Inhaling carbon nanotubes could be as harmful as breathing asbestos.”

Highland Turf Farms Ltd uses a blend of different grasses, or fescues, to ensure your lawn will endure both rainy and dry weather conditions, various soil types and degrees of sun or shade. Watering your lawn appropriately varies with weather conditions. How much water is needed for proper lawn maintenance depends on your soil type, quality of care, foot traffic, and depth of roots. As new sod takes root, less water is needed for lawn maintenance than is required for the initial weeks after laying the sod. Watering earlier in the day or later in the evening ensures the water will be absorbed by the roots, rather than just evaporating. Automatic sprinkler systems on a timer can also be an effective way to manage watering. Customizing your lawn maintenance by recognizing different parts of your lawn may help. Your lawn may require a little extra attention to certain areas of the lawn. If the grass is turning gray or has wilted areas it may need a little extra water on those areas. Good lawn maintenance requires the right amount of water. Too much water is also not good for your lawn. It can invite disease, insects and other types of damage to your lawn.

One of the questions Highland Turf Farms Ltd often gets is how soon you should mow your lawn after installing sod. The answer is easy. If your lawn looks like it needs cutting – cut it. Mowing is an essential part of lawn maintenance. Improper mowing can leave your lawn vulnerable to weeds, insects and disease. Improper moving is one of the most common ways to wreck your lawn. This aspect of lawn maintenance destroys more lawns than insects or diseases do. The blades of grass absorb sunlight, and photosynthesis makes the grass grow. If you cut your lawn too short, there will not be enough leaf surface for the plant to absorb the necessary nutrients. The key to easy lawn maintenance has a clean, sharp mower blade. Clean, sharp blades make a cleaner cut without damaging the grass. Highland Turf Farms Ltd lawn maintenance recommendations are to cut grass at 1.5 to 3 inches (3.7cm to 7.0 cm) depending on weather conditions and other conditions such as shade, temperature, water and light. The only grasses that can be cut very short are specialty grasses used for putting greens. For the best lawn maintenance, scattering Over Seed to fill in areas where the grass is a little thinner can also keep the lawn from developing weeds.

Fertilizing is an integral part of lawn maintenance. Proper fertilization keeps your lawn healthy and green. Fertilized lawns are more resistant to disease, and the grass grows more vigorously. Lawn maintenance practices, like fertilizing regularly, enable your grass to compete against weeds. If your grass is healthy, weeds have less of a chance. Lawn maintenance strategies need to enable the lawn to get the 16 elements the lawn needs for survival. The three key elements needed are Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). All fertilizers have these three elements listed on the bag, as percentages in order. For example, N10-P10-K10 is 10% Nitrogen, 10% Phosphorus, 10% Potassium). Highland Turf Farms Ltd sells fertilizer that is best suited for lawn maintenance in the Pitt Meadows.

It is not possible to have a completely weed-free lawn even if you practice good lawn maintenance. The wind always blows in weed seeds. Hand weeding, as soon as a weed is noticed, is a good practice. Allowing weeds to mature increases their root system and may make them harder to get rid of even with good lawn maintenance.

Avoiding lawn diseases is not always easy, and even if you practice good lawn maintenance practices, you may encounter challenges from time to time. However, if you maintain a strong, healthy lawn that is cut at an appropriate length, you will be less likely to have lawn disease problems either over or under-watered. Prevention is key.

The City of Vancouver offers this lawn maintenance tip. “There will be less need to control pests, which eliminates the need for pesticides that might affect your health, harm other living things and find their way into local streams.” Insects are more prevalent when the weather is hot and dry. Sometimes, you can have insect problems without you noticing the insects. They may be hard at work deeper down, damaging the grass and the roots.

Sod, also known as turf, is essentially grass that is farmed and held together by roots. Highland Turf Farms Ltd uses local sod only as sod that has been transported for any substantial period often risks being dried out. Soil erosion, repairs to your existing sod and establishing grass quickly are just a few of the reasons why sod is needed. Highland Turf Farms Ltd sod is freshly grown! Depending on the size of the area you need to repair, you may want to pick up just a few rolls of sod. If you need more than a few rolls, we will deliver.

There are more than one benefit when it comes to growing turfs. These are: Soil erosion control Countering greenhouse effects Dust and air pollution control Physical and mental health benefits Wildlife habitat Cooling effect: 70 Tons of air conditioning Oxygen production: 55 square feet Carbon retention & storage: 37 Billion Heat dissipation: 50% Reduction pests and help with allergies Improved property value Noise reduction and heat & glare Reduction Fire barrier

“One of the key mechanisms by which turfgrasses preserve water is their superior capability to trap and hold runoff, which results in more water infiltrating through the soil turfgrass ecosystem.” Dr. James B Beard, Professor Emeritus Texas A&M University, Council of Agricultural Science and Technology. “Although the roots of turfgrass generally aren’t as deep as the roots of prairie plants, they have a higher plant density which affects infiltration and decreases water runoff and increases percolation”. Dr. John Stier, Horticulture Professor University of Wisconsin (Madison June 2007). “An extremely important function of turf grasses is soil improvement through organic matter additions derived from the turnover of foods and other plant tissues”- Dr. James B Beard, Professor Emeritus Texas A&M University, Council of Agricultural Science and Technology.

Turfgrass plays an important part in controlling our climate. Grassed surfaces reduce temperature extremes by absorbing the sun’s heat during the day and releasing it slowly in the evening, thus moderating temperature. Grass plants absorb some solar radiation to fuel the photosynthesis process. Roughly 50% of the sun’s heat striking the turf may be eliminated through this transpirational cooling process.