My friends!
Here I translated the article from the “American”. The translation is not literal, but rather “artistic”. I would be grateful for your responses. Criticism is welcome!
"Bad advice, or 10 simple ways"How to ruin your lawn and your mood after laying rolled turf"
by Dr. Hank WilkinsonHaving been a professional lawn and sod installer for many years., I am still amazed at how something as simple as laying turf rolls can be turned into a major problem that ends in complete failure. At the same time, not only amateur gardeners, but also people who engage in landscaping as part of their profession can create a real nightmare instead of a lawn. This happens due to the underestimation of several simple but fundamental rules. Actions that do not require much effort or additional investment can help create a magnificent, long-lasting lawn. On the contrary, neglecting them can turn the work into hard labor, and the result into complete chaos, requiring further enormous labor for rework and creating big problems with maintenance over a long time. It's so easy to achieve complete success with rolled sod every time you need it that it sometimes feels like it takes a special skill to mess it up. However, many people succeed. How?
Here are my top 10 ways to ruin your lawn and spoil the mood for yourself and those around you. Whether you follow my “bad advice” is your choice.
#1: Don't prepare ahead of time for lawn adoption..
To ensure that the lawn arrives fresh to the client, the nursery does not cut it in advance. The lawn is cut in the evening for early morning shipment. What is cut in the morning is immediately loaded onto transport and sent to the customer. Every piece of turf contains myriads of microorganisms. These small but very active animals breathe with amazing intensity, while secreting large number heat and carbon dioxide. IN normal conditions the lawn manages to neutralize their activity, but when the turf is rolled up and placed on a pallet, heat and gas remain inside the roll. If the weather during cutting was warm and damp, then the temperature inside the roll can rise to critical values after 30-40 hours. Therefore, it is extremely important that the lawn is not left on the pallet for long periods of time. It would be correct to distribute all the rolls around the site immediately after unloading, and then, as soon as possible, begin laying it. If the lawn will be unloaded not where it is convenient for work, but where it is convenient for the driver, and the rolls will be dumped in a large dense pile, and will lie in bulk until you prepare the area for them, then the first step to the unsuccessful lawn you have already done.
#2 Don't try to prepare the soil properly.
In order for a lawn to take root well and form a strong root system, the soil must be sufficiently fertile, have a good structure, permeable to roots, retain moisture well, but not become excessively damp and soft. The soil must be checked for content nutrients, for acidity, add the necessary fertilizers, level and roll.
If you put turf on unprepared soil, the lawn will take root slowly and the development of the root system will be weak. As a result, such a lawn will look unhealthy and suffer from any vagaries of the weather. It is very difficult, and sometimes even impossible, to eliminate problems that have arisen after the rolls have already been laid.
#3 Don't order extra rolls - save every penny!
A small amount of lawn is always lost in trimmings, which are left behind when trimming the edges of the lawn. Typically, 5-10% of excess lawn should be purchased for this purpose. If you take everything to spare, then you may not have enough of a couple of rolls to finish the job. Such savings usually backfire - but if you are not afraid of problems, then you can use this advice.
#4Buy lawn low quality– it’s cheaper!
Of course, you can save some money by buying the cheapest lawn you can find. In addition to this purchase, you will receive disappointment from its quality and an increase in the cost of installing a lawn and its operation. Think about why the lawn offered to you is so cheap? Either it could not be sold on time and was discounted, or it was grown from cheap seeds with violations of technology, or it is still very young and immature, or maybe there are too many weeds in such a lawn, the presence of which will provide you with worries for a long time? In any case, a high-quality product cannot be the cheapest, which means that if you save on one, you will lose on another. The sweetness of cheapness passes quickly - the bitterness of poor quality remains for a long time.
#5 Do not use water to cool the soil when laying turf in the heat.
On a bright sunny day, the soil surface can easily heat up above 60ºC. Lawn turf loses about 80% of its root system when cut, so the grass cannot immediately effectively absorb and evaporate water to cool itself. Laying rolls on hot ground often results in heat stress, which can cause the lawn to yellow and even die. To overcome stress, you will need many times more water than usual. There are tricks to avoid stress even when laying turf in hot weather. To do this, you need to water the soil surface a day before laying, and lightly spray both the soil and the rolls just before laying. These simple techniques can not only prevent stress, but also reduce the amount of water required to water the installed turf. However, in this case, you will be deprived of the opportunity to show heroism in saving a dying lawn.
#6 The lawn can be laid any way you like!
If your lawn sod is laid carelessly, many problems can arise. Loose laying at intervals will allow weed seeds to germinate. The lawn will be uneven and ugly. When laid overlapping, part of the lawn will turn yellow. Small pieces or strips of turf that have to be inserted into gaps after careless installation tend to dry out and turn yellow. When laying a lawn haphazardly and anywhere, you will inevitably have to walk on the laid and watered lawn. In this case, you will get a lot of holes that cannot be eliminated later. With haphazard installation, more time will be wasted, and it will be extremely difficult to water the laid lawn in parts.
But you can’t be intimidated by difficulties, can you?
# 7 Ignore recommendations for watering a freshly laid lawn .
This tip is perhaps the most important. Thanks to him, you will quickly achieve what you want. Cut turf has a small root system - most of the roots remain in the field where it was grown. In order for the lawn to take root, you need to water it very well as quickly as possible (no later than an hour after laying). Water until the soil under the lawn is moist. To do this, you need to pour 20-30 liters per square meter. True, this is inconvenient. The most convenient way is to finish work, have dinner, sleep, and only then start watering. And the water consumption is really high. Therefore, if you want to quickly and painlessly say goodbye to your new lawn, do what is convenient, and not what is necessary.
#8 Ignore advice on new lawn care.
Lawn care in the first weeks after laying has crucial for his future life. At this time, you can still easily ruin everything. Failure to follow simple but important rules for watering, mowing and fertilizing a young lawn can easily undo all the hard work done so far. Of course, you could ask the specialists of the company that sold you the lawn in advance, but it is much more difficult, more expensive, and often without hope of success, you can try to correct mistakes after you have made them.
#9 Give your new lawn intensive use immediately after installation..
You laid the lawn. Now it's yours! You have the right to do whatever you want with it! You have waited so long for it, spent money and labor on it, so will you really wait any longer for it to take root? It is clear that new roots will grow for another three or four weeks, or even six, until such time that playing on the lawn does not cause any damage. You probably shouldn't use the lawn intensively until then. But after all I really want to.
# 10 The lawn is ready! Well, then – at least the grass won’t grow!
Nowadays there are many things that can help you keep your lawn in order. Can be done automated system watering, buy a robotic mower, purchase the latest “long-lasting” fertilizers. But all this may be useless if you do not “make friends” with your lawn. Any lawn, even the most wonderful, will experience problems from time to time. Sometimes they disappear on their own, sometimes they don’t. Eventually, if you are not at all interested in the condition of your lawn, it will fall into disrepair and will have to be redone, again costing time and money.
"The lawn should be green." This is often the only thing homeowners know about their lawn before they get to know it better. Although this statement is true, it is real life everything turns out to be not entirely simple. However, I have never met a lawn owner who wants anything less than perfection. Try not to follow our “bad advice” and you will get the lawn of your dreams, which will not require much labor or money to maintain, and will add value and beauty to your garden and home.
If we compare modern dacha and the one that was about 30 years ago, then these are two significant differences. The Soviet one had a sea of garden beds, because it was simply impossible to provide the family with vitamins in any other way. Today there is an abundance of stores, which means you can create a paradise for relaxation at your dacha. And an indispensable attribute of the design was a lush, thick, soft lawn on which you can lie down, like on a carpet, and enjoy the floating clouds. But so that the sown grass pleases beautiful view, at least a year must pass, but I don’t want to wait for that. However, there is a simple solution - buy grown grass in a store. Laying a rolled lawn is quite simple and does not require any special skills, but within a month you can have picnics on it.
Specialized nursery companies are engaged in growing rolled turf. The period from sowing the seeds until the finished lawn goes on sale is three years. Most often, the seeds of the most resistant and easy-to-maintain grasses are used: meadow bluegrass and red fescue. In order for the grass to acquire density and density, it is grown for two years. During this time, the lawn has time to grow a strong root system, which will allow it to quickly take root when transplanted. Only in the 3rd year, the finished grass “carpet” along with the roots is cut into layers using special machines and mechanisms. The strips are immediately twisted to root system not dried, and are transported in coils to places of sale.
All grass coves offered in stores look the same. They are cut into strips, two meters long and 40 cm wide. Usually the length of the stems reaches 6-7 cm, and the layer of the root system is more than 2 cm. One bay has a very noticeable weight - within 25 kg.
A quality lawn has uniform thickness of turf and grass along the entire length of the roll. This is checked by the side cut
But these parameters are not enough to determine the quality of the lawn. To check whether the cultivation technology has been violated, you need to roll out the roll of turf and look at the cut layer on both sides.
Please note the following:
- Are there any weeds among the blades of grass?
- How uniform is the grass, are there any bald spots (spots where the grass has not grown).
- Look at the rolled out coil from the side: the cut layer should have the same thickness.
- Grab the edge of the roll with both hands and pull it slightly toward you. If the grass gives way and begins to lag behind the main layer, it means that the roots of this grass are poorly developed. This material does not take root well, so it is better to avoid it.
- Lift up a piece of the roll and look at the quality of the roots. They should be intertwined as tightly as possible. The fewer gaps between them, the better.
How many rolls will you need to buy?
Don't buy lawn offhand. If it is not enough, then you will have to buy more. The calculation technology is as follows: measure the parameters of the future site and multiply them. For example, length 6 m, width 5 m. Multiply 6x5. We get 30 sq.m. This is the area of your future lawn. If the site is flat, without bends or flower beds, then 5% of the area is added to accurately count the rolls. Those. to 30 + 1.5 m = 31.5 sq.m. If the future lawn is designed with bends, paths and other distortion of geometry, then 10% is added to the area, because the amount of waste will increase. Those. 30 + 3 = 33 sq.m.
Knowing the square footage, we calculate how many bays of grass we will have to buy. Area of one roll: 0.4x2=0.8 sq.m. This means that 1.25 bays will go per meter square of your site. Accordingly: 2 squares = 2.5 bays. For 10 squares there will be 12.5 bays, etc.
If you plan to lay a rolled lawn on an area with bends, paths or ridges, then add 10% to the area of the future lawn for waste
Preparing the soil for laying
Before you buy grass in rolls, you must fully prepare the future site. Because the technology for laying a rolled lawn is such that it is laid on the same day you bought it, or within 24 hours. The further you delay the deadline, the weaker the root system will take root. In addition, you must lay out the entire rolled lawn with your own hands at once. Only in this case will the grass take root evenly, and the surface will be perfectly smooth.
Let's consider what kind of work you will have to do in advance, before going to the store. Land preparation is a very important stage; it will determine the quality of grass survival. The better you cultivate the soil, the faster you will be able to use your lawn. It includes:
Clearing and digging. Preparation begins with clearing the soil of all kinds of debris. When digging, be sure to remove all the roots of perennial weeds. They have such a powerful survival rate that the same dandelion or wheatgrass will break through the grass cover, and it will be very difficult to pull out an adult plant with its roots.
Creation of a drainage system. The lawn does not like highly moist soils, so drainage is installed in low-lying areas and soils with a high clay content. It is done as follows:
- They cut off the fertile soil to a depth of 40 cm and take it out in a wheelbarrow, dumping it somewhere nearby (it will come in handy later!).
- The finished pit is covered with a gravel-sand cushion: 10 cm of gravel, then 10 cm of sand (sand can be replaced with geotextiles).
- Everything is compacted thoroughly.
- The cut soil is brought back and scattered flush with the overall height of the entire area.
- It is very convenient to navigate along the stretched twine. Drive pegs into the corners of the site and pull a rope on them exactly at the height of the ground. When topping up, you will see in which places it is worth raising the soil, and in which places you should remove the excess.
- Sprinkle lawn fertilizer over the soil and lightly rake it in.
- The finished site must be compacted tightly. This can be done with a homemade roller or a wide board with a flat surface. Check the compaction quality when you step on your lawn. If the earth is not crushed under your feet, it means it was compacted well.
Rules for laying rolled grass
When the soil is ready, with peace of mind, go to the store and buy grass. It is best to plant lawns in spring or autumn, when there is enough moisture in the ground and there is no particular heat.
Let's look at how rolled lawn is laid:
- Start laying the rolls from the part of the site where you stacked them. This will avoid frequent transfers, during which the soil crumbles and roots are destroyed.
- We place the roll exactly on the corner of the platform and unwind it in a straight line. The first roll turns out to be the last one and it is important to lay it as evenly as possible. You cannot bend, twist, or wrap the grass. If a corner of a flower bed gets in the way of the roll, then roll along it and remove excess grass by cutting it with a knife.
- The principle of laying out adjacent rows is similar to brickwork: the rows cannot have the same joints. Those. try to ensure that the joints of the second row fall in the middle of the rolls of the first row. This will allow the grass to settle in more evenly.
- There are no overlaps in the installation of a rolled lawn. The rows should be adjacent to each other, like vinyl wallpaper, – the denser. Discrepancies of more than 1.5 cm are not acceptable.
- The weakest areas of a lawn in terms of survival are the edges. Try not to lay them in pieces. Use trimmings of less than a meter for the middle of the site, and lay the edges in strips of more than a meter.
- After laying out the first row, it is pressed down using a board. Be sure to run your hand over the grass to see if there are any holes or mounds underneath. If you feel unevenness, lift a piece of grass and add soil (or remove excess). After checking, tamp again.
- When the first row is laid out and rolled down, a boardwalk is placed on it, and the next rows are laid while standing on it. This will further compact the grass and prevent it from being crushed by your feet.
Laying a rolled lawn is similar in technology to brickwork: joints in adjacent rows should not coincide with the joints of the previous one
All rolls are rolled out only in a straight line, without bends or distortions. And if there is a path on the way, then the unnecessary part of the lawn is cut out with a knife
Rolls should not be laid overlapping, otherwise unevenness will form. They are laid tightly end to end, like wallpaper, with a gap of less than 1.5 cm
If unevenness is detected, carefully lift the edge of the lawn and add a little soil under it or, conversely, remove excess
When laying the first row is completed, lay out the second one, standing on a wooden board or board, so as not to spoil the fresh grass surface with your feet.
After the lawn has been laid, it needs to be grown. To do this, the grass is watered for two weeks. Try not to allow the soil to dry out. It is best to use automatic watering with small sprinklers. In addition, for a month, do not walk on grass surface. As a last resort, use boards or flooring to move, but remove it immediately. Fresh grass and soil are easily pressed under the weight of your feet, and your lawn may end up with dents.
Constantly watering the rolled lawn for two weeks is a prerequisite for its good survival, especially if the weather is warm.
Front of work after planting the lawn
In a month you will be able to walk around beautiful green lawn, but the work doesn’t end there. In order for the grass to survive the winter well, you need to care for it as follows:
- Make sure that weeds do not sprout.
- Carry out the first haircut after 4 weeks, trying to mow only the tops.
- The following haircuts are carried out as needed, choosing a more convenient height for yourself. But the entire cutting must be raked and removed.
- Before wintering, the last cutting is carried out so that the grass has time to grow about 4 cm and with it goes under the snow.
- Water as it dries. In the absence of precipitation - once every 10-12 days.
- In winter, the lawn is completely cleared of accumulated debris and the leaves are raked.
If you pay enough attention to the lawn, then in the spring the grass will delight you with a uniform and lush covering.
The idea of creating a lawn using pieces of ready-made turf is not new. It would be even more correct to say that the rolled lawn existed long before the seed lawn appeared. Since the Middle Ages, instructions and rules have come down to us on how to arrange such lawns. Actually, this is where the history of lawns began, with the transfer of turf from one place to another. Not much has really changed since then. Then the seeds appeared, and heavy turf became unfavourable. Well, now it’s time again for the roll-up lawn to take off. It is steadily gaining popularity, and the seeded lawn may soon no longer be used at all. Apparently, the idea to put this business on stream comes to enterprising people from time to time, besides, people’s well-being has increased, and now we have the opportunity to make a lawn quickly, beautifully and expensively!
Don Buciak II / Flickr.com
The main advantage of such a lawn is the speed of its creation. A day or two, depending on the area to be laid, and the lawn is ready, but only for visual pleasure. It is advisable not to walk on it for the first month! You can move around as needed, but very carefully. Rolled lawn is also relevant for landscaping slopes (up to 70 degrees), and large areas, not to say huge ones (20-30 acres or more).
Rolled lawn, cutting lawn are unusual words. Let's figure it out. How is a rolled lawn created? In special fields, according to special technologies From selected varieties of grass, kilometers of smooth, healthy, ideal, weed-free turf are grown for us. At the client’s request, a special machine arrives and cuts even, neat pieces from the field, which are immediately packaged and sent on their way. Cut lawn is a perishable product. After the lawn has literally been cut from the place where it has been growing for 2-3 years, it can be stored for no more than a day. It also cannot be stored in shipping packaging.
The thickness of the finished roll of turf is 2 cm. Rolled lawn is because it is most convenient to roll the cut layer of turf. It is transported better this way and retains its appearance. There are rolls different sizes, standard ones are more suitable for manual installation. With the help of these sizes you can implement any design idea in not very large areas. There are also rolls for manual stackers and rolls for automated stackers. Their length, width and thickness vary. With the help of such rolls you can quickly cover entire fields with lawn. Rolled lawn can also be folded into layers measuring 1 m * 40 cm (they are called slabs). Slabs are used primarily for repairs or for laying a small area.
Herry Lawford / Flickr.com
The rolled lawn must take root well in its new location, otherwise, instead of a velvety green carpet, you will get a red and unattractive surface. There are rules for caring for a new rolled lawn that cannot be neglected.
The most important thing is watering! You can’t miss it, especially if you had your lawn laid in the middle of a hot summer, or if your yard doesn’t have an automatic watering system. The lawn should be watered thoroughly immediately after laying. Check that you have watered your new lawn sufficiently by lifting the edge of the turf, it should be well moistened and the soil underneath should still be well moistened by a few centimeters. Lift the edges of the lawn in many places to check watering. You still need to water the lawn every day, or even twice, for a month. Different watering schedules for rolled lawn are recommended, and they are general. It’s better to focus on your local conditions and how your roll-up lawn behaves. A good sign will be the appearance of new young roots with reverse side roll in about a week. This will indicate that you are watering correctly. A properly watered lawn will never begin to turn yellow and dry out. After a month, watering may already become normal. And you can start actively moving around the lawn.
Fertilizers. If you did not make complex mineral fertilizers before laying the rolled lawn, you can add them after the first mowing. Fertilizers should contain nitrogen in larger quantities compared to phosphorus and potassium. It is better to use a special spring-summer fertilizer, of course, if you did not lay your lawn in October.
like_the_Grand_Cnyon / Flickr.com
Mowing. It is recommended to mow the rolled lawn for the first time no earlier than a month after installation, when it has grown at least 6-8 cm. You may have to mow the lawn already in the second week after installation, this will depend on how the lawn takes root and grows exactly on your plot. It is recommended to mow the very ends; under no circumstances mow the lawn low! For the first time, you need to mow the rolled lawn at right angles to the laying lines, turning the lawn mower with extreme care and caution, especially with rear-wheel drive. Who knows if we would have had the opportunity to enjoy lawns, including roller ones, if it weren’t for the first lawn mower invented in 1830!
The first year of life of a rolled lawn is the most pleasant and cloudless. As the manufacturers promise, no weeds should appear on it; the most active growth and beautiful appearance are expected from the lawn. Over time, a rolled lawn develops the same problems as a conventional seeded lawn, and specific problems that are unique to a rolled lawn. In their desire to create a thick green cover already in the second year of the grass’s life, to give, so to speak, a marketable appearance to the rolled lawn, manufacturers use their own grass seeding standards. For rolled lawns, the problem of breathing and nutrition becomes urgent. Mushrooms can very soon appear on a rolled lawn, and problem areas are colonized by unwanted, stronger grains and weeds. It is not recommended to mow such lawns with mulch or discard them. The very next year after installation it is necessary to carry out regular aeration and scarification.
There are several types of lawns, each with its own distinctive characteristics and certain requirements care The most common is the classic lawn, which is perfect for growing on a sports field or children's playground. It is highly resistant to various mechanical loads. It is not easy to grow such a lawn; you need to follow all the instructions for planting and caring for it so that you do not have to completely change the flooring. That's why lawn in rolls is popular.
Description of rolled lawn
Rolled lawns have become popular recently. The grass in the roll must be strong and resistant to various influences on it. The hardiest and most compliant with agricultural requirements are: meadow bluegrass and red fescue. Both types of plants must be included in the seed to grow a lawn that will last for many years.
Important! Rolled lawn is not afraid severe frosts and drought. It is resistant to diseases and pests. Lawn flooring saves gardeners from the germination and proliferation of weeds. The grass grows evenly over the surface and has a bright color that pleases the eye not only of the owner, but also of the guests.
Laying a lawn yourself is a complex and lengthy process. If the area is small, then you can cope without large specialized equipment. On sports grounds and fields, the lawn can only be laid with the help of tractors and other agrotechnical modules. All activities are carried out sequentially and last almost 2 years. During this time, the grass will take root, grow and reach the required level.
Lawn laying
How to choose the right roll lawn
It is difficult for an ordinary person to choose a quality lawn on his own. In order for the coating to last a long time and please you with its appearance, you need to listen to the advice of experts.
Manufacturing of rolled turf
The basis of a rolled lawn is a special mesh with small fractions on which the grass grows and interweaves. This liner makes it easy to cut the lawn into strips and roll it up to make transport and planting easier.
Grass seeds are planted on a base made of burlap, cardboard or plastic mesh. It is laid out on a leveled surface, covered with a layer turf land, combined with peat and sand. The mixture should have neutral acidity. Layer thickness up to 5 mm.
After the preparatory procedure, a layer of seeds is poured. When the plant reaches a height of 10 cm, trim it. This procedure must be performed up to 3 times to strengthen the root system. After 2 months, you can safely put the material on the prepared soil.
For your information! Lawn rolls are sold in 2-meter lengths with a strip width of 400 cm and a thickness of up to 2.5 cm.
Seasonal lawn laying
There is no consensus on when it is better to lay a rolled lawn, since each specialist independently chooses the season for laying it, based on his observations and preferences. However, spring and autumn are good times for planting roll cover seeds. It is better to purchase a high-quality lawn with a well-fortified root system from the end of April to June. This coating will quickly take root in the natural soil of the site.
It is better to lay rolled lawn when it is not too hot outside. Summer is not suitable for these events, because the lawn cannot tolerate heat and drought.
Important! In order for the grass to take root well, the soil must be warm sun rays, so the optimal months for laying in the summer season are May and June.
According to some experts, laying a lawn in the autumn season is more advisable.
The advantages of winter styling include:
- the soil requires less moisture as the air temperature decreases;
- It is necessary to fertilize plants no more than once a month;
- the grass retains its freshness longer when low temperatures air;
- cutting is done less frequently due to the slow growth of blades of grass;
- slow rooting in cold weather makes it possible to re-lay the covering if necessary.
Roll lawn laying technology
To lay your own rolled lawn, you need to follow the instructions correctly. The process is divided into 2 main stages: preparatory, so that the terrain is ideal for laying the covering and, directly, laying the lawn. In order for the clearing near the house to be beautiful, according to signs it is required light hand for laying or planting a lawn.
Lawn on the field
IN preparatory stage includes:
- Removing debris and stones from the ground, getting rid of weeds and roots in the entire area where the rolled grass will be laid.
- Preparing the drainage base. This process includes: removing the top layer of soil to a depth of 20 cm; backfilling with pebbles; maximum leveling horizontal surface; backfilling a layer of sand; backfilling the prepared soil, after which everything can be rolled with a roller or improvised means. If the area where the lawn will grow has sandy soil, then a drainage base is not required. It will only be enough to clean and level the surface.
- Marking the area into stripes. Pegs are placed along the edges of the area at a distance equal to the width of the roll and connected with special twine.
- Watering and fertilizing the soil one day before laying the rolled lawn will help the root system to take root faster and better.
Pay attention! The height of the grass should be no more than 5 cm and not rise above garden paths. This is the main indicator for leveling the area for planting.
The surface of the site should be made with a slight slope along the edges or slightly raised in the center. This will help avoid the formation of puddles on a beautiful and well-kept lawn.
The main stage of laying a rolled lawn
In order to properly plant and grow a beautiful lawn in the future, you need to roll out the rolls as close to each other as possible without gaps.
Important! It is necessary to correctly align and lay the first strip of the roll. It must be laid exactly along the edge of the territory.
Rolls are made of standard length, therefore, if when they are rolled out on an area they do not completely cover it, then it is better to lay them in a checkerboard pattern.
After rolling out the strips, they are sprinkled with a mixture of soil and sand. This protects the edges from damage.
All rows of the canvas are moistened, after which the lawn settles well and quickly and takes on the topography of the soil. Also, after laying all the strips, they need to be watered generously. It should saturate the entire thickness of the coating and the soil underneath.
Pay attention! To check the quality of irrigation, lift the edges of several strips, thus assessing the degree of moisture. In order for the plant to take root well, fertilizers must be added to the water.
If, after purchasing a rolled lawn, there are reasons that prevent its installation, then you need to roll out the tapes in a dark room and regularly water them. Manufacturers prohibit storing turf in rolls.
After all work on laying the lawn is completed, it will need to be watered daily. In a month, grass can grow 10 cm.
Care and maintenance of lawn grass
Gradually the grass begins to take root and needs proper care. It is not recommended to overload the coating at first.
On the 10th day, the grown grass is trimmed with a lawn mower. With proper care, the manufacturer guarantees that the lawn will be fresh and green all year round.
Watering and mowing are carried out as necessary. Fertilizer feeding is carried out at least 3 times per season.
Lawn laying
Why does the lawn turn yellow?
There are several reasons for the appearance yellow grass on a rolled lawn.
- Not correct styling coverings.
- The use of low-quality seeds for sowing.
- Insufficient watering during the hot season.
- Too little or too much fertilizer.
- Excess moisture in the off-season.
In most cases, there are no ways to correct the defects; all that remains is to re-lay the rolled lawn.
Selecting and laying a rolled lawn with your own hands is not difficult, but only if you follow the recommendations and strictly follow all stages of the process. Only then will you get an amazing result that will delight the gardener for several years.
Have you installed a rolled lawn yourself or hired specialists to do it, but are you not happy with the result? Let's look at the common mistakes when laying rolled turf.
Why does the rolled lawn lie in stripes?
Sometimes the appearance of noticeable streaks after rolling out rolls is not a big deal, but sometimes it can affect the formation of a uniform lawn in the future. Stripes can occur for various reasons - a partially diseased lawn, dried out or rotted, improperly cut or laid.
Layer thickness
When ordering lawn, be sure to pay attention to the thickness of the roll. If one briquette has 3 cm thick turf and another 1 cm, then problems cannot be avoided. It is possible that poor quality or old technology, which does not cut, but “tears” the earth, cutting off layers that are too thick or, on the contrary, too thin. A thick layer is good. But thin is very bad. Thin turf without layer fertile soil and with cut roots it will not take root; at first it will still remain green, but soon it will turn yellow and die. When laying such layers, the heterogeneous pattern does not appear immediately, but after a few days. Doesn't help either abundant watering, nor the application of fertilizers.
Different storage and transportation conditions
Often, after rolling, rolls immediately differ in color. Moreover, the layer thickness and filling are the same. This occurs due to differences in temperature, humidity during storage and transportation of the lawn. If no more than 2 days have passed between cutting and laying, and the lawn does not experience extreme shocks during transportation (it was too hot and dry, or, on the contrary, unexpected frosts hit), then the heterogeneity will soon smooth out. This type of lawn requires more careful care immediately after installation. If yellowing is caused by long-term transportation in hot weather, then the yellow dried rolls should be shed generously with water, and fertilizers should be scattered very carefully, evenly, so as not to burn the remains of living grass. Gradually the lawn will “move away” and level out.
If the layers of the lawn are blocked and covered with mycelium (a whitish film of mycelium), then the entire turf must be treated with fungicides. It is advisable to repeat the lawn treatment after a short period of time (1-3 weeks). If this work is not carried out, then the grass will not take root, but, having taken root, will lose all its young roots due to disease during the winter and spring thaws and will dry out.
Installation errors. Crooked hands.
There were cases when our specialists came to carry out work on the repair of a rolled lawn and grabbed their heads: the cushion for planting the lawn was uneven, in some places it reached quite a decent size, and in others it was simply absent.
When rolls are delivered to the site, they have an average thickness of 2.5 cm. If the cut turf is not placed on a fertile layer of soil in the near future and conditions are not created for its rapid rooting, then the grass will wither in a few days. Rolled lawn will not grow on asphalt or concrete! Remember this! If you invited people who are far from these works to prepare the ground, then expect surprises. Soon, bald spots and holes may appear on the lawn. As a rule, by lifting the turf, in these places you can find layers of sand not mixed with the ground, large stones, roots of plants and trees that were brought with peat, and other surprises. The layer will not take root even next to the path if it was built on concrete base and on the sides there are slabs of cement on which the lawn was laid.
Untimely or poor watering
When laying in hot weather, plenty of water is the key to successful rooting of the grass. If you didn’t water on the first day of laying, the death of the lawn reaches 30%; if you didn’t water on the second day, it’s already 70%. The higher the air temperature and the lower the likelihood of natural precipitation, the more effort is needed to provide the freshly laid turf with normal moisture. Of course, it is more convenient to lay rolls in dry weather - it is clean and there is a minimum of labor involved in rolling out and carrying the rolls. But in the coming days, you will have to water the new lawn. Are you ready for this? If not, then it is better to postpone installation until the time when you are ready. Watering in the first days after installation is the most important thing. Even more important than the quality of cutting or foundation design. The grass will dry out first in the “weakest” places - where there are thin cuts or in overdried rolls, and then the rest will die.
Why feed?
Any rolled lawn needs to be fed. Without this, unfortunately, it will be impossible to maintain the emerald color and lushness of the grass brought to you. In farms that grow rolled turf, fertilizing is carried out regularly and on an industrial scale. Without this, it would be impossible to grow grass of proper quality in poor soils. And all the soils where turf is grown for cutting are poor, since the fertile soil is constantly cut and removed. What you get on a roll is a product of the heyday of the chemical industry. If there were no fertilizers, this beauty would not exist. This needs to be understood. After the rolled lawn is transported to your site and laid, the food reserves in the cut soil begin to rapidly melt. In cut turf they are scanty and are only enough for the first time. If you want the lawn to look the same as after laying, fertilize it regularly, sparing no effort and expense! Fertilize after every mowing or at least twice a month.