5 October Lawncare Tips
Welcome to Octobers Lawncare Tips and it’s a busy busy month for lawn care
With strange weather and a risk of the temperatures falling away quicker than expected it’s time to act now to get things done before winter
I’m going to be talking about the five key things you can to get the most out of your lawn this October
Tip 1 – Seed Your Lawn
September and October can be an ideal time to Overseed your lawn
We have the high soil temperature from the summer which will aid germination but also the promise or rain and milder weather into the autumn
This year the temeratures have fallen away quicker than expected and those in the north seeing single digit temperatures already
For lawn work this October with low temperatures I’m leaning toward using a rye grass mix which will come up quicker and requires less heat vs mixes with fescue inside
Seeding right through october should be no problem with rye mixes to repair patches and overseed ready for the winter
Tip 2 – Feeding The Lawn
As the summer is drawing to a close we are moving away from high nitrogren spring / summer feeds and close to Autumn feeds
If you have some Spring/Summer Lawn Feed left over now is the time to use it
If you are looking for your next feed then go for the Dark Green Autumn Lawn Feed which is lower in nitrogen but high iron for a dark green pop
At this time of year we don’t want to be applying as much nitrogen to the lawn and focus more on strengthening the plant and its root systems for winter
It can also be an ideal time to use a wetting agent to aid the penetration of water if the lawn has dried out over the summer
Tip 3 – Lawn Scarification
Scarification is the process of removing some of the debris that sits in your lawn through a rake or tines
Scarifying machines often come with two cartridges, the first cartridge is an aerator or slitting cartridge and the second is a rake or spring tine cartridge
You can also scarify by hand using a fixed rake or spring tine rake
This is going to rake through the sward and lift out any of the debris that’s in the lawn to open up the canopy
It can also help to reduce the levels of moss by raking and removing it
Opening up the grass sward is key if you are looking to improve the health of the plant and especially key if you are looking to overseed
Removing any dead matter lets more light onto the plant, allows water and nutrients in to penetrate and allows any seed you apply to get better seed to soil contact which will improve germination
The amount of material that you’re goingto be removing is really going to be dependent on the overall health of your lawn and how often that you’ve been maintaining it throughout the season
This can range from a few buckets full of debris right the way up to several wheelie bins full of scarified material
Lawn Scarifier
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Tip 4 – Using Iron in the Lawn
If the weather is turning wetter, this can promote growth of moss in the lawn
You scarify and rake out moss of the moss. Many people use products that contain iron to burn the moss then rake it out, you can also re-apply iron again after scarification
Tip 5 – Can I kill Weeds In October?
The remaining weeds of the season should be reducing now in terms of their frequency.
For any remaining weeds still rearing their ugly heads early October is really the latest time to tackle before the season finishes
These weed killers have maximum impact when the weeds are actively growing and the soil temperates are right
Beyond the mid of october treatments like this may have minimal impact and could be best saved till the new year
Remember to use a dedicated weed killer “Kills Weeds not Lawns” which is selective and will not kill the grass when used correctly
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