It may seem strange to be thinking about drought in a month that has seen heavy rain and floods, but looking after your lawn is all about preparation and planning ahead.
We cannot ignore that there has been a significant shift in our weather. We now experience extreme weather conditions throughout the year, from nights of high winds to extended periods of both dry and wet weather that shatter all previous records.
Weather has a huge impact on the health and appearance of your lawn. We all saw the effects of prolonged periods of dry weather last summer - but long periods of mild, wet weather can be problematic too, creating ideal conditions for moss and leatherjackets to take over our lawns.
Since we started our lawn care business 20 years ago, gradual changes in weather conditions have dramatically altered the challenges that lawns face each year. For example, we now use far more moss control on lawns, and we also scarify more often than we used to.
If you have lots of moss, you may need to have your lawn scarified to remove the moss once we have treated it with moss control. Dead moss does not decompose easily and has to be removed in order for your lawn to recover.
Moss Control Service Lawn Scarification Service
Look out for leatherjackets!
Long periods of dry weather stress the grass and may encourage crane flies to lay their eggs in your lawn. Crane fly larvae - also known as leatherjackets - hatch from October to February, and unfortunately, our recent mild winters have extended the period of time during which leatherjackets are active.
There is currently no preventive treatment for leatherjackets; we can only control them when the larvae are active and damaging lawns. An application of leatherjacket treatment will take care of the active larvae, but not any unhatched eggs. Treatment in autumn and late winter will usually be sufficient to stop the crane fly larvae seriously damaging your lawn. If you have bare patches developing in your lawn – particularly in damp, shady areas - you may have leatherjackets eating the roots of your grass.
Our leatherjacket treatment prices start at £45 for a small lawn.
Contact Us to Book a Lawn Treatment
How to make your lawn more drought-tolerant
Discussing drought at this time of year may seem crazy, but it's never too soon to start thinking ahead. By applying what is called a 'wetting agent' to your lawn before summer arrives, we can help to reduce the impact of any hot, dry weather on your grass.
We can try to ensure that your lawn takes maximum advantage of any available moisture. Applying a wetting agent will make your lawn more drought-tolerant, reducing the effect that long periods of dry weather can have on your grass.
Wetting agents ARE NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR WATER and do not mean that your lawn will not develop brown spots in dry weather. But applying a wetting agent will help your lawn to manage dry weather for a season.
We will be applying wetting agents in the spring months to make sure your lawn is ready for the summer. Prices for an application of wetting agent start at £40 for a small lawn and increase depending on the size of your lawn.
Request a Free Lawn Survey
Would you like to receive the Lawn & Weed Expert newsletter? Get in touch and ask to be added to our mailing list - you will not receive unsolicited emails from traders and we will not pass on your details to anyone else.
