At Good Nature we classify lawn problems into two categories: Actual Problems and Symptoms of Actual Problems.

Some common actual problems are:

Excessive Thatch Layer
Incorrect Grass Types
Poor Soil

Some common symptoms are:

Diseases (Dollar Spot, Red Thread, Brown Patch, Pythium, etc.)
Insects (Grubs, Chinch Bugs, Sod Webworm etc.)
Weeds (Clover, Crabgrass, Dandelions, etc.)

Diseases

Lawn diseases result in brown sections of turf. When grass is unhealthy, it will get sick, just the way humans do when we’re unhealthy. Chemically fertilized turf is highly susceptible to disease outbreak because:

1. The soil life is virtually non-existent so there are no organisms available to battle with the disease organism.

2. The turf typically has a sizable Thatch layer which invites diseases

3. The turf is typically shallowly rooted which will make it less able to fight disease.

Other factors can contribute to disease problems:

Incorrect watering (Watering heavily in the evening or watering the same area more than 2x per week)

Insects

After 2 or three years on a Good Nature lawn program your grass will rarely have an insect problem. Insects can be prevented by:

1.Maintaining a healthy soil environment (using organic fertilizers)

2.Aerating once per season

3.Overseeding with insect resistant varieties of grass

Grubs are one of the most common problems in Ohio lawns. If you are worried about grubs or would like to sign up for our natural grub control service, please contact the office via phone or email at: signup@whygoodnature.com.

Weeds

The best defense against weeds is a healthy stand of turf, which will crowd out and compete with the weeds. Our fertilizer program combined with Aeration and overseeding (if necessary) will build a healthy thick stand of turf to crowd out weeds. Weeds grow in conditions where grass doesn’t thrive, we’ll take care of the weeds you have, and make sure you’re grass starts thriving.

Excessive Thatch Layer

Thatch is the layer of dead roots and stems between your green grass and the soil. A small amount of thatch (1/4”) is healthy, but many of the lawns in Northeastern Ohio have thatch layers over ½” thick.

Why is too Much Thatch Bad?

Excessive thatch prevents water and nutrients from reaching the soil. à Turns Brown in Summer! Excessive thatch provides the optimal conditions for disease problems à Brown Spots! Excessive thatch provides a great home for insects and grubs. à Brown Spots!

Why does thatch accumulate?

Leaving your clippings on the lawn does NOT contribute to Thatch accumulation! If anything, leaving a small amount of clippings each time you mow will help to encourage beneficial soil life and reduce thatch. Thatch accumulates for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the type of grass. Kentucky bluegrass, for example, tends to produce a lot of thatch, whereas Turf Type Tall Fescue tends not to. In a healthy organic lawn, no matter what type of grass you have, thatch will be minimized by the abundance of beneficial soil organisms eating it and converting it into plant food. In a chemically fertilized lawn, the microorganisms are less abundant and very often can’t decompose the thatch as quickly as its created.

What Should we Do about our Thatch Problem?

There are two things you can do to help reduce your thatch layer and get your lawn back on track.

1. Core Aerate
2. Fertilizes Organically

Core aeration penetrates through the thatch layer into the soil, bringing up cores to the surface. If you have healthy soil, these cores will contain billions of thatch eating microorganisms who will go to work on your thatch as they work their way back down into the soil. If you don’t have healthy soil, the aeration will at least eliminate –temporarily- the immediate insect and disease threat by allowing water and nutrients to reach your grasses root system.

Organic Fertilization will help stimulate microorganism populations and will help create the healthy soil you need to start digesting thatch.

What about De-Thatching?

University studies have shown that de-thatching is a waste of time, money, and can even do more harm than good in most situations. De-thatching only removes the top layer of thatch and stresses the grass, providing a great opportunity for weed invasion.

There are only two situations when a power rake / de-thatcher would be appropriate to use on your lawn.

1. If you are using it to lightly rake off matted leaves and winter dubree.

2. If you are using it to prepare a lawn for seeding – In which case you’ll have to use it heavily so that you almost remove all the existing grass.

Incorrect or older Grass Types

Many lawns contain grasses which are not suitable for their locations.

Misplaced Shade Grass

Fine Fescue thrives in the shade, but if for some reason the shade is removed, it will struggle during any warm weather. It would be a good idea to at least aerate and overseed these areas to get some new grass started.

Bentgrass

Another common problem in Northeastern Ohio lawns is Creeping Bentgrass. Bentgrass is a lighter green color than Bluegrass or Ryegrass and spreads rapidly. It usually starts as a small patch and gradually increases in size until it takes over much of the lawn. Bentgrass is difficult to maintain because it is susceptible to so many disease problems and doesn’t do well without constant irrigation. Many times you’ll see brown patches in your lawn, and on closer inspection notice that they are all the bentgrass areas turning brown. What’s the solution? This is a tough one. The only solution we have is to kill off the bentgrass with soil solarization or roundup and then reseed the areas. In some cases it may be worth it to replace the entire lawn.

Warm Season Grasses

Nimblewill and other warm season grasses can invade our turf and blend in well until the weather gets cold – then they immediately turn brown. Aside from killing the lawn and starting from scratch, there isn’t really much we can do about these grasses.

Poor Soil

Many new developments have grass planted in subsoil. Grass planted in these conditions will be vulnerable to drought stress, insects, diseases, and will have a more difficult time crowding out weeds.

What can I do with my poor soil?

As strange as it sounds adding topsoil isn’t really the answer. Most topsoil sold isn’t very high quality and relative to its cost, isn’t worth the effort. Your best bet is to apply an Organic Compost Topdressing to get off to a good start. Topdressing adds a large amount of beneficial soil organisms and helps to instantly energize the soil. You’re lawn will be the envy of your neighbors. After topdressing, our fertilizers will continue to build up the soil organic matter and microbe population. If you’d like to skip the topdressing, our fertilizers will have the same effect, but take a little longer to build up the organic matter in the soil.