Grass info Please...

[weegee]

I know it's discussed many times before, but can you guys on here tell me this?

The grass here seems to need more water than usual (because it's hotter lately). So are the roots on the grass here very shallow? Not like Aus, USA etc...

Why does the grass die back so quickly if left unattended for a few days?

i have heaps of birds on the lawn every morning....and was wondering if i have grubs in the lawn...

Sure is a learning curve here, thats for sure....

Would appreciate the input and recommendations...I will check back later today, when i get time...

Thanks in advance

Rgds

weegee

[Anthony5]

If you have Malaysian grass their roots indeed grow horizontal, not more than an inch or 2 under the surface.

If you have grubs, Furadan ( Carbofuran) will get rid of them. Be warned it is highly toxic.

[slapout]

one of the best grazing grass in the westen us (the old buffalo) migration route was what we called native, withstands _40 to 45 degree drought of several months, floods, wet seasons etc. agood burn in early spring while dry and dormint kicked it into high gear. a lot of ranches this is prime grazing for 6+months/year.

[mikebell]

I put two types down in my garden: monkey grass that grows well in the shade & some finer stuff for the sunny bits. My wife & I laid the turf during last year's wet season on a bed of good soil. It grew vigorously. After a couple of weeks I suggested a trim. 'Cannot' for a month.

Waited the required/recommended month. Mowed it & killed 95%. I'm thinking of going plastic.

I am from LOL - the Land of Lawns (UK) but you can't tell a Thai anything.

[weegee]

I put two types down in my garden: monkey grass that grows well in the shade & some finer stuff for the sunny bits. My wife & I laid the turf during last year's wet season on a bed of good soil. It grew vigorously. After a couple of weeks I suggested a trim. 'Cannot' for a month.

Waited the required/recommended month. Mowed it & killed 95%. I'm thinking of going plastic.

I am from LOL - the Land of Lawns (UK) but you can't tell a Thai anything.

On that one....Put some urea on it....it will come back...But when you do make sure you really flood the area with water. Otherwise the other 5% will be gone as well.

This problem I have , has really got me buggered...

[xen]

The first question i would ask you is what type of grass is it and how high do you mow it . Just by simply raising the height of your cutting height ,especially in dry conditions , can help considerably . The more leaf the more the soil is shaded so aiding to a extent soil moisture and the the root system will normally develop proportionally to the height of the turf as a general rule. Cut often and high is a good rule for good looking turf. Bowling greens and wickets are managed differently to domestic lawns just as golf greens and sporting fields are different.

The birds feeding on your lawn may indicate curl grubs or lawn beetles but it may also indicate more favourable, cooler conditions for foraging in the mornings . You said the turf is burning but is it actually dying .Most turf will slip into dormancy in harsh conditions such as heat /drought or even cold and as soon as the conditions return to being more favourable will spring back to green. As long as the area is not subject to a lot of traffic, or wear and tear from dogs, then it should survive for a period with out water.

If you suspect grubs or beetles,the best thing to do is to grab a spade and dig a couple of sample spots and have a look. If there are grubs or beetles the will be just below the surface in the root zone. Beetles will also leave little soil mounds about . Curl grubs will leave dead spots around and worms such as army worms will move across your lawn leaving whole tracts of area brown and dying.

If you do find grubs or beetles i would hesitate in recommending using a chemical such as Carbofuran which is extremely toxic to bird life . If you kill off all your local bird life you will then you will have no natural predators or control for any secondary re-infestation. It is also toxic to bees, and it will leach into the water table so if you are drawing subterranean water you will have a problem with it being contaminated from the Carbofuran . Nemetodes are sometime used for control but hardly worth the expense .

The other strategy would be let the infestation runs its course and then aid the recovery of the turf with an irrigation program and use a slow release fertiliser such as one of the formulations from Scotts . Hitting turf especially if it is under stress with a high nitrogen fertiliser which will give it a quick hit of green ( similar to taking a quick snort of meth is a way of describing it i guess) but can bring on another lot of problems such as fungal attack and does not really respect the soil chemistry long term. Slow release fertilisers are more expensive but are far more effective and is what most greenkeepers in the turf industry use nowadays . More environmentally friendly with less leaching out into the water table, less energy used to apply less often etc.

Hope i have given you some help.

Edited July 4, 2015 by xen

[weegee]

Xen....thanks for that. Your response has maybe put me on a couple of tracks to follow...

I have used slow release fertilizers here before, but they seem to me to do nothing to help my problem.

On the subject of mowing too low too often, you may have a good point....

Once again....thanks

Rgds

weegee

[slapout]

4 to 5 inch grass height is where nutrition is in grass for the live stock, shades the soil thus slowing evaporation reduce weed infestation,. cut at this height and make hay from excess cuttung and you still have grazing left. this does require cross fencing but with proper management your land area may carry up to 1/3 more head of livestock, especially if irrigation water avaliable.

Flood irrigation works a treat if you have proper lay/slope to land requires no addition help as each water change only takes afew minutes then back to assigned work for required time to irrigrate next plot (might be 4/5 hours) 3_ (1 lazy)people cut, turned baled, stacked, 6000 rai of alfa at same time looked after mother cows/calves, (roaming ,500000 rai) irrigation

[Michael Hare]

I have several varities of grass lawns around my house.

1 Zoysia (yaa muan noi). This is the fine leaved lawn one buys in mats. My zoysia lawns have been planted for 18 years. Still look good. Dense with few weeds. Do not water much. Let them go brown in the dry season. They always bounce back with the first rains.

2 Malaysia grass. Grows in the shade. Does not grow that well at my house. Probably too dry and I don't water enough.

3 Button grass or yaa bark kwai. A native grass. One must mow it frequently (weekly) and short. Dense lawn.

4 Queensland blue couch. I just imported seed from Australia. A great tropical grass. At the Ubon university where I work I planted it 20 years ago and it is still growing well. I sowed the seed on June 1 and have cut it 3 times. Looking good.

To control insects I recommend applying generous quantities of lime. Spread it around. Make the lawn white. Insects hate it and move away. Apply just before or after rain.

For fertiliser I usually apply NPK fertilier three - four times in the wet season. I don't apply urea.

I think mowing frequently is best. After mowing, the lawn should still be green and not brown which occurs if one lets the lawn grow up rank and then mow, leaving brown stems and not green leaves. Make sure your lawn mower has sharp blades and cuts cleanly and does not bruise the leaves.

Very hard to give recommendations in Thailand. I live in Ubon Ratchathani and have sandy soils.

[weegee]

Michael...

Thanks for the input. I wish i had of got the QLD blue couch seeds as well....Anyway I have the broad leaf Malaysian grass already, so thats what I will stay with.

I have had beautiful lawns up until this dry season, where in some areas, it has completely died....It could be grubs, It could be not enough water, although it's watered 2 hrs daily usually...From another post here, I may be cutting it too short as well....

The soil here is very sandy and has a dry crust down about a couple of inches, Water just doesnt soak in....

Thanks again

weegee

[cooked]

Cut higher in the hot season. You aren't supposed to take more than one third of the height off by mowing. You have to water, fertilise, sharpen the blades, ... I did all this for customers back in Farang land but you can be sure I'm not going to go to that trouble here. I let the cows onto the green bit now and then, they're there now..

[Michael Hare]

Temperate grasses back in "farangland" behave differently to the tropical grasses. In the temperate regions there have been huge amounts of research gone into breeding the right sort of turf grasses for lawns, sports fields and golf courses. They are bred for colour (richness of green), disease resistance, and trending resistance etc. In the true tropics, nothing. No research at all. In the subtropics yes; for example the numerous bermuda grasses from the USA.

Temepate grasses are C3 grasses. Tropical grasses are C4 grasses. They behave differently.

But nothing to compare to the turf ryegrases, fine fescues and bent grasses in the temperate regions. Just look at the football fields, golf courses and tennis courts (Wimbelton).

Here in the true tropics we must put up with these wild grasses which have not been bred but just selected.

Hence we can not manage lawns like we use to back in "farang land". We can not cut as short or as frequently. Often there is absolutely no respond to appyling fertiliser. At the end of the day it is hard work just to keep the lawns weed-free and looking good.

[cooked]

Temperate grasses back in "farangland" behave differently to the tropical grasses. In the temperate regions there have been huge amounts of research gone into breeding the right sort of turf grasses for lawns, sports fields and golf courses. They are bred for colour (richness of green), disease resistance, and trending resistance etc. In the true tropics, nothing. No research at all. In the subtropics yes; for example the numerous bermuda grasses from the USA.

Temepate grasses are C3 grasses. Tropical grasses are C4 grasses. They behave differently.

But nothing to compare to the turf ryegrases, fine fescues and bent grasses in the temperate regions. Just look at the football fields, golf courses and tennis courts (Wimbelton).

Here in the true tropics we must put up with these wild grasses which have not been bred but just selected.

Hence we can not manage lawns like we use to back in "farang land". We can not cut as short or as frequently. Often there is absolutely no respond to appyling fertiliser. At the end of the day it is hard work just to keep the lawns weed-free and looking good.

I still think that you should cut grass longer when it is hot. I am just saying that putting the cows out to graze is more useful than spending a lot of time on trying to keep a lawn up to Wimbledon standards.

[weegee]

Temperate grasses back in "farangland" behave differently to the tropical grasses. In the temperate regions there have been huge amounts of research gone into breeding the right sort of turf grasses for lawns, sports fields and golf courses. They are bred for colour (richness of green), disease resistance, and trending resistance etc. In the true tropics, nothing. No research at all. In the subtropics yes; for example the numerous bermuda grasses from the USA.

Temepate grasses are C3 grasses. Tropical grasses are C4 grasses. They behave differently.

But nothing to compare to the turf ryegrases, fine fescues and bent grasses in the temperate regions. Just look at the football fields, golf courses and tennis courts (Wimbelton).

Here in the true tropics we must put up with these wild grasses which have not been bred but just selected.

Hence we can not manage lawns like we use to back in "farang land". We can not cut as short or as frequently. Often there is absolutely no respond to appyling fertiliser. At the end of the day it is hard work just to keep the lawns weed-free and looking good.

I still think that you should cut grass longer when it is hot. I am just saying that putting the cows out to graze is more useful than spending a lot of time on trying to keep a lawn up to Wimbledon standards.

After being at Sea for over 38yrs....my ambition was to retire and have a nice lawn to play around on...so i dont mind putting the time into having it look good.

The mate was over today and we have just finished the Mower maintenance, so I will raise the deck further for a while, and see what happens.

[slapout]

the old reel type mower does least damage to grass when it is cut. if your looking for golf course greens type look get rid of rotory type and go with reel type.

of course extreme limit to height of grass you can cut with reel mower but gives a beautiful landscape. the other good one are the workers with what look like shearving clippers doininh the work.

[Michael Hare]

I totally agree that reel mowers cut the best. They cut cleanly and also leave nice stripes. In 1996 I imported one for my turf grass trials at Ubon university. Did a great job.

However, with reel mowers the blades must be kept very sharp. I am not a mechanic and in Ubon the locals did not have much idea about sharpening the blades. The reel mower also did not cut the tight dense fine leaved Zoysia (Yaa Nuan Noi) grass as well as a rotary mower.

These days I use a rotary mower. I got the blades changed last week as the old ones had done 8 years work and were not cutting well-worn right down. I took the mower into my lawn-mower shop in Ubon and in no time the blades were changed and a few other little things repaired for a sum of 880 baht. That is another reason I bought a rotary mower-they can be fixed easily and maintenance is low. Also best to buy from a proper lawn mower shop and not from these big places like Global house etc. They sell them but do not do repairs or stock spare parts.

My Zoysia, Malaysia and Queensland blue couch lawns are now looking great.

[weegee]

I have the right mowers fellas....Just concerned about the lack of growth and the dead grass around, no matter what i do.....

We had good rain here yesterday, so i will see in a couple of days if that made a difference..