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A restoration allows you to improve your lawn without removing the existing turf. While restoring your lawn is not nearly as labor intensive as removing all of your turf and starting over, it may still require many hours of work. In this section, each step of an Atlantic Lawn restoration is described, some of which are essential and others optional. In most parts of North Carolina, the best time to begin restoration is late spring or summer or, although adjusting pH and dethatching can be done in the fall to prepare for a spring restoration. Remove Thatch and Weeds When beginning a lawn restoration, our first step is to remove any thatch buildup -- even low levels that would otherwise be acceptable. Unless we can expose the soil between the old grass plants, the steps that follow will have poor results. The best time to dethatch is when a lawn is thriving - not when it's stressed in the heat of summer or cold of winter. To begin, Atlantic Lawn will set the height adjustment on our mowers to cut the grass about 1 inch or so high, essentially half its normal mowing height.We mow the entire lawn. Short grass will make dethatching and surface preparation easier. Since we will be overseeding it will also improve seed germination rates because more seed will make contact with the soil and seedlings will have greater exposure to the sun. Our experience has shown us that the easiest way to remove thatch from a lawn that is over 3,000 square feet is with a power dethatcher. For smaller lawns or lawns with a thin 1/2- to 1-inch layers of thatch, we use a manual thatching rake which will do a satisfactory job. When using a power dethatcher to remove average amounts of thatch and to scarify the soil, we set the blades to cut 1/8 to 1/4 inch into the soil.We then make several test passes on your lawn to judge how much thatch (and turf) will be removed. If too much or too little is removed,we raise or lower the blades accordingly. The blade spacing for Bermudagrass and zoysiagrass is 1 to 2 inches. On a lawn with thick thatch (more than 1-1/2 inches), we may need to partially remove the thatch and allow the lawn to fully recover before the next dethatching session. Removing too much thatch all at once can do more harm than good.At Atlantic Lawn our rule of thumb is to remove what we can without tearing up holes of more than a couple of square inches in live turf. This may not be possible on lawns with very thick thatch--more than 2 inches. In that case, your lawn may not be salvageable and may need to be replanted from scratch. We will fill depressions and level bumps. While we are dethatching your lawn,we check for bumps and depressions. These may have been caused by poor grading, uneven settling, or the decomposition of buried tree stumps, logs, or roots.We will mark any irregularities so you can find them easily when we are ready to level them. To level small bumps, we raise the sod with a sharp spade or sodcutter and remove the necessary amount of soil beneath it. We cut out at least a 2 by 2-foot section of sod. If we lift smaller patches of sod,it will likely dry out and die. While the soil base is exposed, we will mix in some compost and fertilizer. We then soak the area using a hose and press the sod back into place.We will ask that you keep the area watered to prevent lawn brownout. Slight depressions can be smoothed over by topdressing: applying to the surface a combination of topsoil and sand. We fill depression and rake smooth with a landscape rake. When handling larger depressions, those more than an inch or two deep and several square feet in area - we raise the sod; fill the depression with sand and replace the sod, and we press it in place.Please be sure to keep repaired areas moist, or the edges will dry out and turn brown. Let Atlantic Lawn Adjust Your Soil's pH Before applying anything, it is best to test your soil, always obtain test results from a professional. If your soil test shows that the soil pH is low, We will add lime according to the test recommendations. Pelletized lime is our preferred type because it is readily available and can accurately applied with a rotary spreader. The more clay and organic content in your soil, the more lime you will need to correct the pH. Sandy soils require less lime to raise pH. If we need to add more than 40 pounds of lime per 1000 square feet to correct your pH, we will do it in two or more applications.We don't apply lime with fertilizer mixed in the same spreader. The resulting chemical reaction will release the nitrogen you want for your grass into the air. After spreading lime,we will water the lawn to wash the particles off the grass leaves and into the soil. Rarely does a lawn in the Outer Banks need a lowering of pH. In the event your lawn does,we will add sulfur according to you soil test recommendations. Sulfur amendments are also available in the form of compounds, such as ammonium sulfate. These compounds can be used in place of elemental sulfur, but they can burn turf if used in excess. Sulfur acts within one month to lower soil pH. To avoid applying too much, we don't try to make your correction in one application. To meet recommended amounts, we will make several surface applications a few weeks apart and water the grass after each application. Add Nutrients When restoring your lawn, we apply the fertilizer recommended by the results of your soil.We use a slow-release fertilizer if possible, and avoid putting down more fertilizer than you need. Adding too much nitrogen can cause rapid growth and a thinning of plant cell walls, which makes grass more susceptible to disease. The excess fertilizer may also leach and eventually find its way into waterways, polluting the waterways. After we test your soil,we can apply a slow-release fertilizer or if you prefer organic products,we recomend a Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium ratio of 3-1-2 or perhaps, non-burning fertilzer such as Milorganite, which is rich in organic matter. Build Organic Matter and Microbe Numbers The right dose of fertilizer won't help much if your soil does not contain an adequate population of microbes, you need billions of these microscopic organisms per handful. Microbes not only digest grass clippings, dead grass roots, and stems, but they also make their nutrients available to living grass plants. To have a thriving microbe population, your soil must contain 2 to 5 percent organic material. A topdressing of compost, such as Claycutter or Mushroom Compost, mixed with topsoil followed by aeration will eventually incorporate some organic matter into the soil without disrupting the lawn. When top dressing your lawn,we apply about one cubic yard of Claycutter or other compost per 1,000 square feet. Aerate Your Lawn Aeration, also called core cultivation or aerifying, is an important part of any lawn restoration program. It allows grass roots to deeply penetrate the soil, helps fertilizer and organic matter get to roots, allows oxygen to reach the roots, and makes it easier for water to soak into the soil. Atlantic Lawn recommends that we aerate once in the fall. Avoid aerating during dry summer months because you may damage an already stressed lawn. There are several types of aerating tools. Manual aerators allow us to do small areas a little at a time and to aerate corners and other tight areas that are difficult to reach with large equipment. Some machines use a rotating tiller like action that pushes the corers into the soil and extracts small plugs. Atlantic Lawn uses a lawn mower-size machine Aerators penetrate your lawn best when the soil has been moistened by rain or watering; so, unless it rains, water your lawn the day before we arrive. When aerating, we make several passes in several directions over every square foot of lawn. Prepare the Surface and Overseed (If Necessary) In the South, the best time to overseed a Bermuda lawn starts in late spring and goes through mid-summer. Starting then gives the young grass plants a better chance to germinate, establish strong roots, and store food needed for winter. NOTE: Overseeding hybrid Bermuda or Zoysia lawns that were initially planted using sod is not recommended. Only overseed bermuda lawns that were initially planted from seed. Before we begin,we choose the seed that was intially used to plant your lawn. If you're not sure what type was used visit a local nursery and ask them about the best types of Bermuda seed. At Atlantic Lawn and Landscaping we are recommending Savanah Turf-Type Bermuda, which currently ranks highest in color and turf density. Savanah Bermuda will be broadcast using a hand-held spreader, with micro-settings, at a rate of 1 pound per 500 square feet. We Do not use 'Common Bermuda' seed as this grass is primarily used for pastures. For sowing grass seed, we apply seed to the edges of the area we are sowing first. Then we divide the seed and apply half while walking in one direction, the other half while walking in a perpendicular (opposite) direction. We will spread extra seed on bare areas. Finally, we follow up by applying a thin coat (just enough to cover the soil) of wheatstraw or hay to bare areas. This mulch coating will help retain moisture necessary for seed germination and help to hold the seed in place if there is heavy rain.The key is to avoid putting down a heavy layer that would inhibit grass growth. If you have a lawn with grass that spreads by stolons (aboveground runners), such as St. Augustine, zoysia, we may introduce new grass plants by inserting plugs or patches of sod. Care for Young Grass Seedlings Our work to this point will have been in vain if you don't care for the young grass plants as the seeds germinate and begin to grow. The most critical need is to apply water at once or twice a day, depending on the temperature and assuming no rain. If the soil is allowed to dry out, the seedlings won't germinate or will soon wither and die. To maximize the germination rate, soak your lawn on the same day you sow the seeds. On the next day, assuming no rain, lightly sprinkle the lawn for about 5 minutes morning and afternoon. Be sure you have moistened the soil to a depth of one inch. Keep the overseeded lawn moist until the young grass plants are 2 inches tall by repeating a light watering every day after periods without rain. When the grass is 2 inches tall, resume normal watering patterns.
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