Weeds & Grubs
Lawn Weeds
Weeds generally give a patchy appearance and can spoil the effect of an otherwise well tended lawn. If left uncontrolled, weeds such as daisies and clover quickly develop into clumps effectively shading out the grass completely. Lawn weeds often have a low growing habit and therefore avoid being mown. Most are perennial, returning year after year unless they are controlled. There are a few exceptions, such as black medick and annual meadow grass.
Great Grass Weed Control
Providing good weed control is a central feature of the Great Grass service. To help us achieve the very best results, our lawnsmen all have the necessary spray certificates to enable them to apply the most effective modern herbicides and pesticides. These products are widely used by professional qualified groundsmen and sports turf managers and not available on the gardening market.
Here are a Selection of Common Weeds
Daisy
The daisy is particularly common in closely-mown turf. Easy to control, particularly at the beginning of the season.
Great Plantain
Plantains, such as Greater Plantain (Plantago major), are widespread in Norfolk lawns. Producing rosettes of leathery and prominently-ribbed leaves, plantains tend to flower May - September.
Self heal
A hairy creeping weed rooting at nodes. Oval leaves grow in pairs. Purple flowers appear from June onwards. Most common in wet heavy soils. Will require multiple treatments to control.
Ribwort
A common perennial weed with narrow, ribbed leaves, cylindrical brown flower heads borne on long stalks from May to September. Relatively easy to control.
Yarrow
A creeping perennial weed producing fine dark green leaves (similar to carrot tops). If allowed to flower, clusters of white flowers from mid-summer onwards. Found on all soil types. Requires multiple applications and very difficult to eliminate completely.
White Clover
White flowered, creeping perennial weed with stems that root at nodes. Three leaflets, each with a central mark our borne on a long stalk. Favours heavy soils and is relatively easy to control.
Grubs
Chafer Challenge
Garden chafers and to a lesser extent cock chafers and summer chafers have been responsible for the total destruction of a number of lawns in Norfolk, particularly in parts of Norwich. These grubs are the larvae of “May Bugs” which as the name suggest are in their adult phase in May/June every year. The chafer grubs live just below the turf surface feeding on grass roots. The chafers particularly favour sandy soils and are most frequently found in damaging quantities in older, thatchy, compacted lawns.
The damage they cause is twofold. Firstly through the direct feeding on grass roots the grubs effectively disconnected the turf from the soil surface. The weak patches becomes very prone to drought and are likely to be invaded by moss and weeds as the grass becomes less competitive. Secondly, when populations of grubs become high, predators such as foxes, badgers, hedgehogs and birds come in to feed on the grubs ripping up the already weakened turf in the process.
Chafer grubs go through various stages in their life cycle before they become the adult beetle. These stages may take more than a season to complete, hence there may well be populations of chafer grubs at all stages of the year, they may cause more or less direct damage depending on the season, in the winter they tend to be less active and go down in the soil profile and are most active in the late summer early autumn. In the last few years controlling these beasts has been very difficult due to the withdrawal of a pesticide that was known to work well. A new product has become available in 2006 but, it will be a few seasons before we can see how effective this product will be.
We will recommend that all customers in high risk areas treat their lawns in May to prevent the build up of this pest and so reduce the risk of having to re seed the lawn at some point in the future. The new product will act best on the smaller stages of the grub. Thus it will be advisable to plan to treat the lawn for at least two seasons to reduce the population. After that it might be possible not to treat every year. However, if you live in a high risk area you will be exposed to annual infection and so it may be best to treat every year as a precaution. From work done in the USA we know that the new product will work best if the grass is watered post application, so if possible arrange to have a Water Tractor or sprinkler handy.
