Many people believe that the lawn can be put on the back burner during winter, and only managed during the spring and summer. For a healthy, lush landscaping however, the lawn, bushes, and trees all need protection, a nutrient source, and so much more. The best winter lawn care schedule includes top dressing, pre-emergent, tree trimming (particularly oaks trees) and shrub planting. Today, we at Showplace Lawns would like to elaborate on top dressing.
What is Lawn Top Dressing?
Understanding what top dressing a good place is to begin. The top dressing is a sand or pre-treated soil mix, which is known as top dressing, and is methodically applied to the surface of the lawn. A thin layer, generally ¼ inch or less, of top dressing materials are evenly applied to increase air, water and nutrient movement into the soil to alleviate compaction problems, smooth the surface of the lawn and decrease thatch buildup by supporting decomposition. Top dressing is ideal following treatments such as seeding, over-seeding, or sprigging in order to help avoid winter desiccation and to protect early developing plants as they get established. The top-dressing material filters into the holes opened during the aeration process, which helps the turf recover faster.
Soil Composition
To reach maximum results, the composition of the soil used in the top dressing should closely resemble that of the soil sprouting your grass but can differ. In the event you are looking to modify your soil profile, top dressing can assist your efforts over the course of several years. The top dressing for soil modification can have negative impacts if not performed accurately instead of beneficial gain. The same material determined for ideal top-dressing materials must be used throughout the entire process to ensure the efficient consistency that maintained adequate water movement and encourages root growth.
Top Dressing Mistakes to Avoid
Forming a layer on top of a coarse-textured soil, the most common mistake that produces inefficiency is often fine-textured soil. The water’s ability to reach the turf-grass’ roots is hindered due to the fact that the water moves throughout the top layer of soil texture before it absorbs into the bottom layer. In additional issues arise if the process of applying the top dressing is done poorly or inadequately, uneven depths of material across the lawn will emerge creating wet and dry areas. The turf’s growth and overall lawn’s aesthetics are negatively impacted. Also, the existing thatch layer can be buried by applications of excessive volumes of top-dressing material in too frequent applications. This can make the turf more susceptible to drought, heat and other such stresses and this can make the turf more susceptible to drought, heat and other such stresses if the soils are without proper aeration.
Lawn Care, Maintenance & More in Shady Hollow, Circle C, Dripping Springs, Buda, Sunset Valley, Manchaca, Oak Hill & Greater Southwest & West Austin, Texas
If your lawn could use a top dressing, contact the professionals of Showplace Lawns. Our experts can evaluate the soil and get the right top dressing and apply the perfect mixture to help your lawn to help you reach its full potential and the beneficial gain. Call us today!
