If your soil tends toward acid I would apply lime....in fact I'd even apply it in neutral pH soils - but not as often.
calcium bonds with nitrogen .
The common forms of Nitrogen are ammonium and nitrate. Calcium does not bond especially strongly with either.
Ah..and here's me thinking Calcium carbonate reacts with nitrogen to form Calcium nitrate..an inorganic compound insoluble in water? Every days a school day...
1. To much fertiliser is a usual culprit causing to much thatch
2. Iron doesn't speed up the process .
My recommendationas are based on my experience. Do you have any evidence for the above statements.
1. I've already explain why poor fertilising can cause a build up of thatch , I also have experience seen as I am cutting lawns everyday ( not today its lashing it down ) nearly every lawn I do which is treated by the same lawn company has a thatch problem , some which don't mechanically remove it are quite a problem to cut they even quite soft to walk on. Plenty of info on google.
2. You need to explain how iron speeds up breakdown thatch in lawn, maybe I am wrong its the first I've heard of it for lawns
I'd give it another going over 1-2 times @kennyatkinsonuk with the scarifyier , rossdriscoll has give a good explanation of scarifying diagonal first doing a 90 degree turn straight can do to much at once and damage the lawn . I'd do it again when Spring rolls round as well
Don't be to hasty to sack the lawn man. Are you cutting the lawn often ?
Kenny, your lawn looks good at this angle. My neighbours say mine is fantastic, but they don't look from immediately above.
Don't fuss too much about soil pH, accept what you've got. But it can be helpful to know. I am a post-graduate Chemist so I like to apply science to what I do.
Whilst I don't believe in scarifying for a general purpose and decorative lawn, I do believe in forking. But the minimum possible. I haven't done it for years, but today after reading all the posts I went out and did just the slowly, drought-recovering patches. One hour, that was enough. Another hour needed for only finishing the patches.
I rarely wear gloves in the garden, but for forking, they are esssential. I have developed painfull blisters in the past.
Did your man spike your lawn. It doesn't look like it is needed.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
That's important. Distilled water from your clothes drier or dehumidifier would be better.
I don't know about Widnes, but in Chemistry at school in Liverpool we used tap water intead of distilled water. Soft lake water from Wales; in Southport it was extremely hard from bore holes.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
If borders and paths are kept weed free you will have far less lawn weeds. Spring aeration is always important. I have used products in the passed for lawns on a clay soil. However this year late winter early spring was so dry, I didn't even go to the expense of buying it. It would have made no difference without water there is no point. Grass dies and then thatch develops. I think we need to take a more relaxed approach and save our money. I don't want a garden full of chemicals.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
Perki said:1. I've already explain why poor fertilising can cause a build up of thatch , 2. You need to explain how iron speeds up breakdown thatch in lawn, maybe I am wrong its the first I've heard of it for lawns
1. I bow to your experience, but I don't call it an explanation.
2. This is my experience from using a sulphate of iron solution to control moss, algae and nostoc. It just does. The reason you have not heard of this probably lies in EU approval processes.
I have just watered some FeSO4 on a patch; I took a pic before and planned a pic tomorrow. Unfortunately a heavy drizzle has arrived which might spoil the demonstration.
If I were asked for quick explanation, I would say: the ferrous ion (sic) acts as a catalyst in the autoxidation of grass leaf chemicals. Certainly the thatch blackens quickly. If you get any FeSO4 on your fingers, they will smell metallic. You may have noticed this smell after handling an iron object, even though iron atoms are too heavy to give off any volatille odour. The explanation in this case is autoxidation of the oils and grease on your skin, otherwise known as rancidification.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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todays pic (lots of heavy rain in last 24 hours) …
Every days a school day...
2. You need to explain how iron speeds up breakdown thatch in lawn, maybe I am wrong its the first I've heard of it for lawns
Don't be to hasty to sack the lawn man. Are you cutting the lawn often ?
Forgot to add use rain water with the PH kit
your lawn looks good at this angle. My neighbours say mine is fantastic, but they don't look from immediately above.
Don't fuss too much about soil pH, accept what you've got. But it can be helpful to know. I am a post-graduate Chemist so I like to apply science to what I do.
Whilst I don't believe in scarifying for a general purpose and decorative lawn, I do believe in forking. But the minimum possible. I haven't done it for years, but today after reading all the posts I went out and did just the slowly, drought-recovering patches. One hour, that was enough. Another hour needed for only finishing the patches.
I rarely wear gloves in the garden, but for forking, they are esssential. I have developed painfull blisters in the past.
Did your man spike your lawn. It doesn't look like it is needed.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I don't know about Widnes, but in Chemistry at school in Liverpool we used tap water intead of distilled water. Soft lake water from Wales; in Southport it was extremely hard from bore holes.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I think we need to take a more relaxed approach and save our money. I don't want a garden full of chemicals.
2. This is my experience from using a sulphate of iron solution to control moss, algae and nostoc. It just does. The reason you have not heard of this probably lies in EU approval processes.
I have just watered some FeSO4 on a patch; I took a pic before and planned a pic tomorrow. Unfortunately a heavy drizzle has arrived which might spoil the demonstration.
If I were asked for quick explanation, I would say: the ferrous ion (sic) acts as a catalyst in the autoxidation of grass leaf chemicals. Certainly the thatch blackens quickly.
If you get any FeSO4 on your fingers, they will smell metallic. You may have noticed this smell after handling an iron object, even though iron atoms are too heavy to give off any volatille odour. The explanation in this case is autoxidation of the oils and grease on your skin, otherwise known as rancidification.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."