Creating A Lawn In Peat Soils

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Creating a lawn in peat soils, how to deal with drying out of a lawn in a peat bog and with weeds on it

"Dear editors! I read Vladimir Stepanov's articles about lawns with great interest. I would really like to ask him as a specialist a few questions that are caused by the condition of the lawn in our country house. I think that the answers to them will be of interest to other readers of the magazine who have lawns."

1. The lawn is three years old, it plays a very important positive role in the structure of our garden. But the condition worries him. The sod is very dense, about 7 cm thick. The fertile, artificially created layer is about 20 cm. Below, it is squelching with moisture, with an unpleasant the smell of peat more than a meter deep Why does the turf dry out quickly? Is it over-compaction to blame? Would it be damaging to the lawn by cutting it with a cultivator cutter to combat compaction, or is it better to do something else?

2. On the lawn, in addition to thin-leaved grasses, there are many cereals with powerful stems, which lie to the sides of the center of tillering. This manifested itself in the second year of the lawn's life. After cutting the grass in a day or two, these grasses rise above the rest of the lawn, strongly standing out in the height and width of the leaves. How can this be explained? Where did the seeds of these cereals come from? And what to do with them? Weed out or accept their presence?"

V. Ogorodnikova, gardener

The editorial staff forwarded the reader's questions to Vladimir Borisovich Stepanov and asked for comment. Here's what he answered:

Dear Valentina Anatolyevna! I must say right away that you are faced with the general problem of peat soils, which are characterized by high water holding capacity, but very low water-carrying capacity, approaching sandy soils. Therefore, the turf dries out quickly. You write that "… deeper is peat, sloshing with moisture, with an unpleasant smell, the depth of which is more than a meter." I can assume that clay lies below the layer of undecomposed peat, which is the reason for waterlogging. Usually gardeners do not take into account the impact of the general structure of the soil mass. It is believed that it is enough to create a fertile layer of twenty centimeters from above - and all problems will be solved. Perhaps, in the case of mineral soils, this sometimes justifies itself. It is more difficult with peat soils.

"Under the top layer of peat lies a clayey layer, then there are usually sands. To avoid a" squishing layer ", they destroy the clayey layer to ensure the outflow of water into deeper horizons, then the water is drained through special channels, etc. The thickness of the clay layer can reach 100 cm All these measures to improve peatlands were once carried out on a large scale, powerful equipment was used, but even then the results from vigorous activity were very modest, and in many cases even harmful.

Chernozems are located somewhere in the Rostov

region, in our almost tundra they cannot exist. Another thing is some local improvement of the soil at a particular summer cottage. If we turn to the recommendations of pre-revolutionary agronomists, then usually a deep pond was dug on such lands, where it drained stagnant squishy water. And it does not have to be large. A small decorative pond will bring you many benefits for improving the subsoil

"After covering the soil with lawn grasses, it is cultivated insignificantly, since it is not cultivated and taken out of circulation, all hope is for the" work "of the sod, which must be monitored very carefully. and the appearance of a stable snow cover, mowing should be carried out to prevent the grass stand from drying out.

Of particular importance is the permeability of the soil for the absorption of melt water. If in autumn it froze in a highly humid state, then usually its permeability to water is extremely insignificant. You also need to be careful about various mechanical treatments of the turf. It is better to pierce it more often with a conventional pitchfork, combining this operation with top dressing and watering. If, when laying the lawn, you did not manage to drain, then if the sod dries up in summer, this can only be corrected by watering. What can you do, there is a problem with capillary moisture capacity in peatlands. And you should pay attention to excess water, especially in the early spring period, because it causes the grass to damp out.

In areas with excessive moisture without water flow, plants often die from dampness, and the amount of weeds increases. So you, obviously, begins to appear on the lawn sedge. It could have got on your lawn when you were forming a fertile layer, now there is a gradual process of acidification. It is imperative to get rid of the settler weed, many types of weeds not only spoil the general appearance of the lawn, but are also foci of various diseases.

I must say right away that I am not a supporter of the use of herbicides in personal plots. The fact is that many modern selective herbicides require careful selection both in terms of concentration and processing time. Which is not always possible at the amateur level. In your case, you can try Launtrel herbicide, but first try it on a small piece of lawn. And from the "therapeutic" methods, you can try mowing the lawn with a low cut, but it is important not to overdo it, I do not know the varietal composition of the initial lawn mixture, whether it can withstand a low cut.

The method of introducing dolomite flour is effective. Do not exclude mechanical weeding, it can be combined with chemical, local application of Roundup, if you have the patience to apply it to unwanted vegetation with a brush.

In my publications, I recommended overseeding of seeds of some varieties of red fescue. In your case, you can dwell on the original composition of the mixture, if good varieties of bluegrass and red fescue prevail there, excluding pasture ryegrass from it and increasing the content of red hard fescue by 30 percent, they develop well on peat soils. Just do not sow a ready-made mixture for the restoration of lawns, its purpose is somewhat different.

This technique reduces weeds to a minimum, restores the color of the lawn, the species composition of the grass stand, the sod becomes more elastic. The fact is that young grass during a drought period - and this is a frequent occurrence in your area due to the structure of the subsoil - has a different root system, in contrast to the old sod.

How to overseed? It is best done in spring or autumn. First, the grass should be cut low, to the very base. It is advisable to choose a time so that there is no rain, so that you can work well with the surface of the lawn, remove garbage, old grass, carry out mechanical weeding, add dolomite flour, etc. It is good if the farm has a spring rake and a special cultivator.

You can do everything with ordinary pitchforks (punctures to a depth of 15 cm), this is longer, but not worse. If you are planning to do cultivation, then be sure to carry out it with over-sowing of grasses, then it will be useful. The rate of such over-sowing in your version is 1.5-2 kg of seeds per hundred square meters. It is good to carry out overseeding itself after a decent rain, you can also do preliminary watering, combining it with fertilizer according to the season: more nitrogen in spring, potassium and phosphorus in autumn. with dry fine sand in such an amount that the mixture (sand + seeds) lay on the surface with a layer of 2 mm. This sandy seed mixture must be evenly scattered over the surface: first along, then across the lawn. After overseeding, work on the surface with a rake, you can slightly rolling up the lawn - the main thing is that fresh seeds have access to moisture.

When the new grass reaches a height of 5-8 cm, cut it to 3-3.5 cm. Try to keep this mowing height mode constantly, sedge and many weeds will not withstand it for a long time.

How often should you overseed? In nature, in natural meadows, seed reproduction of grasses occurs every year in the fall. On the football field, overseeding is done after each match. And further. It has been established that with the correct application of mineral fertilizers, the plant consumes less water; with the help of fertilizers, it is possible to reduce the unproductive consumption of moisture by plants. With sufficient saturation of the sod with a balanced mineral nutrition, the content of sedges in the herbage sharply decreases. The turf regulates the water regime on lawns - it maintains a sufficient amount of productive moisture in the root layer throughout the growing season. At the same time, it is very important that a part of the soil pores remain occupied with air, which is necessary for plant life and the normal activity of microorganisms.

The mobility and availability of moisture for plants depend on the connection with solid soil particles, the size and structure of soil pores, the degree and nature of their filling with water. Distinguish between bound water, held by sorption forces, and free water, which is in the soil pores outside the influence of sorption forces. water overlies the zone of the capillary border, the moisture of which easily moves under the combined influence of capillary forces and gravity; this moisture is easily accessible to plants. The moisture content in the zone corresponds to the capillary moisture capacity of the soil. Therefore, not only the upper fertile layer determines the quality of the soil, but the entire set of the horizon as a whole. As I understood from the questions you asked, you were able to create a lawn in difficult soil conditions, and I hope that my recommendations will help extend its life.

V. Stepanov, Doctor of Biological Sciences, head of the farm "Elita"