Archive for October, 2016

Do You Really Need to Fertilize Your Lawn?

Thursday, October 20th, 2016
Finished Lawn

Fertilizing your lawn should be part of your regular, comprehensive lawn maintenance plan.

If you care about keeping your lawn looking lush and green for as long as possible, you’ve probably used (or considered using) fertilizer. After all, when things start to look patchy and dry, it’s an issue of not enough nutrients in the soil, right?

Not necessarily. Although there are times and situations when fertilizing your lawn is the right choice, it’s not a universal cure-all. Instead, it should be used as part of a regular, comprehensive lawn maintenance plan that takes all parts of the grass life cycle into account.

Types of Grass

The type of grass in your lawn of will be the number one indicator of when and how you should fertilize. Because the best time to fertilize your grass is during its peak growing season (in the same way animals and people need extra nutrition during their growth spurts), it’s important to know when your lawn is expected to put in the most work. Cool-season grasses (typically found in northern states) tend to grow most in the early spring and fall. Warm-season grasses (typically found in the South) will do more of their growth in the humid heat of summer.

Things start to get tricky when you have a mixture of both these types of grasses, so it’s important to tailor a fertilization schedule to your exact lawn.

Fertilizer Contents

No two fertilizers are created equally, so it’s important to know what’s going in yours. Most fertilizers are composed of some combination of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium—as well as a few other nutrients like iron that grass needs to stay healthy. However, too much of one ingredient (especially nitrogen) at the wrong time, and you could end up damaging the grass. Because nitrogen stimulates top growth, it can end up taking nutrition away from the roots or causing off-season growth.

Fertilizer Alternatives

Another issue to take into account are other, more natural alternatives to fertilizing a lawn. For example, the mulch left in grass

clippings contains natural nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. By allowing grass clippings to remain on the lawn, you can re-introduce these minerals without resorting to fertilizer.

Exmark core aerator

Core aeration can be beneficial for most lawns if performed at the right time for the type of turf grass you’re working with.

Other options include aeration, over-seeding, and timing your water cycles. Aeration, which perforates the soil with small holes, helps introduce oxygen, water, and fertilizer nutrients into the lawn. Over-seeding gives your lawn a chance to appear more lush and thick. Watering the lawn can also make a big difference, especially when it comes to cool-season grasses, which often go dormant in the heat of summer.

Depending on your lawn goals, any and all of these efforts can make a difference. With the right planning, a fertilizer can be used alongside other types of lawn maintenance to create the most desirable, green finish possible.

Rear Discharge Decks

Tuesday, October 18th, 2016

There are times when you want to bag the mulch you mow, and there are times when discharging off to the side is preferable. There are also times when neither of these choices are ideal. For commercial mowers, certain locations come with side discharge difficulties. Medians, road sides, campgrounds, parking lots, cemeteries, and areas with heavy landscaping all require that you discharge to the rear or not at all.

Lazer Z X-Series

Exmark’s most powerful, productive mower, the Lazer Z X-Series, with the awesome UltraCut Rear Discharge cutting deck.

Mowers with rear discharge cutting decks also have the benefit of providing more efficient and sound-controlled mowing—two factors that play a big role when commercial mowing is your business. Everyone wants the perfect, well-manicured look of a freshly cut lawn, but few people want to be put out by lengthy mow times, and unsightly clumps.

The Exmark Solution

If you want controlled, uniform clipping distribution that both looks great and is healthy for turf, rear discharge decks are a great option.  With a full suite of rear discharge cutting deck options for our top-selling models, including select Radius and Lazer Z models, you can increase your productivity without sacrificing cut quality.

Rear discharge cutting decks provide distinct advantages to the modern landscaper, including:

  • Counter rotating blades for more efficient processing
  • Fuel savings of up to 20 percent
  • Uniform distribution in tight spaces
  • No overprocessing of clippings
  • Molded bumpers on both sides of the deck for easy maneuverability

These features are offered in addition to the standard high-power motors and quality construction you’ve come to expect from an Exmark mower.

Why Choose Rear Discharge Decks?

Controlled clipping discharge is ideal for populated or restricted areas, especially when used as part of a regular maintenance schedule. These mowers can also be used in rough-cut situations (like ditches), as each blade has more capacity and can handle larger jobs without damaging the equipment. And because the mower doesn’t overprocess the clippings, you can get faster results without putting too much strain on your team.

When used as part of a fleet of Exmark mowers, all of which are designed for commercial-quality cutting and seamless results, a rear discharge zero-turn mower is one of the most valuable pieces of equipment you’ll own.

Get great looking results, high efficiency, and rely on the signature high-strength alloy steel and durable construction Exmark is known for. With a rear discharge deck, you can expand your services and get more done in a day.

Fall Lawn Care Schedule

Thursday, October 13th, 2016

If you’re lucky, you’ve spent most of 2016 enjoying a beautiful green lawn rolling off in every direction. If you’re not so lucky, and your lawn is less like a rolling landscape and more like a DIY project, there’s still good news—fall is the perfect time to start a new lawn care schedule.

You don’t have to buy tons of tools or lawn care equipment (though it helps!), as long as you follow a few suggestions on timing for making the most out of your yard.

Early Fall

Exmark 30inch Stand On Aerator

By aerating your lawn and loosening the soil, you can better prepare the grass for a healthy lifecycle.

Early fall is an ideal time to tackle those bare spots, thin patches of grass, and dead areas in your lawn. If you have warm-season grass, you’ll want to do this while temperatures are high; for those with cool-season grass, it’s best to wait until the weather isn’t so hot.

Start by loosening the soil in the patchy areas either by hand or using an aerator. From there, you can remove the dead grass and add rich compost to create the best growing bed. Sprinkle grass seed, moisten the area with mulch, and be sure to apply water to help the grass seeds take root.

Early fall is also a great time to take care of any lingering weed problems. New compost and heavy water applications aren’t just ideal for grass growth—they also promote the development of weeds. By taking the time to get rid of any weeds now, you can tackle the rest of your lawn care without worry.

Mid-Fall

The middle of fall is when you want to aerate and over-seed your lawn for next year’s growth cycle. To take care of a full yard, you’ll want to use equipment from our Exmark aerator line and lawn spreader sprayer equipment, as these tools are designed to get beautiful results over a large surface area.

Exmark commercial-grade lawn sprayer

Seeding is important during mid-fall as the fall burst of growth in cool-season grass is some of the most natural and easy to take care of.

By aerating your lawn and loosening the soil, you can better prepare the grass for a healthy lifecycle. Seeding is also important during this time, as the fall burst of growth in cool-season grass is some of the most natural and easy to take care of.

Although you may be tempted to fertilize and mow at this time, it’s important to give your new fledgling grass a chance to take root. Stay away from the fertilizer altogether, and focus instead on things like edging and trimming.

Late Fall

As the cool weather continues, you’re going to start seeing a lot of debris and leaves falling from nearby trees and bushes. Your main job now is to keep that debris from covering your lawn and preventing sun and water from getting to the grass and roots.

A mulching mower will go a long way in breaking up the leaves and organic matter without damaging the grass below. This mulch is also a great way to put nutrients into the soil without introducing fertilizers, so take advantage of as much (or as little) of it as you want.