Overseeding your Lawn .....A MUST and Why Organic Lawn care is needed

We can all contribute to a better ecosystem, and incorporating organic lawn care in our lawn maintenance plan, is a great place to start. Each year, billions of dollars are spent on chemicals and pesticides for lawn care to keep the more than 30 million acres of turf in the United States healthy. Because pesticides can be harmful on an already fragile ecosystem it's important to avail ourselves of other eco-friendly methods of lawn care.

 

Organic lawn care is easier and less expensive than you might think. Furthermore, a lawn maintained with organic methods is much healthier in the long run, for instance:

• They withstand drought more easily
• They are less susceptible to pest and disease problems
• They can be enjoyed, by people and pets without worry about getting sick 

LAWN OVERSEEDING can help you take your lawn (Golf Course, client's lawns) from so so to sensational.  Most people think just by throwing some seed on your old turf will get you the great lawn you are going for.  Not true!  Follow these tips to make sure you do overseeding right.

Tip #1 - Time it Right

Time of year is VERY important for seeding of grasses (Bermuda, Fescue, Alfalfa (for farmers), St. Augustine, Kentucky Blue grass, etc).  If you're overseeding with a cool season grass, do it in the Fall, the peak growing time for cool season grasses. For warm season grasses, think Spring.

Tip #2 - Prep your Soil

Give the soil the nourishment it needs to last and help grass to grow.  Remove thatch, and consider aerating your lawn. Loosen the soil with a strong raking as well. This is also a great time to test your soil and amend your soil, whether it's upping its phosphorous levels or adjusting its pH.  SumaGreen products (SumaGreen Turf) will benefit these needs and give your soil and grass everything it will need to properly grow better.  Some starter fertilizer may help but at very low dose if using the SumaGreen Turf.

Tip #3 - Mow Your Lawn Short

Scalp your lawn!  Yes, the same conditions that give weeds an easy entrance also makes it easy for you newly overseeded lawn to take hold. You want your new lawn seeds to have as much contact with the soil as possible, so scalp away. 

Tip #4 - Sow Seed Heavily

For lawn overseeding to succeed, you need a lot of seeds. You should plan to double the seeding you would do if you were putting the seeds down on straight soil with no existing turf.   Since you are trying to grow the grass you want to give yourself the best chances to succeed the FIRST time.

Tip #5 - Baby Your Lawn

Even though you have existing turf, your new sprouts are just as delicate as a completely new lawn, so treat your yard accordingly. Put a protective light top soil, spray SumaGreen Turf  with SumaGrow inside at 4 oz per 1000 sq/ft for quicker germination of seed, water, water, water, and stay off the grass for a few weeks.  To properly measure the water you can put a small cup in your yard to measure (Approximately) how much water you are putting down.  Only put an inch of water on grass.  Of course water in early morning and late evening so moisture stays in grass during hot days.  Also OVER  watering is bad so try to use best judgement and avoid puddling on grass.

Tip#6 - Sit back and Enjoy your NEW Plush grass.

 

 

Grass in Michigan that never looked better before SumaGreen Turf

TESTIMONIAL

Anthony Smith, Michigan

My name is Anthony and I live in Royal Oak, MI. I have been using Sumagreen Turf on my 100% Kentucky Bluegrass sod I had installed at a rate of 4 oz per application for a few months now.   My grass has been a deep green even in the shaded portion of my lawn since I started using Sumagreen Turf.  My lawn just looks overall much healthier and deeper green while using Sumagreen compared to when I wasn’t’ using it.  It has become thick and lush with a dense deep green look that I have desired since installing my sod.

Thank you for such an awesome product.

Anthony

www.SumaGreen.com
SumaGrow inside

New Brighton Golf Course , Minnesota (Results in THREE Weeks)

With the pictures below you can see why New Brighton Golf Course in Minnesota were excited about using our Golf products (ReeCourse Golf Greens) on their course.  Look at the difference in just three weeks.  Results vary but they all say the same thing.  Less water needed and more cost efficient then fertilizer with no threat of fertilizer burn on the course.

May 9th - After Golf Course was treated with ReeCourse Greens

April 19th  --- Before green was treated with ReeCourse

SumaGreen Testimonial 

Crownover Green Organic Lawn Care - Wake Forest, NC

  

Here is out latest testimonial from an LCO in North Carolina. As you can see from the pictures the lawns are beautiful and are low in stress growing. Here is what Crownover Green had to say about our SumaGreen Turf: As a new organic lawn care company in Wake Forest, NC we researched and experimented with Sumagreen Turf as well as a few other bio soil enhancers and fertilizers during 2012, and we unequivocally chose Sumagreen as part of our comprehensive organic lawn care solution for 2013. It gives our clients' turf a dark green color and seems to keep the lawns greener when other lawns are showing signs of drought stress. We apply Sumagreen on all of our client's lawns throughout the growing season and are very happy with the results. 

Regards, Rodney Crownover

You name the grass from Fescue, Bermuda, even to Kentucky Bluegrass SumaGreen Turf is your answer.


SumaGreen Turf with SumaGrow inside

Laying Sod Made Easy

Here are simple steps to a Do it your own Sod lawn.

Measuring & ordering ---- Sod is usually sold by the square foot. Get the width times length to determine your square feet you need. If you have an unusual shape make a sketch of the lawn, with the length, width, and any unusual features to help determine the amount of turfgrass sod you will need for your area. Schedule the sod order for delivery after preparatory work is completed and you are ready to install. Prompt installation on the day of delivery is crucial to a strong beginning for your lawn. 

Soil preparation ----- New Lawn - Grade to slope away from home, fill in all depressions, so no water lays. Leave final grade 1" below sidewalks and curbs. Add SumaGreen Turf at a rate of 2 oz per 1000 sq/ft on to the soil. Old Lawn - Strip old grass and thatch layer to bare soil or completely destroy old lawn with rototiller and repeat the steps above.

Sod installation --- Begin installing turf along the longest straight line, such as the driveway or sidewalk. Push edges against each other tightly, without stretching. Avoid gaps or overlaps. Stagger the joints in each row in a brick-like fashion, using a large sharp knife to trim corners, etc. Avoid leaving small strips at outer edges as they will not retain moisture. On slopes, place the turf pieces across the slope.

After installing the turf  roll the entire area to improve turf soil contact and remove air pockets. Water in with SumaGreen Turf at a rate of 2 oz per 1000 sq/ft as soon as a sizable area has been sodded (total used 4 oz per 1000 sq/ft during process). Give your new lawn 1 inch of water within the 1/2 hour of installation. Water daily, or more often, keeping turf moist until firmly rooted. Without SumaGreen Turf this process could take as long as two – three weeks but with SumaGreen Turf it should start taking root in 7-10 days. By the second week you should be able to cut back on watering in as the roots have started to take shape deeper in the ground.
Weather conditions will dictate the amount and frequency of watering. Be certain that your new lawn has enough moisture to survive hot, dry, or windy periods. Water areas near building more often where reflected heat dries the turf.

Caution --- Normally during the first three weeks after sod has been laid you would avoid heavy or concentrated use of your new lawn. This gives the roots an opportunity to firmly knit with the soil, and insures that the turf will remain smooth. But with SumaGreen Turf you should be able to at least enjoy the lawn (depending on weather conditions) after two weeks. Any heavy playing on sod, like an athletic field, we recommend 3-4 weeks to get the roots to grow deeper, and stronger. This will at longer life to the grass due to the cutting and maintenance of the turf.
Maintenance --- Your new sod will increase your property value significantly. With proper care using the SumaGreen Turf you will only need to treat about 3-4 times a year and you will notice weeds will have a hard time appearing in your sod. It will remain a great asset, providing beauty, clean playing surface, and an improved environment.

***TIPS-- A trick of the trade is to order 5% more than what your measurements are, to allow for trimming and waist.

Our products work just as good on existing grass like Bermuda, Fescue, even Kentucky Bluegrass.

SumaGreen

Can Mulch KILL your Tree?

This is a subject of much interest because the trees are suffering. When the soil around a tree gets too high, problems develop. This can occur naturally but is more often caused by people. People who love their trees are hurting and even killing their trees for lack of knowledge. To much mulch around a tree could actually KILL your tree.

Soil is one thing, mulch is another. The difficulty is that both cause problems for trees when applied incorrectly and mulch, good organic mulch that is, becomes soil eventually. The deeper the mulch around the tree trunk the worse the situation for the tree.

Landscapers and builders/developers (sometimes the same but sometimes different companies or different people) cause damage to trees in the normal course of their respective business. Builders prepare the land for building structures and landscapers make the prepared land beautiful. After scraping the earth with heavy equipment the landscapers, and sometimes the builder/developer bring in soil to cover the land for various reasons. The soil level gets raised. Any pre-existing trees that were preserved have to cope with an unhealthy high soil level that actually comes as a mix of detriment and benefit. High soil levels hurt, but new rich soil helps (as long as it does not get to high on the existing tree trunk.

Sometimes homeowners feel it is a good idea to make rings around the trunks of trees by removing the grass and then covering the bare soil with mulch. Sometimes the soil around the trunk will be cultivated, augmented and raised. Then flowers will be planted there. This practices is not good for the trees.

In this picture you can see what TOO MUCH (or to high) mulch can do to a tree at the base of the tree.

Science Fair is No competition for SumaGreen

We at SumaGreen would like to Congratulate Kylie Elwell in winning her Third Grade Science Fair in her experiment with SumaGreen. Her project compared SumaGreen, fertilizer and a control (nothing). Marigolds were each planted with 8 seeds in a planter. SumaGreen had seed germination of 8 of 8 seeds, fertilizer had 3 of 8 seeds germinate and Control had 2 of 8 seeds germinate. Over all out of over 120 participants she won her category. If you have any pictures or Science Fair winners please send them in.