For the month of April ONLY ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

10% discount on SELECTED varieties of turf –

• Wintergreen Turf
• Coastal Mix Turf

Call our office to find out more info !

Thanks for taking your time to view our info!

We have experienced an extremely wet summer this year. We have had rain days for approx 70% of the time (21 days out of the month), usually it is around 25 – 35% (10days out of the month). The Gold Coast Bulletin ran a front page story stating that there has only been 11 clear days in the last 2 months!

All of this rain / water has three (3) major detrimental effects –

1. The Rain Drowns the turf – (this sounds worse than what it actually is). Oxygen is vital for turf growth and development. Turf / plants absorb oxygen through the soil, when there is an excessive amount of rainfall the areas in the soil that were full of oxygen (called ‘pores’) are now filled with water. Therefore there is no oxygen available for the turf. Hence the term ‘drowning’

SOLUTION – ensure that you have adequate drainage and / or topdress your lawn with 5mm of course sand. As the sand is a larger particle size than the topsoil more spaces (‘pores’) for oxygen and water will be created. The topdressing with sand theory is similar to filling a large 44 gallon drum up with basketballs (sand) OR filling a large 44 gallon drum up with golf balls (topsoil). The particles are bigger and therefore creates more spaces for the oxygen and roots of the turf.

2. Lack of Sunlight – sunlight is food for the grass, the sunlight is absorbed through the leaves of the grass / plant (photosynthesis, remember yr 11 biology….) When there is an excessive amount of rain days then there is little or no sunlight for the grass to absorb. The clouds and rain days have taken away the food source for your turf.

SOLUTION – When mowing your turf lift / raise the height of your lawn mower. This will increase the amount of leaf area available to absorb sunlight. When the sun does come out regularly again, slowly move the mowing height back down. (Remember to only remove 1/3 of the leaf at any one time).

3. Lack of nutrients – with a lack of sunlight the grass is forced to draw nutrients from its reserve it has stored in the roots. This works quite for well for a short period of time. (it is similar to a kitchen pantry, it has food stored in it but if you don’t go shopping or re-fill it the food will run out…..) . The cloudy and wet days create a limited amount of sunlight and only a small window of opportunity to absorb nutrients.

SOLUTION – to help compensate for the lack of nutrients in the grass we need to make it as easy as possible for the turf to absorb nutrients from the soil. We can achieve this by applying a chemical fertilzier. The fertilizer will provide very EASY nutrients for the grass. This fertilzier application will not have the usual jump oout of the ground effect that it usually does in hot summer months, what it will do is provide a ‘LIFE SUPPORT’ system for your struggling turf.

The only other advice that I can offer is PATIENCE. Unfortunately we cannot control the weather, therefore we must manage ourselves and our lawns around it. Im sure that if you follow these tips and apply some PATIENCE your lawn will be back to looking like a bowling green in no time !

Talk to you soon,

Robbie Commens

The Third issue the MAY have a detrimental (negative) effect on your lawn is ………….

MOWING HEIGHT

The single BIGGEST mistake that most Australian Lawn Owners make is mowing there lawn too low. The green part of your lawn is the part that absorbs sunlight and turns it into energy for the grass.  When the lawn is mown too low that green part of the lawn is taken away in the catcher. This therefore means that the lawn has to draw on the reserves that it has stored in the roots. These reserves will only provide enough energy for the grass to recover once. If that lawn is then mowed down to low AGAIN, the grass has run out of reserves and begins to die off.

An easy way to think about it is – ‘Your lawn is very similar to your bank balance’.

The green part of the leaf is putting money back into the bank account, when you mow your lawn you are paying bills, or taking money out of the bank account. The energy stored in the roots is your overdraft or credit card, you can borrow from it BUT you have to pay it back…… The idea is to have a POSITIVE bank balance, not a NEGATIVE one. Therefore it is very important to keep putting money back into your bank account (ie, it is very important to ensure that you have the majority of your lawn in GREEN leaf). This will ensure that you bank account (lawn) will remain positive (lush and GREEN). A great way to reduce the strain on your bank balance is to pay your bills weekly instead of monthly. This means that a lesser amount of money is taken out on each payment and provides the opportunity for your bank balance to grow. (ie, the best way to ensure that you have a lush green lawn is to mow more regularly and take a lesser amount of green leaf away each time.)

Each variety of Turf / Lawn should be  mown at different heights. The recommended mowing heights of established turfgrass varieties (in Summer Months) are –

• Green Couch =             25 – 30mm
• Qld Blue Couch =             35mm
• Buffalo Grass =             40 – 45mm
• Zoysia Grass =             40mm
• Carpet Grass =             40mm
• Coastal Mix =             40mm

Some other Great tips for mowing are –

• Only remove 1/3 of the leaf area at any one time.

• The lower you mow it, the more often you need to mow it.  (Bowling greens are mown daily)

• In Summer mow Weekly.
• In Winter mow every 2^nd or 3^rd week.
• In shady areas increase the mowing height of the grass. (This creates a greater leaf area to capture sunlight).
• Mowing is the best form of weed control. (The 2^nd best is physically pulling them out. Do not rely on chemicals).

As the amount of sunlight (food for the grass /lawn) changes throughout the year, so too should your mowing heights change throughout the year. There is more amount of sunlight in summer and therefore your lawn can be mown shorter. There is a lesser amount of sunlight during winter (with shorter days) and therefore your lawn should be mown higher (to allow a greater amount of food (sunlight) to be captured by the grass / lawn.

With all of the rain that we are receiving at the moment it is very important to keep an eye out for LAWN GRUBS! They often attack your lawn after rainfall as the grass is soft, lush and thick. But don’t worry, they are EASY to control !

Coastal Uses and Recommends –

‘RICHGRO Lawn Beetle and Grub Killa’

This product comes in an easy to apply granule (sand) form. You do NOT have to mix up any sprays. Simply sprinkle the ‘RICHGRO Lawn Beetle and Grub Killa’ over your lawn and water in (even better do it when it is raining!). Your Lawn Grub problems will be gone within 3 days! It is best to concentrate on the areas that are closest to your verandahs, awnings and large trees.

‘RICHGRO Lawn Beetle and Grub Killa’ is available from all BUNNINGS stores and most good Nurseries and Hardware stores..

Gday All,

So you are looking at laying down some new turf but you are not sure how to get started?…………. No worries !

Have a look at our comprehensive TURF TIPS section and our Frequently Asked Questions section of our website. It will give you all of the info that you need !

Good Luck with your turf project and I hope that you enjoy your new lawn !

Robbie Commens

B.App.Sc.Hrs (Horticulture)

Hello again,

Now it is time for the 2nd issue that MAY have a detrimental effect on your lawn –

LAWN GRUBS !!!!

Lawn Grubs (Spodoptera spp.) – feed of the fresh, young, green leaf of your turf just above the ground. They drastically reduce the quality and growth of your turf.  This photo below displays a typical lawn affected by Lawn Grub –

Common symptoms are  – brown, dry and brittle turf. Closer inspection reveals the leaf blade of the turf to be eaten by something (as this photo displays). The actual lawn grub looks very similar to a caterpillar. (as this photo displays). They are range in colour from bright green to dark green / brown in colour with black dots down there back.

*NOTE – Lawn grubs are also known as ‘Armyworm’. This is because they start in one section of your lawn and work their way across the lawn along a set line, similar to soldiers in a battle.

Lifecycle – To best understand how to control and PREVENT lawn grubs it is best to understand there lifecycle. The lifecycle of the Lawn Grub is explained below –

The adult Lawn grub is actually a moth, brown in colour. Please see the photo below –

The adult female moth flies around at night and is attracted to well maintained lawns. She lays her eggs into soft cocoons on the awnings of your house, under side of leaves and even your clothes line. These cocoons look like this –

These cocoons then hatch into the caterpillars (or LARVAE). These caterpillars are the ones (lifecycle stage) that do the damage to your lawn. They will live for approx 3 weeks if allowed to. However it is best get rid of them ASAP.

So how do we get rid of Lawn grubs ?

Control Methods –

Chemical control: A range of insecticides are registered for the control of Lawn grub in turf.  These are readily available from your local hardware or nursery. If possible spray late in the day as the Lawn Grub / Larvae are active at night.

Cultural Control : By breaking the lifecycle of the lawn grub you are able to PREVENT any lawn grubs getting into your lawn in the first place. This is best achieved by keeping an eye out for the soft cocoons on your awnings and gardens and either brushing or hosing them off. This will kill the eggs, hence not allowing the Lawn Grub / Larvae to eat your beautiful lush lawn.

Additional info – Lawn grubs are more likely to occur after rainfall. This is because the grass is lush and green. Therefore keep an eye out for the moths and cocoons after rain.

*Turf recovery  – even if your lawn has been completely eaten by lawn grub (lawn looks brown, brittle and dead). Your lawn will recover. The best thing to do is –

1). apply a chemical insecticide to kill all of the existing lawn grubs (make sure that you do this first BEFORE fertilizing, as if you fertilize first you will only be ‘feeding’ the existing lawn grubs).

2). Fertilize your lawn with ‘Scotts Lawn Builder + Grub and Insect Control’. Found in Bunnings and most local hardware stores. This product will fertilize your lawn to enable a quick recovery and will also ensure that NO lawn grubs survive.

3). Water / irrigate your turf for 2 – 3 days after applying fertilizer to ensure a quick recovery !

I hope that this info helped !

If you have any questions specifically about turf please feel free to email them to us at coastalturf@gmail.com

Hello, My name is Robbie Commens and I am the Sales Manager for Coastal Turf. 

Thank you for visisting our website. I hope that the information is useful!

During these hot summer months there are 3 main issues that MAY have a detrimental effect on the quality of your lawn. They are –

1. Heat (during hot summer days)
2. Lawn Grub (especially after rain)
3. Mowing (as the grass is growing quicker on the warmer summer months)

For this weeks BLOG I would like to discuss the issue of HEAT. Heat causes small circles of turf to dry out and die, the circles will start off small but if nothing is done soon they will get bigger and bigger.This problem is very easy to manage and even easier to prevent, but first we need to learn how your lawn is very similar to the bitumen on the road and an old grizzly bear , sound weird?, heres the explanation why…….

The Bitumen on the Road is very similar to your lawn because they both absorb heat. We all know how hot the bitumen can get on a hot day, it might only be 35 degrees air temp but you try to cross that bitumen road in the middle of the day bare foot and you would swear it is more likely going to be above 45 degrees celcius. Your lawn is very similar to this. This happens because the bitumen (and grass) is last place for the heat to end up and is therefore absorbed. This means that the air temperature may be relatively cool at 30 degrees celcius but your the bitumen and your lawn will be much higher temperature than that !

Lesson to learn = *The ‘micro-environment’ of your lawn will be warmer than the air temperature.

Grizzly bears hibernate when the temperature does not suit them, your turf (all varieties) is exactly the same. If the temperature is too low, the turf will not grow / hibernates. If the temperature is too high the turf will not grow / hibernates. The growth of turf is similar to a bell shaped curve. The diagram below illustrates this (with Temperature being the horizontal X axis and amount of Growth being the vertical Y axis) –

As the temperature increase so too does the growth upto a certain stage (usually at around 32 degrees celcius). After that the growth of your lawn does not continue to increase with the increase in temperature. As the temperature increases the growth actually decreases. Therefore it is very important to keep your lawn at a constant temperautre of below 32 degress celcius as often as possible.

*Lesson to Learn = Your lawn stops growing once the temperature around the grass (micro-environment) exceeds 32 degrees celcius.

We now understand that the turf will be warmer than the air temperature and that once the temperature of the turf exceeds approx 32 degrees celcius the turf will begin to lose growth. But how can we use this info in regards to your lawn ? The best way to keep your lawn cool during hot summer days is a short irrigation / watering right in the middle of the day. THIS WILL NOT BURN THE TURF. The water, that is approx 15 degrees celcius, will cool the already warm turf (of approx 35 degrees celcius) back down to a comfortable 25 degrees celcius. Your Lawn will look greener, be softer and more resistant to pests if you do this, even just once a week !

Welcome to Coastal Turf’s new website.

My name is Robbie Commens.

We started Coastal Turf over 15 years ago and have been loving what I do every day since.  My business turns houses into homes instantly, with me at the helm giving my customers the right information about their turf requirements from beginning to end.

Turf maintenance is an essential part of a strong and healthy lawn.

I’ve written up some turf maintenance tips here.