How to ensure your lawn stays pristine and avoid pesky patches. Photo credit: Lawn Solutions Australia
A cheap household item has been hailed as an affordable lawn hack for patchy grass, buy an expert warns it could do more harm than good.
A common gripe for homeowners wanting to keep their lawn pristine are pesky patches and holes that seemingly pop up out of nowhere.
Lawns Solutions Australia spokesperson Nathan Edwards said there were many reasons why these patches might appear including general wear and tear, heat stress, pest related issues as well as poor lawn maintenance practices.
Yet despite what many may find, there are some easy solutions to ensuring you won’t have to endure the pain of a patchy lawn.
“Regular maintenance of a lawn will go a long way to preventing bare patches from occurring,” Mr Edwards said.
Sometimes the best solutions were the simplest when it comes to lawn maintenance. Photo credit: Lawn Solutions Australia
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“So regular mowing and watering, aeration to alleviate the compaction caused by wear, and promoting a healthy soil base that will support your lawn and allow water and nutrient to permeate effectively.
“Installing the right grass in the right environment is also incredibly important for long term success.”
A solution that has been gaining popularity on social media involves a common household item you most likely have hanging in all your bathrooms.
Hundreds of videos of people using toilet paper to create a mulch-like substance with grass seeds has been praised as a new way to fill and fix holes in the lawn.
Many of the social media posts claim to fix their patchy lawn in only two or three weeks.
People spruiking the hack video themselves mixing toilet paper, grass seeds and water together to create slurry they then use to fill dead patches.
Mr Edwards said using the toilet paper was an attempt at recreating a process called hydro-mulching or seed germination.
“The thought behind it is that the toilet paper helps protect the seed from birds, wind etc. while also providing moisture and an environment ideal for germination,” he said.
Some of the many videos going viral over the toilet paper mulching hack. Photos: Instagram
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Although many swear by the hack, Mr Edwards said for most turf types in Australia it wouldn’t work.
“The problem however is that in most cases, your lawn variety will be a different species of grass,” he said.
“Seed germination can still be quite hit and miss and generally, if the patches are small enough you will get a much better result by promoting healthy recovery from your existing grass or from laying turf.”
Mr Edwards said it could also end up creating a mix or patch of “inferior grass”.
“Most commonly available warm season turf grasses in Australia like Sir Walter DNA Certified buffalo grass, are not viable in seed, so they cannot be supplied or repaired in this way,” he said.
“So you can end up with a variation of grasses that don’t perform well or with different growth habits.
“The best grass varieties for Australian conditions are commonly not available in seed, so if you use a seed, it’s likely to be an inferior grass.”
Mowing, watering and fertilising regularly will aid recovery of your lawn. Picture: Jonathan Ng
Most Australian lawn varieties are warm season grasses that can self-repair.
“They will be able to spread laterally across the surface and fill back in during the warmer months,” Mr Edwards said.
If the patches are quite large, the quickest and easiest fix – and often the most cost effective – is to simply cut in and lay some fresh new turf from an accredited turf supplier, he added.
If patches were smaller, you don’t have to extreme changes to your standard lawn maintenance.
“Improving your soil, regular watering and mowing, fertilising, will all aid the recovery of your grass helping it to fill in and thicken again.”
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