Why Is Your Grass Struggling To Thrive?
Explained: Why Is Your Grass Struggling To Thrive?
Do you have some spotty islands in your sea of green grass? You’re not alone. Getting grass to grow under or around the trees may appear to be an impossible endeavor. In fact, it may seem like the tree is actively working against you. While trees provide shade, beauty, and numerous other benefits, they can also make it difficult to make your grass as lucious as you want. If you need help, contact our plant health care team. In case you want to know a few reasons behind it, here are a few reasons how trees can make having a green yard difficult!
5 Reasons Why Trees Are Preventing Your Grass From Thriving
- Competition for Water: Trees have deep roots that can absorb a lot of water from the soil. This means that your grass may not be getting enough water to grow and thrive, especially when there is a drought. Properly watering your grass and trees can help both stay healthy and thrive.
- Competition for Nutrients: Just like grass, trees fight for nutrients in the soil. Tree roots can absorb a lot of nutrients, which may cause nutrient scarcity for your grass. Adding an organic fertilizer treatment to your tree and plant care can help encourage proper growth and health.
- Shade: Trees can give your lawn a lot of shade, which can cut down on the amount of sunlight that hits your grass. This can make it difficult for the grass to grow and make it more vulnerable to disease and bugs. Proper tree pruning can help bring more filtered light to the turf below.
- Root competition: The roots of trees can also affect your grass’s roots. As trees grow and spread out, their roots can get tangled up with the roots of your grass, making it hard for them to grow. Call a Certified ISA Arborist to find out how you can have them thrive together.
- Leaves: In the winter time in Florida, trees lose their leaves, which can cover your grass from getting sunlight and possibly make it an environment which is more conducive for diseases and pests to thrive. Meanwhile leaves break down and feed the soil with organic matter over time. If a property owner would like to have the best of both worlds it would be best to rake up the leaves and turn them into compost tea and then inject them into the soil. This would help create healthy soil and take away some of the negative side-effects of the leaves laying on top of the grass.
Ending Thoughts
Trees may harm the growth of grass on your lawn because they compete for water and nutrients, obstruct sunlight, damage the roots, and shed leaves. To lessen these effects, it’s important to do things like water your lawn regularly, fertilize your grass, and trim your trees to let more sunlight reach your yard. Call a tree specialist who is skilled in keeping both your trees, plants and grass looking great. They should be able to help give advice and care to make both trees, plants and grass thrive.