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Archive for the ‘Seasonal Lawn Tips’ Category
1. Turn the water off to your sprinkler system. Usually in your basement or crawl space.
- Shut off valve in the normal operating position (On).
- Shut off valve in the “Off” position.
2. Go outside and turn all of the ball valves on your Backflow to a 45 degree angle as pictured below. Make sure you do this to all 4 ball valves. Two should have big handles like the blue handles below and two are the little flat head screwdriver slotted test cock valves that stick out of the side, sometimes they are in different locations depending on which brand of backflow you have.
From this.
- Ball valves in normal operating position.
To this.
- Ball valves at a 45 degree angle for winterization.
3. Open up your valve box/es and open the drain/s. Valve boxes are in the ground and usually green. Drain valves are usually located at the end of the line past the last zone valve. Most of them have a cross shaped handle, but some of them are ball valves similar to the valves on your back flow and can be plastic. By opening your drain valve/s in the valve box/es, the water will drain off of the front side of your backflow and copper pipe exposed to the air, and will drain your mainline that connects to your valves. Pictured below, drain valve is on the right bottom of the picture (cross handle).
- Valve box with 3 zone valves and one drain valve.
4. Bring a large cup, bowl or bucket and go back to your basement or crawl space and open the drain to drain the back side of your backflow and pipe. These drains are usually attached to the valve that you shut off the system with. Pictured below. They are usually a little tiny cap that unscrews to let the water out. But it is very important to do steps 1-3 before opening this drain cap or you willl not get all of the water out. When done draining, leave this cap loose or unscrewed with a bucket underneath to catch any dripping if possible.
- Drain cap on the right.
That’s it.
We get this question a lot, and the answer is “Yes!”
If you don’t know how to properly drain your sprinkler system, then you should hire a professional to winterize it for you. You can get away with not blowing out the sprinkler lines on some systems, but you will need to drain it properly anyway or you will freeze your backflow preventer, ball valves, copper pipe and/or valve manifold.
When we winterize and blowout a sprinkler system, half of what we do is a proper draining of the system, then we blow air through the lines that can’t be drained to get all of the water out of the entire system. On some systems that have poly pipe for lateral lines, you can get away with not blowing air through the lines, but this is risky. You can crack a sprinkler head or fitting even though the poly pipe may not crack during a freeze. Not to mention the poly pipe becomes weaker each year that you don’t blow the water out of it, because the water expands and contracts the pipe during each freeze, creating weak spots and eventually cracking.
If you have PVC Laterals in your sprinkler system, you better blow it out or you will have major damage the following spring. PVC freeze cracks can go the entire length of your yard, which means you would have to replace the entire run of pipe and that’s not cheap.
Make sure you hire a reputable company to winterize your sprinklers. If the job isn’t done correctly you will have damage in the spring that may cost five times more than a good company charges for a sprinkler blowout. Don’t call the guy who hand writes on a sign and sticks it on the corner, you really never know what your going to get with someone like that.
The bottom line is, you can get away with not blowing out your sprinkler system in some cases, but it is risky if you don’t know what you are doing.
Feel free to call or email us with questions regarding sprinkler winterization and blowouts.
Happy Roots – Thornton, Broomfield, Westminster, Brighton, and Erie Colorado – 303-457-8300
Thank you for your business! We really appreciate you choosing Happy Roots to help maintain your lawn, landscape and sprinklers. Below you will find a few tips on what to do next.
Please call or e-mail us if you have any questions or comments regarding the services performed on your lawn today. E-mail:Les@ColoradoHappyRoots.com Phone: 303-457-8300
After Service Care:
- -If your lawn was aerated, leave the plugs. They will disappear in a couple of weeks through watering and mowing and are good for the lawn. They help break down the thatch layer, and if you have low spots, you can rake plugs into these areas to help level them out.
- -If your lawn was fertilized, water it in as soon as you can, the fertilizer is activated by water. If possible, wait until you water it in a couple of times before mowing. If you need to mow, mulch the grass instead of bagging it.
- -If your lawn was over seeded, water it in the same as the fertilizer and stay on a regular watering schedule for as long as possible to keep the soil moist, this will help with germination of the seed. If you have thin or bare spots, hand water them a couple of times a day for a few weeks to help the seed germinate in these areas, once it gets cold, the seed will not germinate until next spring. Seed does take good soil contact, moisture and heat to germinate.
- -The key to making the products and services we perform on your lawn work is proper watering. Don’t water too much or too little, make adjustments to your sprinkler clock regularly through each season to avoid your lawn drying out or wasting water and causing other problems by over watering. Also, it is a very good idea to winter water with a garden hose and sprinkler once or twice per month through the winter months, unless we are getting sufficient amounts of snow. Winter watering will help prevent spider mites from taking over and killing large areas in your lawn. Your grass is still alive in the winter, not dead, it’s dormant and winter watering is great for the roots of your lawn.
- -If the weeds in your lawn have been sprayed, wait 24 hours to water.
Services you may be interested in this fall/winter. Call or email us for details and pricing.
- -Sprinkler Winterization
- -Leaf Clean-up
- -Yard Clean-up, Pruning of Shrubs and Trees
- -Junk Removal and Hauling
- -Snow Removal
- -Outdoor Christmas Lighting (You provide the lights we put them up.)
We have just been through one of the driest winters and early springs on record, up until this last week that is. Those of you who started a regular watering schedule early (end of March – Early April) probably have a very nice thick green lawn right now and those who waited awhile to get on a regular watering schedule probably have a lawn that is struggling or even has damage from spider mites or grubs.
The dry winter/spring has created an environment that insects love. If you have big brown patches in the middle of some green lawn, you probably have spider mite damage. If you have areas in your lawn that are thin and just not looking too good even after regular soaking, you may have a grub problem. We have been seeing a lot of these issues around this area. Most of the spider mite damage is on South facing slopes.
To avoid these issues in the future, remember that water is the most important thing your cool season lawn needs. Not too much but definitely not too little. The grasses we have in our lawns are native to the east where rain is plentiful and here in Colorado we are obviously very dry and even drier this year. So winter watering, soaking the lawn, trees and shrubs once per month through dry winters is advisable, and getting on a regular watering schedule early in the spring is also advisable. You don’t have to turn on your sprinkler system to do this, just pull out the garden hose (like the old daysJ) and put a sprinkler on the end of it. I like the tractors that roll across the yard on a hose, my grandma used to have one of these………anyways, uh-oh I’m showing my age now.
With these insect and watering issues, I would like to offer a few suggestions that we may help with if you need it. With your second application of fertilizer and other services, I would recommend an insecticide application be done with it. For most yards this application would cost an additional $35, larger yards would be a little more of course. We have seen grub damage and spider mite damage all over this area and an insecticide application would be a good preventative measure and also would take care of these two issues if you have problems with them. It also takes care of other insect problems in the lawn area that may arise. A second application in the summer may be needed.
For assistance with watering schedules and practices, I am available by appointment to come over and assist with sprinkler clock programming. I can show you how to properly water each zone of your sprinkler system and put the program in your sprinkler clock, so that your lawn is using more of the water that you are putting down. I can help you understand and be able to monitor your watering situation year round so that you can be on top of the most important part of keeping a nice lawn, your water. These appointments are available in 30 minute consultations and cost only $30. You will save your lawn or much more than $30 in your water bill. It is well worth it and I would love to teach you so that you will be happy with the other services you get throughout the year, because the other services you get throughout the year will not give you good results without proper watering practices.
To order service click here.
Thanks,
Les Cowan
President – Happy Roots
Here in Thornton, Westminster, and Broomfield we have had a very dry winter. The mountains have recieved huge amounts of snow fall, but we are over 30 inches below our normal snow fall amounts here in the Denver metro area and front range of Colorado. We now find ourselves halfway through our “normally” snowiest month with nothing to speak of yet.
My Point to this is that I would recommend soaking your lawn, trees and outdoor plants with the hose this weekend. It’s still too early to turn on your sprinler system, but do it the old fashioned way……with a garden hose. You may have some damage to your lawn by mites if you don’t get some water on it soon. That also reminds me, don’t pay anyone to put chemicals on your lawn to get rid of mites. Mites don’t like water, so all you have to do is water your grass and they will go away. You may already have some damage, but acting now will minimize it.
So go ahead don’t wait until it’s too late, get the hose out and soak your lawn. You’re grass will thank you!
Les Cowan
Happy Roots
1. Aerate - This breaks up compacted soil, reduces thatch, and creates thousands of holes that penetrate into the root zone of your lawn to deliver water and food (fertilizer) directly to the roots where your grass needs it.
2. Fertilize – Fertilize every 2 months and start with a spring application in March or April. Fertilizer will replace the nutrients that are vital to a healthy lawn. These nutrients are not readily available in our native soils, so regular fertilizer applications are essential to keep your lawn thick and green. By the way if you keep your lawn thick and healthy you will have less weeds in your lawn, because the weeds cannot compete with thick grass.
3. Water properly- Proper watering is the single most important maintenance practice for your lawn. Without proper watering throughout the entire year, none of the other maintenance services you spend money on will work. Watering needs change throughout the entire year so you will need to adjust your watering schedule for those needs. These watering adjustments may need to be done weekly to keep the correct amount of moisture in your soil at any given time of year. At the very least, you should adjust your watering schedule monthly. Winter watering is also very beneficial if we are having a dry winter. We offer sprinkler consulting starting at just $30. We can show you how to monitor and schedule your sprinklers so that you are not watering too much or too little.
4. Other good options – If you have a thin lawn, you will want to improve your maintenance practices on tips 1-3, and then you may want to add some more beneficial services like over seeding to fill in some of the thin areas or EZ Wet wetting agent to get more out of the water and fertilizer you are putting down.
5. Mow low - Instead of power raking or dethatching which we do not reccomend, mow your lawn low in mid to late March. This will get rid of all of the dead grass on top and expose the green grass underneath that is starting to grow. Don’t power rake! Power raking adds un-needed stress to your lawn.
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If you have questions about any of these important lawn tips or would like to order Please contact us at www.ColoradoHappyRoots.com or call us at 303-457-8300.
Apply a fall fertilizer in September to thicken your lawn, build strong roots and help recover from the heat stress of the summer. Then apply a winterizer in Mid October to Mid November for early spring green up next year. The roots of your lawn are taking up nutrients and penetrating deeper into the soil in the fall more than any other time of year. The fall is also the best time of year to aerate for these same reasons. Spring aerations are also recommended.
Questions? Please e-mail Les@ColoradoHappyRoots.com Order services here.
Happy Roots Update and Lawn Tip,
Thank you for your continued business. We really appreciate it!
I visited a lawn last Monday in Thornton to aerate it. It was one of my long time customers, her name is Deb. I pulled up and her lawn was thick, green and already growing, it was the nicest lawn on the block by far. She was already mowing and it looked beautiful. I hadn’t aerated it yet, so why was it so green and thick. Well, she had put on a late fall fertilizer and had applied her spring fertilizer in March. The other very important thing she did was start watering early. The water and feeding the lawn with the fertilizer is all it took to make her lawn look amazing. She still wanted me to aerate, which is smart on her part, but that is not why her lawn was in this condition. If you just aerate a lawn and then don’t water or feed it properly, it will still look unpleasant to say the least. We grow cool season lawns in this state that love water, and we haven’t had much natural rainfall lately so if you aren’t already on a regular watering schedule, you need to get with it or you will be missing a great opportunity to build a thick lawn before the heat arrives.
So why aerate you ask? When you pull out thousands of plugs from the soil in your lawn, you create a situation where water, nutrients and air get directly into the root zone of your grass. You save water by having less runoff, and you feed the roots directly. Aeration is a very important compliment to the water and fertilizer treatments. When you aerate your lawn regularly at least Spring and Fall you are creating a deeper root zone each year, which will help your lawn get through the hot summers and cold winters with less stress. But aeration will only help if you are watering and fertilizing correctly. They all work together.
Remember, we are here to serve all of your residential lawn and sprinkler needs. If you have already had your lawn serviced by us this spring, please get your water on to activate the products we’ve applied. If you haven’t had your lawn aerated or fertilized yet this spring, it’s definitely not too late. You can visit our web site at www.coloradohappyroots.com or call us at 303-457-8300 to schedule the services you need. We also offer lawn and sprinkler consulting to give you all of the inside information on how to take care of your lawn and sprinkler system. For as little as $30 I can personally visit your home and fill you in on what works and what doesn’t.
Remember we offer weekly lawn mowing for those of you who need it, or just want to relax instead of mow this summer. We offer same day quotes for free, and have the best service around. Please see our mowing page on the website.
p.s. Thanks for your regular support and referrals. We work hard to help you make your yard the best it can be and appreciate it when you HELP US GROW OUR BUSINESS by telling your friends and family to call us.
Thank You,
Les Cowan
Owner – Happy Roots
Phone: 303-457-8300
e-mail – les@ColoradoHappyRoots.com
Web: www.ColoradoHappyRoots.com
The Answer is…….Power Raking!
I’ve had a lot of customers ask if we power rake. The answer is no. The reason we don’t offer power raking, is because it is not a recommended maintenance practice for cool season turf type grasses like Blue Grass, Rye Grass, and Fescue. These are the types of lawns we have in this area of Colorado. We would not offer anything that would not benefit your lawn just to make some extra money. We only offer services that are good for your lawn and have a benefit.
When you power rake our cool season grasses, they go through a lot of un-needed stress. The machine tears up the crown of the grass blades, causing damage. The majority of the time the lawn will heal and continue to live, but the stress is un-neccessary.
Instead of power raking I would recommend mowing your lawn down to about 2-2.5 inches for the first mow of the season. This will get rid of most of the dead grass from last year. If your grass is matted down from the winter, you should lightly rake with a leaf rake and then mow it. After this is done, it would be a great time for an aeration and fertilizer application. Aeration and proper watering practices are the best methods to controlling thatch build up. Now you are ready to water and enjoy your lawn for the summer. Of course you will have to mow, fertilize some more, spray some occasional weeds and all of that wonderful stuff, but at least you didn’t waste $75 on a power rake or dethatching that didn’t help anything.
-See more spring lawn tips by clicking here
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I was talking to one of my long time mowing customers tonight about his watering practices in his lawn area, that conversation made me think of some information that I wanted to pass on to you, to help you get the most out of your lawn and the services we provide for you. I wanted to share with you the 3 basic needs of lawn care. If you execute these three things correctly, you should have a beautiful lawn all year long.
- Water- The way you water your lawn can make it or break it. Under watering will create a lawn that is thin, brown and susceptible to insect problems when it gets put under stress. Overwatering can suffocate the roots of your grass, create a thick layer of thatch or top root growth (If there is always water on the surface of your lawn, your roots will have no need to penetrate deeper) , and create an environment ideal for getting insect or fungus problems. The ideal watering practices are to soak one day then dry out for 2-3 days. When you soak your lawn, water it for short periods of time with multiple cycles. An example of this is to water every 2nd (Summer) or 3rd (Spring or Fall) day, once at 2am, then 4am, then again at 6am. Run your pop-up heads 7 minutes each cycle, and your rotors 12-15 minutes each cycle, if you have stream rotors run them 20+ minutes each cycle, and drip zones 30 minutes each cycle. Using multiple cycles like this reduces runoff, and pushes the water deeper into the soil after each cycle. Then as you dry out for two or three days, the roots push deeper into the soil absorbing the water that you pushed down with the multiple cycles. It is important to water early in the morning also. By watering early in the morning you will be watering when there is little or no wind, which gives you better coverage, and keeps the water in your yard and not blowing away. Then when the sun comes up after you are done watering it dries the canopy of your lawn off, helping prevent fungus problems. If you water at night after the sun goes down, the water sits on your lawn all night long creating a better environment for fungus growth, especially when it is warm.
Remember to shut your sprinklers off for a day or two when we get 1/3” of rain or more.
Our EZ Wet product and Core Aeration helps the water you put down get deeper into the soil.
- Air - The roots of your lawn need plenty of Oxygen to thrive. Of course the best course of action to increase oxygen intake is to aerate your lawn every spring and fall. This is important because your soil becomes compact over time, with foot traffic, animals, mowers, kids playing and watering. All of these great things contribute to the compaction of your soil, sealing it up and keeping a lot of oxygen out. Thatch (Roots that grow on the surface) also contributes to low oxygen in the roots. Aeration and proper watering are the best ways to control thatch. Over watering to a point that there is standing water will also deprive your roots of your grass from oxygen. If water squishes out the sides of your shoes as you walk over your grass, it’s too wet.
- Food - You need to replace the nutrients that your grass needs to thrive, on a regular basis. Our soils are deficient in many of the key nutrients your grass requires to stay thick, green and healthy. This is why you must fertilize regularly to keep a beautiful lawn all season long. In Colorado it is recommended that you put down a minimum of 4 pounds of nitrogen per 1000 square feet of lawn, per year. You don’t want to put all 4 pounds down at once, or it will burn your lawn. That is why we have a 4 and 5 application program for our customers. We put 1 pound of nitrogen down per application, which gives you the minimum 4 pounds that is recommended per year, or the 5 application program will give you a little extra for better results. You can also do this on your own, by calibrating your fertilizer spreader with the type of fertilizer you buy, then applying it every 6-8 weeks.
That is all it takes to have a beautiful lawn. The catch is that you need all three. If you are missing any one of these three, your lawn will not look very good. If you follow these directions, you will have a thicker, greener, healthier, lawn with little or no fungus problems, with deep roots to withstand the summer heat, and less weeds, because the best way to keep weeds out is competition. If your lawn is really thick the weeds will not get the sunlight they need to germinate. If you would like more information on proper ways to take care of your lawn, please e-mail or call me.
***If you know someone who could benefit from the information I have provide you, or might be interested in our services, please forward this message to them. I appreciate your business and I am here to help you get the most out of the investment of your landscape.