Transition: As we move into the usually dry and sometimes hot months of June through September, it is a good time to learn more about the seasonal transition of the turf and grass that we have here in Niguel Shores.
Types of Turf: Although there are hundreds of different types of grasses, there are only two major types of turf: warm season turf and cool season turf. Warm season turf grows well in the summer heat but goes dormant and turns brown in the fall. Conversely, cool season turf thrives best in cooler temperatures and is evergreen, meaning it survives through cold temperatures. Warm season grass growth is horizontal producing stolons and/or rhizomes. Stolons are grass stems that are above ground runners. Rhizomes are underground runners. Cool season grass tends to grow through the stolon and rhizomes and the stem growth is more vertical than warm season turf. Niguel Shores turf is made up of a mixture of grasses but mostly Kikuyu grass.
Process: During the fall months of last year, Niguel Shores elected to go through a process of dethatching and over seeding. This is when we scalped the lawns to bare dirt, aerated and over seeded with cool season grass. A few weeks later the new seed germinated and the grass looked like new. Now that the weather is warming up, the warm season Kikuyu grass will return and will eventually choke out the cool season grass. The cool season grass that is less tolerable to the warm weather will begin to transition while the warm seasons grasses will recover from their winter dormancy.
Paper Trail: Harvest continues to monitor the turf and the irrigation systems. If you notice an area that is getting too little or too much water, please let us know by completing a Homeowner Request Form (HRF). The HRF is important because it creates the important paper trail that allows us to make sure a problem is followed through to completion. Thanks.
— Steve Schinhofen, President Harvest Landscape
Comment: