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Fall Cleanup Tips

October 31, 2024

Fall Cleanup, Why Bother?

  • Reduces the amount of leaves and debris pickup for the following Spring; giving a head start for Spring growth
  • Prevents a nesting ground for lawn pests
  • Prevents moisture buildup that can cause:

Two Types of Snow Mold (A Fungus)

  • Pink or Fusarium patch (Microdochium nivale) – found at the surface level. This type of fungus is easier to eliminate by gentle agitation with a lawn rake and exposing the area to sun for drying. Once the grass blades grow in, the affected areas can be cut away by mowing
  • Gray or Typhula blight (Typhula incarnata) – impacts grass at the root level. The more serious condition
  • These conditions are most noticeable during the winter and early spring

Red Thread

This fungus presents as pinkish-red with a slimy or cotton-like appearance. Most common in the fall and spring

Dollar Spot

This type of fungus occurs during humid summer conditions evidenced by small circular brown patches of grass

  • Clears the way for aeration and applying slow release fertilizers just before the first snow cover
  • This slow release feature ensures the steady supply of nutrients to the grass roots during the winter, as long as the ground doesn’t completely freeze up
  • A higher amount of Phosphorus in fertilizer is the most important ingredient to help boost root growth during the winter months

What are the Most Common Lawn Pests Found in Alberta?

Chinch Bugs

They feed on grass blades, turning the blades yellow and creating dead patches on the lawn

Grubs

They feed on grass roots, leaving behind dead patches of grass that can be pulled up easily

Sod webworms

Like Chinch bugs, they also feed on grass blades and create dead patches on the lawn

When You Hire a Yardly Professional for a Fall Cleanup, This is What You Can Expect:

They will …

  1. Power edge (front lawn only) – to create sharp, vertical edges
  2. Trim and mow the lawn (front & back)
  3. Blow out leaves and debris from entire yard
  4. Collect all the leaves and debris and put it in the yard waste bin and yard waste bags
  5. Aerate the lawn – if requested
  6. And blow off all hardscape surfaces for a tidy finish

What Things Can You Do Before the Yardly Pro Arrives to Do Your Fall Cleanup?

  • Give full access to your driveway for them to park their vehicles
  • Remove all obstacles from the lawn 
  • Pick up all dog waste. ( see terms and conditions)  Mowers need to cut at low levels to be able to pick up lawn debris.  Dog waste that is picked up by the mower, contaminates the underside of the mower deck and the catcher bag.  These contaminants can contain bacteria and parasites that should not be transported to other properties.  If not picked up beforehand, this could delay the Cleanup service.  If you anticipate this could be difficult to coordinate, contact Yardly to make other arrangement
  • Ideally, the less obstacles in your yard, the better the over all results will be
  • The high powered blowers used by Yardly Pros depend on unrestricted air flow to maximize the ability to push leaves and debris as quickly as possible out onto the lawn to be picked up
  • Store large branches up against a fence
  • If you want an area behind a shed to be blown out, make sure it is clear of obstacles.  And there is at least a shoulder width of 3 feet for Pros to pass through with blowers
  • Use flags to mark any lawn sprinklers
  • Lift up all downspouts.  Yardly Pros will put them down before they leave.
  • Make sure yard gates are open or if you have a lock code please share that information with Yardly
  • This is a noisy process, so keep this in mind if you work from home 
  • You don’t need to be on the premises if you have given gate access to all service areas

What is the Difference between Power Edging and Trimming?

  • These two terms are often used interchangeably amongst lawn care professionals especially with adoption of the very popular multiple attachment machines 
  • Single-purpose power edger and trimmer machines are still commonly used for their affordability.  But for the lawn care professional that is able to make the extra investment, the attachment model is saves transporting space and time
  • The same engine head can be fitted with many different types of attachments designed for different applications
  • What makes the power edger attachment different from the trimming attachment is its metal blade. This metal blade is designed to cut through not just grass and thatch, but also 2-3 cm of soft soil.  
  • The final 90 degree vertically cut edge by the power edger, digs a 5mm groove between the turf and the concrete edge, exposing the freshly cut soil layer that adds curb appeal and will be the envy of all the neighbors 
  • The trimmer attachment powers a thread-spooled rotating head that can cut easily through grass and a thin layer of thatch. But not so easily through 2-3 cm of soil. The thread material is too flexible 
  • If the lawn thatch layer sits low enough along the concrete edge to hide the soil layer, a trimmer would be capable of cutting the 90 degree vertical edge and the 5mm groove between the thatch and the concrete edge. 
  • It is the lawn care Professional who is equipped with the right equipment and skills to ensure this edge is done correctly

Can I Wait till the Spring to Dethatch My Lawn?

Yes, as long as you make sure to get a Fall Cleanup.  And ideally, add aeration and fertilization to properly winterize your lawn.

Why Add Aeration?

  • You could just clean up the lawn with a Fall Cleanup service before winter.  And that would be helpful
  •  There are 2 more important steps to make sure your lawn has its best chance of not just surviving the winter, but thriving in the following Spring.  And those steps would involve aerating and fertilizing
  • Aeration opens up the ground by puncturing cone-shaped metal tines down through the thatch 1-2 cm into the soil, pulling out plugs of soil, thatch and grass; depositing them back onto the lawn to be organically broken down over time as free nitrogen and nutrients for the lawn
  • Once this small entry portals have been created, it is the best time to water and feed the lawn before these openings close up by insects that breakdown and displace organic matter

How Long Does a Fall Cleanup Take?

This depends of the number of crew members, the yard size and the conditions of the yard
NOTE: Additional YARDLY services such as fertilization and weed control are provided during the regular mowing season.

About Fertilizer

  • The 3 main macronutrient components of Fertilizer are:
    • N (Nitrogen) – boosts the greening effect (adding chlorophyll)
    • P (Phosphorous) – helps boost grass root growth
    • K (Potassium) – helps with overall grass vitality and growth

Is fertilizer for the soil, the grass plant or both?

Fertilizers are intended to add nutrients to the soil to be fed back up through the grass roots 

What do those 3 numbers on a fertilizer bag represent?

Ex. 32 – 0 – 10

The numbers are always in the order of N – P – K

And the number itself represents the weight percentage of those active nutrients contained in the bag

So, this bag would contain 32% Nitrogen, 0% Phosphorous and 10% Potassium

So, for a 25 Ib bag the calculation would like like this:

25 x 0.32 = 8 Ibs of Nitrogen

25 x 0.10 = 2.5 Ibs of Potassium

Okay, so what about the remaining 58%?

Other secondary nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, iron and sulfur are commonly included

How do you know how much of each nutrient your lawn needs?

The most accurate way to determine what your lawn needs is to do a soil test

DIY home test kits can give you a read on the NPK and pH levels

However, to get a more comprehensive profile of the soil contents, would require a Professional Lab soil test. Local test labs can also provide recommendations to help correct the soil imbalances

What other soil nutrients would a Professional Lab test for?

calcium (C), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), boron (B), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and molybdenum (Mo).

There will also be a ratio of sand, silt, clay and organic matter

So you get the lab test results. What’s the next step?

The next course of action would be to hire a Professional company that can take those results and apply the correct nutrients to rebalance the soil over time.  This is not a quick fix process that can take up to a few years to correct.