You can have a great looking lawn while protecting the Bay at the same time.

Printable Lawns
factsheet
Spanish version

• Water enough to wet the soil 3" to 4" down. Grass roots will grow deeper and the lawn will be healthier.
• Test for water penetration by gently watering an area for 15 to 30 minutes. Push a shovel into the soil and tilt it forward. If the soil isn't wet 3" to 4" down, continue watering until it is. Track the watering time so you know about how long to water.
• Irrigate slowly so that water doesn't run off. Overwatering can wash pesticides and fertilizers into the storm drains.
• If water runs off or pools even with slow irrigation, soil compaction may be a problem (see Lawn Aeration).
• Clay soils hold more moisture and dry out more slowly, thus they may need less frequent irrigation.
• Sandy soils dry out more quickly and may need more frequent irrigation.
• Before you irrigate, check the soil moisture. It should be almost dry before you add more water.

• Aerate spots where you can't push a screwdriver five to six inches into the soil, where water pools, where grass looks thin, or where there is heavy traffic.
• Use a hollow-tined aerator that removes plugs of soil, either a foot-operated or motorized model.
• Irrigate deeply (soil should be moist 5" to 6" down) so you can push the aerator into the soil as far as possible. Allow soil to dry slightly before you begin.
• Leave the plugs on the lawn and break them up with a garden rake.

• Thatch is made up of dead and dying, matted grass parts that accumulate on top of the soil. Thatch prevents air, water, and fertilizer from reaching the soil.
• Remove thatch with a rake if more than 1/2" thick.
• Aeration (see Lawn Aeration section) can help prevent thatch buildup.
• When soil is biologically active, grass clippings decompose and do not contribute to thatch buildup. This is a good reason to minimize or eliminate the use of broad-spectrum pesticides.

Americans spend a great deal of time on their lawns, using an abundance of water, fertilizer, pesticides, and time. If a grass surface is not required, consider replacing all or some of your lawn with an attractive alternative. The following plants require little water and will accept occasional foot traffic:

• Woolly Yarrow (Achillea tomentosa) - Plant from flats or small pots, six inches apart; mow in March and July to a height of two inches.
• Caraway-Scented Thyme (Thymus herba-barona) - Plant all thymes from flats or small pots, six to eight inches apart. Mowing is not necessary. Rose-pink flowers cover the plant in early summer and attract bees.
• Mother of Thyme (Thymus praecox-arcticus) - Two to six inches tall with purple and white flowers; mow to 1 1.5 inches in July and fertilize; attracts bees in summer.
• O'Connor's Legume (Trifolium fragiferum) - Plant from seed in fall; mow to two inches in April, June, August; attracts bees in summer.
• Garden chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) combined with O'Connor's legume - Plant chamomile from flats or from small pots, six to eight inches apart. Plant O'Connor's legume as mentioned above and mow the two ground covers to two inches in April, June, and August. In areas with serious drainage problems, chamomile may not grow. In those spots, combine O'Connor's legume with any of the thymes listed above.

Lawn Substitutes section adapted from Coate, B. 1990. Water-conserving plants & landscapes for the Bay Area, 2nd ed. East Bay Municipal Utility District.

Start Out Right

• Have your soil professionally tested so you know the texture, pH, and salt and nutrient levels.
• Choose a mixture of the right varieties of grass suited to your climate and the conditions in your yard (see Preferred Grasses for the Bay Area).
• Choose pest- and disease-resistant varieties (ask your nursery).
• Choose sod that has been propagated in soil similar to your own.

Prepare the Soil Before Installing a New Lawn

• Don't work the soil when it is very wet. You can damage its structure
• Thoroughly mix soil layers of different textures before planting. Poor soil preparation can cause poor drainage resulting in weak turf.
• Break up all clods into fine particles and remove pebbles and stones.
• Check for low spots by irrigating. Smooth out areas where you see puddles (very important if you are seeding a lawn).

Irrigate a New Lawn

• Be sure to keep the soil under a new lawn thoroughly moist until the lawn becomes established, but don't drown the plants. Too much water can also wash away seeds.

Bay Area lawns sometimes suffer from white grubs, the larval (immature) stage of several species of beetle. The genus of beetles most common in the Bay Area is Cyclocephala, the masked chafer. Masked chafer adults do not eat, but in their grub stage can cause patches of lawn to die when they feed on grass roots. Birds, moles, raccoons, and skunks can add to the damage when they dig in the turf looking for tasty grubs. But just finding wilted patches of grass or animals digging in the lawn does not mean that you have white grubs! You need to find grubs by verifying their presence in several places.

Detection

The C-shaped grubs can be up to an inch long and are white with a brown head and three pairs of conspicuous legs.

Damage from grubs can begin to show as early as June or July or as late as August or September and can be mistaken for wilted grass under drought stress. Later, irregular patches die and can be lifted up or rolled back like a carpet. Grub feeding can make the ground feel spongy.

If you have had white grub problems before or suspect you have them this year, begin looking in mid-May by using a cylindrical bulb planting tool to extract a core of lawn so you can examine the roots. Pay particular attention to spots that look unusual.

What can you do?

• Pay special attention to drainage and compaction. Healthy lawns can recover more easily from white grub damage.
• Walk over your grass wearing spiked sandals (Spikes of Death¨) to kill grubs that are feeding near the soil surface.
• Have a professional treat with an insecticide containing imidicloprid (Merit¨). Merit works best when grubs are small and may require up to 2 applications to ensure season-long control. This material has a low acute toxicity for mammals.
• Don't treat late in the season when you find dead patches of turf. By this time grubs have done all their damage for the season and are ready to stop eating. Treating now is fruitless. Remove the dead grass, cultivate, and reseed the area.
• Avoid using insecticides containing diazinon or chlorpyrifos. They are often ineffective because they bind with organic matter in the thatch and do not easily move down into the soil where the grubs are living.
• Plant warm-season grasses, such as bermuda grass or buffalo grass, or cool-season grasses, such as tall or dwarf fescues. These grasses are more tolerant of white grubs.

Soils Laboratory (see also the Yellow Pages)

A&L Western Agricultural Labs 1311 Woodland Ave., #1 Modesto, CA 95351 209-529-4080

Corn Gluten Meal (pre-emergent herbicide)

Supressa® Concern®

Weed Prevention Plus Spiked Sandals (for grubs and lawn aeration)

Spikes of Death®

Slow Release Fertilizer

Vigoro® Lawn Fertilizer

Recommended Reading

Down to Earth Natural Lawn Care, by Dick Raymond, published 1993 by Storey Communications, Inc., Pownal, VT. U.C. PM Pest Management Guidelines: Turfgrass, ANR Publication #3365-T, edited by M.L. Flint, published 1996 by University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Berkeley, CA; (510) 642-2431. The Chemical-Free Lawn, by Warren Schultz, published 1993 by Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA; (610) 967-5171.

Click here for more Products and Resources.