Flush Away a High Salt Level in Your Lawn

17

SEPTEMBER, 2018

Lawn Care
Maintenance

If the salt level in your lawn is too high, it’s going to struggle. Living near a beach will mean a bigger risk for your lawn. Turf varieties such as DNA Certified Sir Walter Buffalo Lawn have a higher tolerance compared to other varieties but will still be susceptible to salt damage.

A small amount of salt is normal but a high salt level in your lawn will prevent the absorption of nutrients and it will struggle to retain moisture. A salty sea breeze can cause burns on the grass and high sodium levels in water will cause compaction in clay soils. Compaction in your soil will mean roots will struggle to develop and water won’t flow through properly.

If your clay soil is compacted due to high sodium levels, you should add gypsum to break it down. You will need to aerate the lawn first and then spread 1-2 kg per m2 of gypsum and rake it in. However, if you can’t aerate your lawn first, water the gypsum in after raking.

If your lawn is damage from salt than fresh water is the answer. Until you wash the salt away, it will remain on the grass blades and in the soil causing damage. To flush away the salt, you should water for a couple of hours. This will also wash the nutrients away, so you should follow up with fertiliser.

Too much salt can cause burns and lack of essential nutrients in your lawn. But by addressing the problem, it will be a happy lawn again in no time.