Round 2- Soil Supplements & Root Enhancers

For most of you, Round 2 applications focused on soil supplements & root enhancers were just applied or will be applied in the coming days. Your roots are growing the most right now than they do all season. They start to slowly release their stored nutrients to push not only root growth but grass blade green-up.

This time of year we start to see our warm-season turfs (Bermuda/St. Augustine/Zoysia, etc.) slowly start waking up out of dormancy (sleep). The best thing to do right now feeds those roots. I equate it to having a great breakfast each morning which helps get everything ready for the day (season).

In Round 2 we are applying two products:

The first one is a root enhancer containing iron, fulvic acid, and kelp seaweed extract.

What are the results?

The combination of these ingredients will feed your roots well with trace minerals, iron for a slight green up in grass blades and the kelp seaweed extract helps recover from mowing stress and prepare it for heat stress later in the season.

Further defined:

You may ask, JP what the heck is fulvic acid and kelp extract?
Glad you asked….Fulvic is so powerful that one fulvic molecule is capable of carrying over 60 mineral and trace elements to boost cation exchange so your grass gets access to more nutrients, maximizing nutritional potential. It stimulates turf metabolism, increases enzyme activity, and acts as a catalyst in plant respiration. It improves nutrient efficiency as it enhances the permeability of cell membranes, and it increases cell division and cell elongation. It can improve production capacity through its ability to aid chlorophyll synthesis which makes your lawn Greeeeennnnn! It also acts as a natural detoxifier for many common pollutants.

​Kelp extract in turf is composed of nearly 70 minerals, Kelp Seaweed Extracts are an excellent source of two major plant growth hormones: cytokinins and auxins. It’s these nutrients that help a lawn recover and protect it against the effects of heat stress prevalent in our North Texas region.

The second one is a Foliar & Soil Additive containing organic matter derived from humus. That’s HUMUS not HUMMUS that you may dip your carrots in. This is the secret to great soil.

What are the results?

Well, it’s hard to visually see, read further down and you’ll understand why. But basically, we are adding hummate to your soil to increase its overall soil health and vitality to help keep moisture in the soil and feed your turf better with the nutrients we are and will continue to be feeding it over the season.

Further Defined:

In short, Humus is created by all the little microorganisms, good bacteria, and fungi in the soil food web breaking down organic matter (dead plants, mulched in grass clippings, etc). That’s why I always encourage you to mulch when you mow.

Think of humus as being a big sponge that can hold up to 90% of its weight in water. This water-holding capacity of humus is why humus rich soil will remain moist for weeks longer than soil without humus.

Humus also has a negative charge which means that many of the nutrients we will be adding to your lawn that it will require, actually stick to humus, including ammonium (source of nitrogen), calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous to name a few. The humus sponge holds onto these nutrients and prevents rain from washing them away. When a plant root comes in contact with it, the plant root is able to remove the nutrients from the humus sponge. The process is a bit more complicated than this, but you can think of humus as being a slow-release source of fertilizer for your plants.

In closing, I hope this helps you further understand what you are paying for to be applied on your lawn for Round 2. Most of our competitors are only laying down heavy nitrogen which tricks the turf and tells the roots to release most of its nutrients to produce chlorophyll which gives you that early green-up. But this comes at a cost and expense of forgoing root growth development. It is not healthy and usually tends to lead to future problems such as fungus, brown patch disease, etc.

​Ask any farmer and he’ll tell you deep roots are critical to a great crop producing a high yield, mitigating drought or heat stress, and aiding pest tolerance. You chose us to give you a healthy and green lawn and we take it seriously. If you have any questions as always give me a ring!

Remember your ornamental trees and shrubs need care too and Mosquitos will be coming out if not already! Let us know if you would like to add these programs on top of your Organic Hybrid annual lawn care program!

At Higher Ground, we take a common sense and healthy approach to Lawn care. We love to interact with our blog visitors, and existing customers and to hear your comments! If you’d like to meet and discuss your lawn or have any other questions you can contact us here.

Life’s Better Outside!

JP- Owner/Operator of Higher Ground