Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side?

It is summer time in Cumming and Atlanta! A time where everyone's grass is lush, green....and wait! What about your grass? You look over at your neighbors beautiful yard and you don't understand what is going on with your property. Trees in Cumming and Atlanta are also in full bloom right now with huge canopy's providing shade and a cool atmosphere during these scorching hot Cumming and Atlanta days. Maybe you have too many trees providing too much shade? This is especially true of side yards and backyards and can actually wreak havoc on your Cumming/Atlanta lawn and you may need tree removal!

Many times one tends to relate problems associated with turf grasses to inadequate moisture, improper fertilization plans, or insect and fungal problems. These are all common battles one fights to have a great looking lawn. However, a major aspect of keeping a well established lawn, that is quite often overlooked, is the competition between large, indigenous trees (Hardwoods and Pines) and turf. Too much shade even on fescue or more shade tolerant types of zosia can prevent adequate growth of your turf grass, leaving bare areas were exposures are lacking. One of the main factors concerning this competition is what you can't see! That is root zone competition. The small fine roots of a tree or the absorbing roots are growing primarily in the upper 2 to 6 inches of the soil, which means they are in direct competition with the roots of your turf/lawn. Much of the available nutrients, moisture, and soil amendments will be feeding not only your turf but your trees as well. Approximately 10% of the wood mass of a tree is found underground, the roots! The roots move out into the soil, sometimes many feet beyond the branch spread of the tree and rob the grass roots of nutrients and moisture. A good estimate of the enormous amount of water a tree may use in a day is up to 8o gallons!

Generally speaking, roots of established and mature trees are hardier than turf roots and many times will win the battle for these resources within overlapping root zones. Also keep in mind that absorbing tree roots can extend much further than you might think. The drip zone of a tree is straight down from the furthest extremity of the foliage of a tree, or the very ends of the limb tips. This is often the critical root zone of a tree. Many times tree root zones can even extend past the tips of the branches. For many residences, this can be well into turf areas.

Many homeowners are also unaware of what happens to the tree roots during construction. During the construction period, the future lawn area is graded out. Many times, the top layers of roots, as described above, are scraped away in order to make the lawn area. The mature, indigenous trees are left to border that area. At first, the lawn will grow green and become lush. However, after some time, depending on the size of the trees and the distance from the turf, the roots will grow back and be in competition with the turf.

Many of the trees along the outside of the wood line (termed edge trees) may also have a higher potential for failure due to their tendency to produce all their growth on one side making them asymmetrical. Trees with this growth habit are often forced to grow were the most available sunlight is many times towards your home and possibly over the sides of your lawn. This means in the event of severe weather, ice, high winds, or torrential rains, these trees are not only more likely to fail then many others trees, but the direction they fall could very well be towards your home. Have a certified arborist visit your residence at least annually to give you an assessment of the trees on your property.

Solutions to this problem vary based on the circumstances surrounding your trees and landscape and also your desires. For instance, one solution may be to accommodate your trees by extending your bed lines further into the turf. For many people this is not an option to lose lawn space. Another solution is to prune the trees surrounding the edges of your bed lines in order to let more sunlight come through. This can be done by raising lower limbs and thinning trees. Moss growing in your lawn areas, especially around the edges of your turf, is a direct indication that your tree canopy is becoming overgrown. Sometimes removing trees is the best option to alleviate this problem.

All in all, you can have a beautiful green lawn that is growing to its fullest potential. Sometimes the solution to the problem is not always the obvious answer. The obvious answer would be to call a turf expert, but in this case you need to call a Cumming/Atlanta Certified Arborist!

This article was written by Clint Harris certified arborist and owner of Acorn Tree Care. Acorn Tree Care is an Atlanta, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, and Cumming based full service tree care company that specializes in tree removal, tree pruning, arbor consulting, and vista contract management services.