For many the removal of the moss in the lawn is a perennial battle, sometimes you get ahead, other times you fall behind and the moss takes over. In the past I’ve worked with Sulphate of Iron as a mosskiller, followed up with run over with a Scarifyer. This year however, I’m taking a different angle.
For the past few years I’ve been using the Organic Plant Food from Viano for my Veg plots (great stuff by the way), and this year I’m expanding my experience with the Viano range of products, by using the MoBacter product on the lawn.
This product contains high levels of Potassium, which the moss ingests, causing the moss to break down – once broken down, the bacteria inoculated in the fertiliser then converts this broken down moss to fertiliser for the grass. The slow-release action of MoBacter means that the grass will get a drip feed of plant food for around 3 months.
As the moss is broken down it doesn’t go black (like Sulphate of Iron) it instead goes yellow and brown before being broken down by the bacteria. MoBacter is an organic lawn care product, the Nitrogen it contains comes from Coco-Shells and Feather-meal, so as with any organic-based fertiliser it improves the soil biology and health as it’s broken down. The down-side to it being an organic based product is that it must be applied only once the soil temperature has reached 10-12C, whereas inorganic fertilisers work quicker and at lower temperatures.
I’ve found that on areas where the soil is less compacted and more ‘open’ the MoBacter is working better, as soil which is compacted will be not only slower to warm up in the Spring, but also will have less air content, giving less fuel to the bacteria.
MoBacter Before & After
MoBacter with it being organic is safe to use around pets, kids and public spaces and doesn’t contain any Iron which would normally stain concrete or tarmac if you spilt a bit. And any grass taken from the lawn can be safely composted or mulched back onto the lawn, without any danger of chemical contamination.
I think this more sustainable approach to small lawn care is a welcome move away from the traditional synthetic chemical based lawn-care treatments, after all the production of synthetic fertilisers is damaging to the environment and their use is damaging to soil health. So now with the soil warming up treat your lawn to a go with some MoBacter and let the bacteria look after the moss.
If the removal of the lawn has resulted in bare patches in the lawn, upto 20cm, then use Viano GreenComfort Recovery to thicken the lawn and cover these bare patches. Recovery contains Humifirst (derived from Humic acid which is produced at the very end of composting) and stimulates root mass development in in grass – and helps soil to retain nutrients, so you have less wasted fertility!
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