Top Dressing Your Turf
Topdressing your turf with an organic based compost is not only a cost effective method to restoring stressed turf due to heat, long periods of drought, or compaction, it helps replenish valuable nutrients that are essential to a healthy lawn. Topdressing is usually performed in the fall months or early spring on areas of turf that have been damaged or stressed due to compaction, loss of nutrients, and poor soil pH. While most landscape recommendations include working organic matter into the soil before planting or digging, topdressing can be performed once turf is established without killing or damaging the existing turf.
Key Benefits of Topdressing
- Adds essential organic matter to existing soils
- Topdressing with core aeration relieves compaction and helps change the soil structure
- Reduces lawn disease
- Helps reduce traffic stress by relieving compaction
- Allows water retention during the hot summer months
- Reduces the need for multiple fertilizations
When to Top Dress Your Lawn
Top dressing is carried out routinely by professional greenkeepers to ensure a top quality finish. If you would like to achieve that same top quality finish on your property, then you should top dress your lawn annually. Prior to top dressing, your lawn should be aerated to ensure that the top dressing penetrates to the soil level rather than sitting on top of your lawn. The best time of year for applying top dressing is in early fall or spring, after you have removed the thatch. The key is to ensure that the lawn has time to grow through three or four mowings before severe cold or heat sets in.
