Moss management

What is moss?

Moss is a tiny non-flowering plant which, for most, is the worst of all lawn troubles. It is important to realise that moss is a symptom and not a primary cause of a run down lawn, this means that treating moss directly with moss control isn’t enough. The only way to ensure a moss free lawn is to find the cause and deal with it. Failure to manage the cause or causes of moss growth will result in the moss returning on a regular basis. Moss will develop in areas of your lawn that are in poor health, this could be due to a number of reasons such as:

The causes of moss in a lawn

Lawn care factors

• Compaction
• Thatch
• Mowing too low
• Infrequent mowing
• Not following the 1/3 rule when mowing
• Not removing leaves in the autumn
• Underfeeding or poor use of fertilisers

Environmental factors

• Dry, acidic soil
• Shade
• Drought
• Clay soil or poor drainage
• Damp, warm evenings
• Heavy dew

Moss removal

Once the cause or causes of the moss have been identified a moss eradication programme needs to be set in place to ensure that the moss will not return once it is removed. Applying iron is most effective way to kill moss as it ‘burns’ the moss right through to its rhyzomes. Applying iron should be done with care as over-application will kill the grass, whereas too little will not produce the desired result of a moss free lawn.

Moss dominated lawns

Removal of the cause(s) will result in the slow disappearance of the moss problem and the prevention of its return, this approach whist focusing on lawn growth is one we recommend with moss dominated lawns. Removing the cause(s) whilst focusing on lawn growth is a slower approach than just using moss control but is far less destructive. Just using moss control in moss dominated lawns will result in large patches of bare earth developing which will require over-seeding, which can take months to establish, or re-turfing the areas affected.