Maintaining Instant Lawns & Ready Turf

The importance of site preparation

While ready lawn is a very quick means of achieving an instant lawn, there can be potential problems if preparation is inadequate and aftercare is not carried out correctly. The same applies to Ready Turf. It's important to ensure the existing soil is levelled and additional topsoil and/or sand is added to create a suitable base for the Ready Turf. 

Instant Lawns

The results of poor preparation usually aren’t noticeable for the first six to nine months as during this period the lawn is well cared for. However, until the roots of the Ready Lawn have successfully grown into the soil of your property, the possibility of brown patches and/or dead areas are highly likely. This situation is usually exacerbated during the first summer if the lawn is not regularly irrigated and the poor state of the lawn becomes very apparent. See our recommendation below on how to overcome this issue.

Ready Turf

After laying the turf, it is critical that the new lawn is kept moist to ensure grassroots become well established. 

We would recommend contacting whoever installed your ready turf, as it is more than likely that the preparation may have been inadequate. Unfortunately, it may be necessary to begin the process again or, develop a more traditional lawn by spreading new topsoil and sowing lawn seed.

How to overcome these issues (weeds, patching & fungi)

To avoid sprouting of dandelions and tiny fungi (e.g. mini mushrooms), ensure that the Instant Law itself is carefully inspected prior to laying, with further inspections made by the contractor at regular interviews 2-3 months after it has been laid.

To overcome issues with overgrowth of weeds and dead grass patches, we recommend spreading new lawn soil. Try our Daltons Premium Lawn Soil over the areas of brown patches, over-sow with fresh grass seed (use the same grass species as your ready lawn if possible) and start watering immediately. You can also try our Premium Lawn Patching Gold product which contains everything in one bag. Irrigate the lawn on a regular basis and where the grass is growing well, apply Daltons Premium Lawn Fertiliser.