LAWN CARE IN THE TOP END

LAWN SPECIES

Paspalum Natatum – Pensacola. Toughest of all grasses, if allowed to die off it will regrow in wet season. Tends to be vertical growing but plant at heavy sowing rates (200 grams per m²) and it makes a beautiful thick lawn.

Paspalum Natatum – Argentine. Broad leafed variety of above. Runs earlier, flatter growing, excellent colour. The ideal top end lawn. Good drought tolerance, dark emerald green colour – easily the nicest lawn for Darwin.

Carpet Grass. Cheapest lawn grass seed for Darwin. Quick to germinate, easy to establish. Paler green than Paspalum.

Non seed varieties around Darwin are the Hairy Leafed Paspalum and Broad Leaf Carpet grass.

There are also "fringe grasses" such as Queensland Blue and Zoysia. Couch is surprisingly not a good choice in Darwin due to its vertical growing habit.

Queensland Blue. Beautiful blue/green colour. Needs a lot of water and a good soil.

Smart Grass. A South Australia grass seed mix wrongly recommended for Darwin. Dies quickly in humid weather.

Beware of southern lawn seeds – they do not survive here!

WEEDS

Darwin has surprisingly few weed problems in lawns. In fact the biggest problem is invasion by other lawn species. In shady damp areas, broad leafed carpet grass usually invades. There is also a native Dichondra (looks like clover) which should be encouraged. It often thrives where lawns die out because of shade.

Strawberry Weed – a broad leafed clover type plant is also common, but it cannot be sprayed out with selective weedkillers. Selective weed killers which are used down south may actually damage or kill paspalum lawns.

INSECT PESTS

Lawn grub is sometimes a problem and dead patches or thin lawn is a give away. Flood the affected area with a hose and the grubs will surface. You need to look very carefully to see them.

Before spraying water the lawn for 10 minutes, spray, than water again for 10 minutes. This makes sure you water the chemical into the ground where insects are present.

DRY SEASON WATERING

Instead of daily watering, a 30-40 minute watering twice per week should be enough to keep a lawn looking green. Of course watering every day or every second day for 20 minutes per watering is also OK – if you have an auto timer and a budget to allow for the cost.

GROWING LAWN IN SHADE

Cool season grasses may be OK. They will die in the sun but in the shade, and with adequate water they can persist. Tropigro produces a "Tropical Shade Mix" which offers a range of species which will grow in shady marginal areas.

Heavy shade from Mangos or Mahogany is usually difficult to deal with. It’s best to find a gravel mulch or garden bed.

Tropigro lawn seed labels have excellent instructions for growing new lawns!! Take a few minutes to read them and you’ll get a great result!

FERTILISER

Tropigro Mastergreen Highest analysis of any lawn food in Australia (15.9-7-7). The Nitrogen content is high and Nitrogen is responsible for greening effect.

Mastergreen is quite long acting compared to southern fertiliser.

Apply 3-4 times per year, mainly in the dry since most lawns colour up well in the wet.

APRIL – JUNE – AUGUST – OCTOBER

If you don’t have a spreader, use a plastic flower pot. Shake it and it works just like a spreader!

Method     The lawn should be dry before fertilising. Spread the fertiliser evenly at 50 grams per m². Then water in immediately. It takes about 20 minutes to water fertiliser in. Make sure the granules are not sitting on the leaf.