Use Black Beauty Grass Seed

There are four main grasses grown on home lawns in the Northeast and other cool season grass zones – Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, fine fescue, and tall fescue. Each grass type has unique characteristics. A common problem in the industry is many professionals “generalize” each species without every understanding the varietal differences among them. (For example, ALL tall fescues are thick-bladed and ugly or Kentucky bluegrass ONLY grows well in the sun.) Over the last decade, Jonathan Green’s Turfgrass Breeding Program, one of the few remaining in the industry, has developed BLACK BEAUTY, a genetically superior family of tall fescues that are better looking than the best bluegrasses on the market and disprove these “generalized” stereotypes.

The KEY FEATURES of Black Beauty are:

• Extensive, deep roots that grow up to 4’ deep!
• Exhibits an invisible WAXY COATING, like the skin of an apple that wards off disease and saves moisture!
• Rich, dark green color and uniform texture
• NATURALLY insect resistant
• Used by Leading SOD GROWERS across America!
• Grows well in sun or shade

Is this what you think tall fescue looks like? This is Black Beauty grown for sod at six months old. Black Beauty is drought tolerant and disease resistant but looks as good as the best Bluegrass Sod.

Chad Kelch at Kelch Turf Farm Kickapoo, IL

Stop Soil Compaction & Stimulate Microbes with Love Your Soil

LET’S TALK SOIL BIOLOGY…

Since bacteria don’t have mouths, they make and secrete enzymes. These enzymes breakdown large (organic) particles into smaller ones. The bacteria absorb the nutrients from the small particles for food/energy. They digest it, and excrete waste for other bacteria and enzymes to use. Soil microbes, the “breakdown engines” for plants, feed on organic matter in the soil to multiply and obtain their energy. Therefore, add more organics into your fertilizer programs to create more biologically active soil. These same soil microbes, as well as the plant roots, need air and water to survive. When soil is too hard, air and water cannot penetrate the root zone! The limited air and water causes roots to grow shallow and grass to grow thin. Though core aerating lets water and air into the soil, it’s expensive and the results are temporary! Once the plugs resettle, the soil re-compacts because the soil biology hasn’t changed at all. You must fortify the soil with humates (organic matter), amino acids, and gypsum to change the long-term biology of soil. LOVE YOUR SOIL feeds microbes AND naturally loosens hard soil for thicker, greener, and healthier plants!

The KEY FEATURES of Love Your Soil:

• Feeds soil microbes by fortifying the soil with humates, molasses, amino acids, calcium, sulfur, and iron
• Loosens compacted soil with Calcium Sulfate Dihydrate
• Releases “tied-up” soil nutrients so that they are readily available to plants.
• Enhances root development and root mass
• Natural product that is safe for people and pets

Before Love Your Soil (left) and after Love Your Soil (right)

Adjust soil pH with Mag-I-Cal

LET’S TALK SOIL CHEMISTRY…

It is critically important that soil has the proper pH. Lawns thrive in pH ranging from 6.2 to 7. MAG-I-CAL for Acidic Soil is a pelletized fertilizer that contains 35% highly soluble calcium, which is readily available for plants and pH adjustment. MAG-I-CAL for Alkaline Soil lowers soil pH. MAG-I-CAL’s fine particles break-down quickly in the soil and is formulated for superior performance to help improve fertilizer efficiency. Without the proper pH, you can be wasting up to 70% of your lawn fertilizer!