Why does moss grow instead of grass

Grass plants needs a fair amount of sunlight for enough photosynthesis to keep them healthy. Shade tolerant varieties can withstand a little less light, but some moss varieties survive in total shade. Trimming back the lower branches of trees can be helpful.

Grasses are tough plants that can grow in fairly heavy clay top soils, especially if the soil is moist. But extreme compaction or denser clays are almost impregnable.

Moss has no problem growing on this dense clay. The best product for improving clay soil and compaction is Aerify Plus. This might sound counter-intuitive, since moss likes moisture, but here is what can happen.

When high clay content soils dry out during a drought or normal summer conditions, the loss of moisture causes the soil to actually shrink, which turns it tighter and denser.

This can tear and damage grass roots and make it impossible for them to get to the nutrients and water. When the lawn finally begins to receive rain or water, opportunistic moss spores germinate easily, since the grass is not healthy enough to compete. Last summer we experienced a major drought in the North East, and this spring we are finding more moss than ever before. Check out our blog post on How to Water Your Lawn for more tips. Tree Roots. Tree roots can cause moss in a couple of ways.

Take a good look at the soil conditions. A soil test can be helpful, as it could be the soil pH is out of line, contributing to the problem. Reduce soil compaction by core aerifying. This may also help correct drainage problems; although serious drainage problems may require more extensive work to correct.

Evaluate lawn care procedures, especially fertilizing. Lawns need adequate fertilization, in particular nitrogen. Established lawns in shady areas need less nitrogen than in full sun.

While not damaging to your lawn, a moss infestation will compete for space in your yard and will always win unless action is taken against it. Moss grows best in damp and shady environments, so anywhere on your lawn that gets less sun and too much moisture can grow moss.

Lawns in damper climes are significantly more prone to growing moss, wreaking havoc on the yards of homeowners. If your lawn is unhealthy, you are also at a higher chance for prevalent moss growth.

The less healthy your yard, the harder it must work to compete with the outbreak. There are fertilizers designed to combat moss and create a greener yard. Try a liquid application fertilizer with higher levels of iron. Scarification is another great way to treat moss.

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Finally, the soil test will give you valuable information on the nutrients in your soil, making recommendations for fertilizers and other amendments to add in order to make it suitable for growing turfgrass. The soil analysis report may also alert you to possible drainage problems caused by high clay content. Water tends to percolate slowly through overly clayey soils, and that can lead to visible puddling.

The soil test can confirm that the clay content is high in your lawn. This kind of drainage issue can be corrected by regularly amending the soil for example with humus or another organic material to make more friable. Poor drainage can be caused by other factors in addition to clay content. If the lawn receives a lot of foot traffic as when children play on the lawn frequently , your problem could be soil compaction —a problem that can be addressed by more frequent lawn aeration.

Some serious drainage problems occur when the underlying subsoil is very dense and impermeable, which occurs in regions where a hardpan layer lies below the topsoil. Poor drainage in these situations may need to be addressed by changing the contours of the yard to help excess water drain away, by the installation of a French drain , or even by digging up the entire lawn to change the composition of the underlying subsoil.

Such radical remedies are rarely needed, however, if all other solutions are tried. Moss is opportunistic and will sometimes fill in lawn areas left bare because the grass variety that you have chosen is ill-suited to shady conditions. Here, the solution to the problem may be as simple as switching grasses. Tall fescue grass , for example, is a relatively shade-tolerant grass that may crowd out moss once it becomes established.

Switching grasses can be done all at once, by killing of the existing lawn, then planting a new lawn by seed or sod. But it can also be done simply by repeated top-seeding using shade-tolerant grass seed. Make sure to loosen bare spots and areas where moss has taken hold, and sprinkle new seed over these areas. Over a year or two, these areas will take hold as shade-tolerant, moss-resistant lawn space. After planting, follow recommended care procedures, especially when it comes to fertilizing.

Healthy, dense grass means little or no moss. Remember, though, that no turf grass species will thrive in areas of total dense shade. Unless these areas get three or four hours of sunlight or bright filtered light, it may be better to plant an entirely different ground cover plant, which will also have the effect of blocking out moss growth.

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