Why is moss growing in my kikuyu lawn and how do I fix it?
Hey team, I have moss growing in places that the Kikuyu hasn’t had a chance to grow yet. I have been using all the NZLA products religiously but because of all the rain we have had in Auckland lately? How should I tackle this?
Kikuyu's heading into its slow season now. Soil temps in Auckland are starting to drop toward the 15°C mark where kikuyu slows right down, and below 10°C it basically stops. Any bare patch right now isn't going to fill in from the kikuyu until soil temps improve probably in late September into October.
Moss shows up because conditions are right for it. You've had heaps of rain recently, which is ideal conditions for moss. Low light, waterlogged soil, no competing grass.
In these photos the moss doesn't look that bad, if it gets worse you can use NZLA Moss. 200 mL per 10 L of water. The active ingredient works on contact, turns the moss black within a few days. Once it's crisped off, rake it out. Don't skip the raking, dead moss left in place just holds moisture and the next lot sets up shop on top of it.
After that, look at what the spot's telling you. Is it shady? Does water pool there after rain? Does a screwdriver push into the soil easily, or does it take some force (that's compaction). Moss is almost always a symptom of one of those. If compaction's the driver, pulling a few cores from that area will help, though the kikuyu still won't properly respond until late spring.
Once soil temps come right in late spring, a feed of NZLA All Seasons N+ will push growth and help it close those gaps fast. NZLA Charger is another product that come spring will help bring Kikuyu out of it's winter dormancy. Unfortunately, that's the downside of warm-season lawns.
It’s also worth noting the application guide is more geared towards cool-season lawns, so it pays to do a bit of reading around timing your fertiliser applications for kikuyu. Hopefully that helps a bit.
@Jonny Hicks thanks for the response. I do have a bag of sulphate of iron powder in the shed, could I use that for now instead and rake it out?
@Nick McEwen Yeah, sulphate of iron will knock moss back.