ND
What products should I use on shady kikuyu in winter?
What products best for most shady areas over winter for kikuyu ? Already got charger planned , just noticed penetrate or aerate as some good options , areas get decent sun in spring summer but not as much now
Not much you can do with Kikuyu over winter, it goes dormant. Focus on soil health products.
@Garry B In Auckland, winter soil temperatures typically sit in the 12–15°C range at 10 cm depth. As a warm season grass, Kikuyu slows significantly at these temperatures. It doesn't go fully dormant like it often would further south but it's certainly not in an active growth phase either. I've had good results using Charger at lower rates through winter to help maintain colour and keep the turf ticking over, but expectations should remain realistic until soil temperatures start to rise again in spring.
Here in Auckland, kikuyu growth over winter is largely limited by soil temperatures. As a warm season grass, it slows significantly once soil temps drop below around 15°C and near stops below 10°C, so even with the right inputs, you're not going to drive much growth through winter. Charger is still a reasonable option, as foliar uptake can occur when the plant is ticking over, but keep expectations realistic. Whether you use Penetrate or Aerate depends on the issue: Penetrate is best for dry, hydrophobic areas where water struggles to soak in, while Aerate is better suited to compacted, poorly drained soils. If both conditions exist, they can be applied together. Rather than trying to push growth, winter is the time to build soil health and carbohydrate reserves. Products like Humic+, Root Health, and Restore work on soil biology and microbial activity, so when soil temperatures climb back above that 15°C threshold in spring you're hitting the ground running.
Any photos?
Charger was originally developed around supporting metabolic activity in warm-season turf during periods when growth would normally be slowing or dormant. There is evidence it can help extend the growing window into cooler conditions and assist with spring green-up by stimulating physiological processes within the plant.
It doesn't override temperature limitations. If soil temperatures are too low, Kikuyu still isn't going to grow like it does in summer. What Charger can do is help the plant make better use of the conditions that are available, which is why many people see improved colour and a bit more activity compared to untreated turf.
I'll add that when we first brought Charger into New Zealand, it was actually aimed at the warm-season turf market. I never expected it to become a product for cool-season lawns. In fact, I thought it would probably be a fairly niche product and not a particularly strong seller because of that focus.
It wasn't until guys like Hayden, Scott and a few others started experimenting with it on their cool-season lawns that the feedback started coming in. They were basically saying, "This stuff is like magic juice." From there it quickly became one of our best sellers and, to this day, it's still my top selling foliar product.