Repair and Prepare your turf this Autumn
28, February 2025
There are two primary goals when we think about Autumn nutrition. Early Autumn is about maximising turf health and energy reserves to ensure the best turf quality in Winter. Late Autumn focuses on conditioning the turf for Winter resilience and Spring recovery. Â
During winter everything slows down so we need to build and store energy in the plant before soil temperatures drop. Soil microbial activity and nutrient availability declines leading to less root development and growth. With optimal nutrition leading into Winter, both cool and warm season grasses can better survive the cold and use the stored energy for Spring recovery.
Repairing
If turf has been knocked by summer stress, there are several key products in the MATCHPLAY Superior Liquid range that can help.
Apply MP ROOTS to stressed turf, allowing for rejuvenating root development and plant health. MP ROOTS not only improves phosphorus uptake in the cooler months, but it also improves soil ecology which aids in turf recovery.
MP VITALISE on damaged turf minimises plant stress and maximises amino acid production for quick recovery. The amino acids in MP VITALISE help the turfs metabolism to build energy for increased resilience against disease and plant stress.
MP REFRESH application benefits turf that has suffered under high traffic through summer, helping the plant build and store energy and develop new shoot growth for faster recovery. MP REFRESH also helps with plant strength and soil nutrient levels. Including MP KELPLUS during application will assist in speeding up recovery as the hormones in MP KELPUS increase leaf and shoot growth.
Before and After MP Refresh and MP Kelpus application
PreparingÂ
Throughout Autumn, the next step is to prepare the turf for Winter and the related issues that will have an impact like low light, wet weather and shortened growing periods. Here the focus is on building the energy stores.
MP PROMOTE is key to your soil preparation as it boosts soil biology, by diversifying soil microbes before the onset of colder weather hits in Winter​. Having improved soil ecology during cooler months and throughout early spring, it will kick start speedy turf recovery.
MP FOUNDATION will assist the plant build and store energy for Winter, resulting in faster Spring recovery. We recommend applying MP FOUNDATION in conjunction with granular fertilisers to build plant and soil nutrient levels.
Once the soil and plant ecology has been optimised, MP ENERGISE is all about maximising the nutrient availability from the fertilisers that have been applied.
MP REINFORCE application towards the end of Autumn will help build plant cell strength and increase phosphorus uptake that assists Winter wear tolerance and early spring growth.
Getting the best from granular fertilisers
Granulars are a great way to get larger amounts of nutrition into the soil and plant, but as soil temperatures drop, microbial activity slows and getting granular nutrients up into the plant is more difficult. They are more effective when the soil temperatures are higher, so using them early in Autumn is more efficient to build nutrients in the soil. Applying in conjunction with a liquid fertiliser like MP FOUNDATION will bolster the mineralising activity of the granular fertilisers.
In summary, building healthy plants through Autumn ensures your turf will maintain better quality through Winter and recover more actively in Spring.Â
Both Living Turf® and Greenspace 4D® are subsidiaries of Greenshed Pty Ltd, an Australian business that also boasts leading Brands including, Precision Turf®, Turf Forensics®, MATCHplay®, The Lawn Shed®, and Challenger® Turf Seeds.