Plant growth regulators boost lawn care programs

At Lawn Addicts, we help you get the best results from your lawn care programs using professional-grade plant growth regulators. Plant growth regulators are either natural or synthetic organic compounds that are used in small amounts to change plant growth.

Think of a plant growth regulator as more of a tool. They have two advantages.

Firstly, they can save many hours of maintenance time, equipment servicing and fuel.

Secondly – and more importantly to lawn addicts  – plant growth regulators make a finer turf surface, essentially miniaturising the plant leaf structure.  Reduced cell elongation on top in some situations with adequate photosynthesis can improve root and lateral development and growth, encouraging a stronger root system, shortening the node distances along the stem or stolon’s, resulting in a much tighter appearance to the lawn.

Shortening and encouraging the lateral growth with more nodes making a “dense” harder-wearing surface. This miniaturising is at a cellular level. These smaller cells have the same amount of chlorophyll as they would at “normal” size, so the chlorophyll is more concentrated in a smaller leaf, making your lawn appear greener. All this is related to inhibiting Gibberellic Acid

Something all plant growth regulators have in common is that they inhibit various steps in the biosynthetic pathway of gibberellins, referred to as gibberellic acids or GA.

The turf industry predominantly uses Class A plant growth regulators, such as Primo Maxx or Astro where the active ingredient is mostly Trinexapac‐ethyl. All of these products are best applied via foliar spray with a surfactant (not Hortex or similar) and must rest for six or so hours (to label).

Application must be even. At Lawn Addicts, we use and suggest a coverage marking dye to aid even application and ensure your familiar the sprayer calibration. The regulation phase where the growth is controlled is typically between four to six weeks weather dependent

After this period, the lawn goes through a “rebound” phase of roughly the same period as the suppression time, the vertical growth is vigorous. Ideally, reapplication needs to be within this suppression period. Continuous applications of smaller doses will maintain a more constant growth pattern, which is what we have experienced and prefer with a smaller near monthly application. We use Primo Maxx but there are other products on the market.

As the growth regulator limits plant growth, it is only recommended to use during the lawn’s growing season. Ensure you only use it when you are satisfied with the health and condition of your lawn. Don’t apply it if it is recovering, stressed, have bare patches or an uneven finish.  In some situations you may experience accelerated lateral growth, this can be used as a tool if done correctly to fill in smaller patches, however other growth regulators like Auxinone are more effective in these repairs.

If you’re experienced with plant growth regulators and planning to oversow a Rye grass, you can carefully control the couch grass to help germinating the oversown varieties by reducing the competition from the couch.  You can also use plant growth regulators for invading grass weed management, as various grass weeds respond at different rates.

Please always follow label application rates, safety recommendations, procedures, and use plant growth regulators responsibly. Then enjoy it, it’s an awesome product!

Feel free to contact us to ask any questions.