The Ultimate Artificial Grass Maintenance Guide
You may have heard that artificial grass is completely maintenance-free. However, this is unfortunately not entirely true.
Anything that is outside, exposed to the elements and receives frequent use is going to require a certain level of maintenance.
One of the major advantages of artificial grass is that it makes your garden more useable but, of course, this increased usage will also have an impact on your artificial lawn.
The good news, however, is that artificial grass maintenance will take you a fraction of the time it takes to maintain a real lawn.
With our ever increasingly busy lifestyles, the additional spare time you will acquire should not be underestimated.
Along with the many other benefits of artificial grass, this has resulted in a huge increase in the number of homeowners having artificial grass installed in their gardens.
There are 4 easy steps to follow when maintaining an artificial lawn that will help it to stay in tip-top condition:
- Keep it clean.
- Remove leaves and debris.
- Brush the artificial fibres regularly.
- Prevent weed growth.
If you follow these steps you can be sure that your artificial lawn will remain in the same immaculate condition it did when it was first installed and you can enjoy many years of owning a prize-winning lawn that’s perfect for the whole family.
To begin, let’s take a look at the 4 easy steps you need to take to maintain your artificial grass.
How to Maintain Your Artificial Grass in 4 Easy Steps
Keep It Clean
To ensure a ‘healthy’ artificial lawn it’s important to keep it clean.
Luckily artificial grass is, to an extent, self-cleaning. The rainfall we experience in the UK will generally do a good enough job of cleaning your artificial lawn. It’s also the cheapest and easiest method!
However, during the summer, when there is (normally) less rain and your artificial lawn is receiving lots of heavy use, you might find it beneficial to give your lawn a thorough hosing down.
How frequently this should be carried out clearly depends on the level of usage your lawn is receiving, but for the average fake lawn this generally won’t need to be done more than every other week.
Spraying down your lawn will remove dust, dirt, pollen and other airborne pollutants.
It will also help to prevent unequal distribution of your artificial lawn’s sand infill.
If your artificial lawn is heavily soiled, we recommend using a 5 per cent solution of household detergent in hot water, and this can be applied with a sponge to mop the affected area. The lawn can then be rinsed with a garden hose.
There is also a range of artificial grass cleaners currently available on the market and although these are not entirely necessary for the maintenance of your artificial lawn, they are perfectly safe to use.
Remove Leaves and Debris
After a while, and especially during autumn, debris such as leaves and twigs will find their way on to your fake lawn.
This will not harm your artificial grass in any way, but there is the potential that this debris could encourage weed growth.
Therefore, it’s recommended that you remove leaves and debris on a regular basis.
To do this, we recommend using either a stiff broom, plastic garden rake or a leaf blower/vacuum.
Clearly using a leaf blower/vacuum is going to be the easiest option here, but it’s certainly not essential as a good stiff broom will do the job just as well.
Under no circumstances should you use a metal rake on your artificial lawn as this can damage the synthetic fibres.
The frequency with which this task should be carried out depends on your garden’s surrounding environment and the current season.
Brush the Artificial Fibres Regularly
We also recommend that you regularly brush your artificial lawn to prevent matting and ensure the fibres remain in an upright position.
Over time, you may notice that the fibres on your AstroTurf are not standing as upright as they once did. This is completely normal and is just the result of using your artificial lawn.
To brush your grass, we recommend that you use a stiff broom with synthetic bristles. Under no circumstances should you use a brush with metal or wire bristles as this will damage the fibres.
You should brush your lawn using a method that we call ‘cross-brushing’.
This means that you brush the grass in the opposite direction of the artificial fibres.
You will notice that all synthetic turf has a slight pile direction, i.e. the fibres are slightly leaning in the same direction.
Brushing your artificial lawn will ‘fluff up’ the fibres and restore them to an upright position.
You may also notice that if you leave heavy objects, such as garden furniture or paddling pools, on your lawn it will cause the artificial fibres to lie flat.
This will not damage a good quality artificial grass and to lift the fibres back to an upright position you can use the cross-brushing technique.
If you intend to regularly place heavy objects on your artificial lawn (e.g. paddling pool or garden furniture), then we highly recommend choosing an artificial grass that has Instant Recovery technology.
If an artificial lawn has this innovative technology, it means that the synthetic fibres have been made from nylon.
Nylon is the strongest type of plastic fibre used to manufacture artificial grass and you can see how well it performs when faced with heavy objects in the video below:
For larger areas of artificial grass, and for commercial maintenance, we highly recommend using a power brush, such as the Stihl MM 55.
If your artificial lawn is very old or if you have moved into a property with artificial grass that has not been properly maintained, it may also be worth considering getting your artificial lawn professionally groomed.
A professional will be able to stimulate your artificial grass with a mechanical brush to lift the fibres. A new sand infill can also be applied, and any minor repairs carried out.
Prevent Weed Growth
If your synthetic lawn has been installed correctly, you will not get weeds growing through your artificial grass.
However, there is the potential for airborne seeds to nestle in the artificial fibres, allowing weeds to grow on the surface.
Fortunately, as these weeds are not growing through your lawn, they are very easily removed by hand.
Another area for potential weed growth is right at the very edges of your artificial lawn.
This is because the layers of weed membrane that should have been installed underneath your grass will only go up to the perimeter of your lawn, and therefore weeds have the potential to get around the edges of the membrane.
Artificial grass can also be susceptible to moss growth, and if this is the case with your artificial lawn, we recommend that you remove it with a stiff broom, power brush or garden vac.
To prevent future moss growth, we recommend applying a water-based weedkiller to your fake lawn.
This can be applied using a watering can with a sprinkler head and, if weed/moss growth is a problem, we recommend applying a weedkiller twice a year.
The chances of weeds growing on your artificial lawn are very slim, though, and if they do pop up, you can rest assured that they are very easily dealt with.
Another way to prevent weed growth is to ensure that you install a ‘weed-free’ sand infill at the installation stage.
This can be purchased from most major DIY stores and this ‘weed-free’ sand has a built-in weed inhibitor that will prevent weed growth on your lawn.
As you can see, the maintenance involved with having artificial grass is minimal, but it is important that these tasks are carried out to ensure a long-lasting fake lawn.
The Ultimate Artificial Grass Maintenance Guide – we can help you learn more by contacting us
Or see our other grass ranges at Eligrass
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