Liner replacements/changeouts – Page 2 – Central Florida Above Ground Pools

As an above-ground pool installer in the Orlando area, I have seen nutgrass in every area of Central Florida. Some areas around Orlando are worse than others for having nutgrass, but if you have a yard, then there’s always a chance that you have some nutgrass. WHAT IS NUTGRASS? Nutsedge or nutgrass is a weed that looks exactly like a regular blade of grass and grows in yards either with other grasses or by itself. I could get into what it is exactly, but what you need to know about it in terms of having an above-ground swimming pool is that it can grow through your liner like it’s not even there AND there is no easy way to tell if you have it in your yard. If you have been out driving and noticed some grass growing through black asphalt, then you have seen nutgrass. HOW TO TELL IF YOU HAVE NUTGRASS/NUTSEDGE Since a blade of nutgrass looks just like a blade of any other type of grass, it is very hard to identify just by looking at the yard. The only way that I know it is nut grass is that there is a small brown, round nut that is attached to the blade of grass by a skinny root. If you pull the blade of grass up, the root connecting the nut will break and you won’t know it’s nutgrass. You have to dig up the nut to keep it attached to the grass blade. This is the only way that I know of to tell if it is nutgrass. BEST TO JUST ASSUME THAT YOU HAVE NUTGRASS WHERE YOUR ABOVE-GROUND POOL IS GOING This is the best way to go when putting an above-ground pool up in an Orlando area yard. Assume that you might have nutgrass, then do the things to help prevent it from coming up and growing through the liner. 3 THINGS TO DO TO PREVENT NUTGRASS OR NUTSEDGE DAMAGE TO YOUR ABOVE-GROUND POOL LINER 1 Completely remove all of the root mass (sod) with the grass Since I started using a machine to remove the grass for the pool installation, I noticed a big drop in incidences of nutgrass growing through the liners. By using a machine, I am removing a greater (thicker) amount of the sod when I took the grass up. This also removes a lot of the nutgrass from the area too. 2 Apply a nutgrass killer (Granular Only) When the pool wall is up, the coving is in place, and the bottom has been smoothed out, you are ready for the liner. Just before that, apply a granular nutgrass killer. I have used liquid nutgrass/nutsedge killer and it’s not nearly as effective as granular. USE GRANULAR ONLY Tip: Apply the nutgrass killer using a spreader. This gives an even layer of the chemical, which will cover the entire pool bottom. 3 OPTIONAL: Use a liner guard Liner guards are called many things. They are gorilla pads, liner pads, floor pads, etc. They are all about the same BTW, so don’t think one is better than the other. Using a liner guard by itself will only prevent some of the nutgrass from making it through the liner. BUT, if you combine the liner guard with the nutgrass killer, it works very well. Nutgrass killer is a pre-emergent. This means it waits for the nutgrass baby to start growing, then kills it. This is done best when there is a layer of chemical that the nutgrass has to enter as it grows. When it hits this layer, it dies. By applying nutgrass killer in a layer (using a spreader), and then placing the liner guard on top of that layer, it makes the chemical more effective. This is because the nutgrass needs more time and energy to grow through the liner guard material, so while it’s trying to continue upward, it has to spend more time in the chemical zone, which gives the nutgrass killer more time to kill the grass. NO ONE WILL GUARANTEE AGAINST NUTGRASS DAMAGE Nutgrass damage is considered an “act of God”, which sounds overly dramatic and ominous, so manufacturers, retailers, and installers won’t do anything if it grows through your pool liner. I have seen nutgrass grow through everything except a concrete floor, so don’t think that by spending a bunch on a foam bottom that it will guarantee no nutgrass damage. IF GOING SEMI-INGROUND (2FT DOWN), THEN DON’T WORRY ABOUT NUTGRASS Nutgrass can be present only about a foot down in the ground, so placing your pool in the ground two feet down will guarantee no nutgrass damage. AREAS AROUND ORLANDO THAT HAVE EXCESS NUTGRASS As stated earlier, I have seen nutgrass in every area of Central Florida. Some areas are worse than others though. I have seen a lot of nutgrass in the ground north of Orlando. Deltona, Orange City, and Debary have an above-average incident with nutgrass damaging a pool liner. Also, west of Orlando isn’t as bad as Deltona, but can have a lot of nutgrass. Clermont, Oakland, Minneola, etc. are areas with nutgrass. This is a sandy area and I always make sure and remove all of the grass root mass in these areas. MY INSTALLATION INCLUDES NUTGRASS KILLER If you considering me to install your above-ground pool, I provide a quality granular nutgrass killer with the install. There is no guarantee, but I do a good job helping to prevent nutgrass from growing through pool liners.