It'll dominate until you change the site so that exposure is more suitable for grass. If you can't let in enough light for grass, use the area for something other than lawn. Turfgrasses are full sun plants.
Fighting nature mrp--I have lots of moss here in my lawn in Surrey. Full sun, almost pure sand for soil, pH of 6.8. This critter is nature's answer for filling any garden vacuum (nature abhors a vacuum...) on the wet coast. Shady, acid and damp areas grow more, but it will grow everywhere eventually if something else doesn't. I have heard that iron availability is important...poorly drained lawns like mine (hardpan causing standing water in winter monsoons) apparently reduce the iron in them so plants can't access it. So you might try a bit of iron based moss killer and see if that does anything permanent. Otherwise, I know the answer in my lawn, (if I was interested in the lawn :-)) would be to fertilize so the grass would begin to crowd the moss out. And in my situation, invest in drainage over the whole acre. Otherwise, have you seen those awesome Japanese gardens made with moss as the main feature in place of grass...
Hi Mrp/Ron /Gro There is no quick fix No sunlight / Change to range type grass and do not cut below 6" Most important in my humble opinion is Sandy soil / Amend it Clay soil/ Amend it There is talk here of the 2 Extremes 1 In sandy soil you should not have a prob with standing water . However the leatching of the goodies plants need is higher. 2 In the clay that you have the other goodies are not available for the plants. Iron is a good example. But there are several others . Also if the ground is over satuarated / then soil compaction comes to mind. ie moss and clover . Moss generally is not a deep rooted plant . Like the stuff that grows 3 to 12 inches thick on rocks in the bush Regards Doug
Always boils down to site conditions being more suitable for moss than turfgrass, be it exposure or another factor. Mosses require surface water for reproduction, thus their occurence on rocks, compacted soils, concrete, dripping branches...
How does one get rid of moss in lawns and gardens on Vancouver Island? Our spot of lawn isn't particularly shady but-----I have been cutting it to abuot 1/8 of an inch. I guess this is way too short. Would it be a problem if my lawn was getting sea weed run off from the garden beds?
