We have braved another cold winter in Middle Tennessee and Spring, glorious Spring, has arrived. As winter winds down our cabin fever reaches epic proportions and our desire to get outdoors is at its peak!
So, have you taken a good look at your lawn lately?
If you walk out and look at your lawn you might see the lawn is uneven in its growth, the lawn may have a yellow or brown tint to it. You may also see some winter weeds starting to thrive as the temp starts to rise. After winter, your lawn can be a veritable hodge-podge of grass and weeds.
How to Care for Cool Season Lawns
(Common cool season grasses are: Turf Type Tall Fescue, Tall Fescue, Fine Fescue, Kentucky Blue Grass and Rye)
Mowing: Your lawn may have already started to grow and may have an uneven appearance and/or also be yellow or brown from winter damage. That first cut of the spring will do several things, remove the winter damage, stimulate and even out the growth.
Fertilize: The proper amount of a quality spring fertilizer and some mild days will get the grass to green up and start growing. Too much fertilizer can be more damaging than not enough!
Weed Control: Winter weeds that have germinated in the fall are starting to grow at an accelerated rate. A good broadleaf herbicide applied properly is very effective in reducing or even eliminating these weeds.
Pre-emerge: Even though it is not a problem now it will be soon if preventative measures are not taken! Crabgrass and other weedy grasses can be greatly reduced by the application of a pre-emerge herbicide. Trying to control these weeds after germination is not only difficult, but costly. The correctly timed application of pre-emerge will also help reduce the number of broadleaf weeds by reducing the amount that germinate. Because pre-emerge is so important in the spring and that it affects germinating seed—it is not a good idea to apply grass seed in the spring on cool season turf.
Soil pH: An often over looked part of our lawns is the soil pH. Every plant has a soil pH that it will perform best in. Most cool season turf grass will perform well in a 6.2 to 6.8 range. As the pH drops, the ability of the plant to draw nutrient from the soil is greatly reduced. It will appear the fertilizer is less effective, however it is not the fertilizer, but the plants ability to use the fertilizer that is the problem. Keeping your pH in the proper range for you turf is a very important part of having the healthiest and best looking lawn possible.
These five things may not solve every spring turf problem, but they will cover the majority of them in cool season turf grass. In most cases a professional service that specializes in lawn care applications can perform these services for about the same cost as you purchasing products and doing the work yourself. The right products applied at the correct rate and time of year is key to having a successful lawn care program.
Because warm season turf grass is so different we will cover what to do for spring on warm season turf in an up coming blog post.
And as always if you have questions please call us!
Advanced Lawn Solutions