Lawn Care Tips
1) Establishment
2) Fertilizing
3) Weed Control
4) Watering
5) Proper Mowing
6) Other Maintenance Items
7) Nuisance Animals, Moles, Geese
8) Dog Urine Spots on Lawn
Establishment
Lawn grasses are divided into two general types, Warm Season and Cool Season
grasses. Meaning they grow best in warmer climates or cooler climates. This is a broad
generalization but you get the picture. Then there is the transition zone of the United
States, where both types of grass will grow, although not as well as in other parts of the
Country. Example: In Tennessee, we can have a good Fescue or Bermuda Lawn, but
not an excellent either one. Too hot for Fescue in the Summer, and every now and then
it gets too cold in the Winter and we have Bermuda Winter Kill, kills off as much as 50
% to 75% of the grass. We can't win!
Establishing a lawn begins with determining if you need to work up the whole lawn and
start over or not. Is the grade smooth already? Or do you get a sore back from mowing
it? If the lawn is rough, now is a good time to level it. You can till it up, rake it smooth
and get a good grade, you'll never have a better chance to get it level than now so take
your time and do it right. If your lawn is smooth, but just thin, you can either rent an
Overseeder, Ryan makes a walk behind that works well on smooth lawns. Or you can
aerate the lawn very well, then seed. Either method works well. Just be sure you aerate
the lawn enough that you can look down at any spot and see holes no farther apart than
2 or 3 ". The closer the holes are the better the germination will be and the thicker the
lawn will be. My process is to aerate thoroughly, seed, fertilize, then drag a chain link
drag, or a board behind the mower to break up the cores left behind by the aerating.
Then if you have any spots that are completely bare, with no grass there when you start,
you will need to cover them with straw. Put down enough straw to cover about 75% of
the ground. The straw provides the protection to the soil to hold moisture and prevent
erosion. If you are tilling up the lawn and starting over, the process is almost the same.
Till it up, seed, fertilize, roll it with a roller or cultipacker, then spread straw. 100 50#
bales per acre are needed in most cases. If you slack on Straw, Seed, Fertilizer or
Water, you will not have success, so just don't do it. Do it right. The ground needs to
stay damp, not soaking wet, and not dusty dry, and do not wait for it to rain. Get out the
sprinklers and water the minute you get done spreading straw. NO WATER, NO
GRASS..... Seed amount needed varies by seed type. Roughly, 6# per thousand square
feet of Fescue grass, or 2# per thousand square feet for Bermuda. Time of year to plant
depends on where you are at. In TN. our dates are set as 3-15 to 4-15 in Spring, and
9-15 to 10-15 for Fescue and 4-15 to 8-15 for Bermuda. Seeding and establishing a new
lawn is much more involved than what this short description can tell you. If you need
serious information on how to establish a lawn from several methods, Click Here for our
Lawn Establishment Page.
Fertilizing
Grass needs to eat too! What it eats is Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potash. Or N, P, & K.
These are represented by the 3 numbers you see on a bag of fertilizer like 15-15-15 this
means the bag contains 15% of each nutrient of N P & K, in that order.
If you are establishing a lawn, you will need to apply a STARTER fertilizer. This will
have an analysis of 6-12-12 or 8-24-24 or a similar analysis where the first number
(nitrogen) is lower than the middle (phosphate) and the last (potash). Usually you will
need to apply 1 to 2 pounds of nutrient per thousand square feet of grass area. To
determine how much fertilizer to apply, multiply the number in the analysis you want to
apply, (phosphate or 100 / 12 = 8 This is 8# of 6-12-12 to get 1# of phosphate.
Regardless of the type of fertilizer you are using, use this formula and you will get the
desired results.
Fertilizing established grass is a little different. Depending on the type of grass you have,
it will require somewhere around one pound of nitrogen per thousand square feet per
month. Some grasses a little less, some a little more. The warm season grasses like
Bermuda or Zoysia can handle more nitrogen and they are a little needier for N than
other grasses. If you are just after Nitrogen, for fast green up and a burst of growth,
Ammonia Nitrate is a good choice. Be careful to not over apply it though. It is very
strong and you can burn your grass if you over apply. The Nitrogen content will usually
be 34%, so 3 #'s of it will produce 1 # of Nitrogen per thousand square feet. Using
Ammonia Nitrate in your lawn care program is acceptable, but your grass will also need
the other two primary nutrients in fertilizer, Phosphate and Potash. I like to apply a
15-15-15 once a year to give a dose of the other nutrients. Again, using the formula
above, if I want 1 # of each nutrient, I multiply 15 by the number that will get me
closest to 100, in the case of 15-15-15 that would be 6. So I need to put down 6#s of
15-15-15 per thousand square feet of lawn area to get 1# of each nutrient per thousand
square feet.
Frequency of fertilizing will be determined partly by what type of grass you have and
your climate. In the transition zone where we are, we fertlize 4 times per year for Cool
Season Grass, and as many as 6 to 8 times for Bermuda.
Fall fertilizing changes a little. You mainly want to put down Potash. This encourages a
deep root system through the fall and winter, which in turn will allow the grass to do
better next summer. The deeper the root system, the better the grass will do in warm
weather since it can gather moisture easier. A good fertilizer analysis is something with
Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potash like 8-24-24 or 6-12-12 something with a higher middle
and last number than the first. Apply 4# of the 8-24-24 per thousand square feet of lawn
area, or 8# per thousand square feet of lawn area if using 6-12-12. You are wanting to
put down at least 1# of nutrients per thousand square feet of lawn area. If you are
establishing a new lawn you will need to repeat this lawn application about thirty days
after the lawn is seeded or sodded. The lawn will use up all of the nutrients available in
the first 30 days and the lawn will start to yellow off.
Go ToWeed Control Page
If you are a hard core do-it-yourselfer you may want to do your own weed control.
Keep in mind that we can do it for you for about the same price you will pay for the
products to do it yourself. But if you do want to do it yourself, there are a few basic
principles to know and remember. Here is some basic information, if you need more
detailed information including identification of the weeds you may have, click the link
above and go to our weed control page.
Two basic kinds of weeds are Broadleaf and Grassy weeds. Dandelions, Plantain,
Chickweed, Henbit, Wild Garlic are all examples of broadleaf weeds. Crabgrass,
Goosegrass, Barnyardgrass are examples of Grassy weeds. The Best Control of most
weeds is Pre-emergent, that's before they ever even come up. Most people are familiar
with the generic term "crabgrass preventer". This is pre-emergent weed control that will
keep crabgrass and several other weed seeds from germinating. The lawn looks better if
it doesn't have weeds in it, alive or dead and dieing. The Broadleaf weeds are easily
controlled with broadleaf weed control products either in liquid form or granules.
Depending on the grass type you have you will need from 4 to 6 applications to keep
your lawn looking good and weed free throughout the year. The farther south you are
the more applications it will take to keep your lawn in great shape, generally.
If you are planning on re-seeding or establishing a new lawn, you will not be able to do
weed control at the same time. In our area, (transition zone) Fall is the best time for
seeding Fescue or other cool season grasses, so you can't seed and put down weed
control products at the same time. You will need to seed the lawn, then let it get up and
growing long enough for you to mow it twice, then you can apply a BROAD LEAF
weed control to take out some of the broad leafed weeds that will have no doubt
sprouted when you seeded. Then in spring you can start your Pre-emergent weed
control. If you use Pre-emergent weed control when you seed, or immediately
afterwards, you will prevent your seed from coming up, defeating the whole purpose of
reseeding your lawn.
Weed control on Warm Season grasses such as Bermuda and Zoysia is a little easier.
Bermuda is very tough, as a matter of fact, you can't kill it once it gets established. I
have tried to eliminate Bermuda from a Fescue lawn just to have it appear again the next
year after spraying it repeatedly with Round up and other non-selective weed killers. If
you have Bermuda grass growing in your lawn, and you have a full sun lawn, I would
embrace the Bermuda and just enjoy it. Bermuda will develop a 5 foot deep root system.
This is what makes it so hard to kill. Since it has a deep root system it is also hardier in
the dry periods, it can find water when other grasses will have long been dead.
A common inexpensive weed control for Bermuda is MSMA. Used properly, this will
eliminate all of the undesirable weeds and grasses from your Bermuda lawn. It will wipe
out everything except the Bermuda. Most of the time you will find it available in liquid
weed control formula and not in granules. Also as of this writing, 10-07, there is a lot of
talk that MSMA will be taken off of the market shortly. Right now, it's the best thing we
have going for the price to do weed control in Bermuda. You can always use the same
weed control products on Bermuda as you would on Fescue grass. They just aren't as
strong and won't eliminate Crabgrass that has already germinated. Scott's program of 4
step weed and feed program is used a lot by many people. What ever weed control
product you decide to use, read and understand the label! I have seen many times a
person will buy a bag of weed and feed at the local store, go home and apply the whole
bag to the lawn using the setting the spreader was already set on, only to have the entire
lawn die. The bag will tell you that you are to use X number of pounds of product for
each 1,000 square feet of lawn area. You need to measure the lawn to know exactly
how large your lawn is, then you can make an educated decision on how much weed
control product needs to be applied to your lawn. Most bags of product will tell you, "
This bag covers XXXX feet" Use that as a guideline but know how large your lawn is.
If you have some weeds in your lawn that you do not know what they are, you can
click on the link below to go to a website that has pictures of most weeds around the
country. It will be helpful for you to know what kind of weed it is you have before you
start trying to kill them.
Click Here For Pictures of Weeds
Nuisance Animals
If you have problems with moles there are a few answers. The old tried and true method
of applying an insecticide to the lawn to kill off grubs and worms which are the food
source of Moles has been used for years. Those who are unsuccessful usually do not
make the insecticide applications often enough. Grubs come closer to the surface twice
a year as they prepare to turn into a June Bug. During late May and Late August are two
times that are good to apply an insecticide. You will get more of the grubs with your
insecticide application during these times. Four applications per year will even control
more. But, don't apply the insecticide unless you have a problem with the moles.
Earthworms are the largest part of the moles diet, and given this proven fact, we
recommend letting us provide a Mole Treatment program for you. We will keep your
property Mole free for the entire summer using a Search, Bait and Kill program using
Talpirid Mole Baits. For a flat fee, we will visit your property as often as it takes to keep
the Moles out of your lawn. E-Mail us for a free estimate on Mole Control for your
Lawn.Mole traps are time consuming, but effective if you use them properly and have
the patience, you can often kill the mole quickly this way and not have to wait for the
insects to die off, then wait for the mole to figure out he needs to go somewhere else to
find his dinner, which is the case of spaying insecticides. We like the mole trap listed
here.
Recently one of the largest chemical companies in the US took on the problem of mole
control. Knowing that the products that were currently on the market did not work well
to control moles, or voles, they spent a large amount of money to set up a test area to
study the lifestyle and habits of moles. In a test covering several years they shattered
some of the long held ideas of mole problems and mole control. The main one being that
Grub Worms are the primary source of food for Moles. The study proved that the
Moles #1 food source is earthworms, not grubs. Given this information, they then set
out to manufacture a mole bait that would be accepted by the moles fooling them into
thinking they were eating an earthworm. A new bait was formed out of this study and is
being used every day by our company and others across the US. You can buy a similar
bait product at your local home store, however it does help to know the habits of Moles
and the experience a trained Lawn Care operator can bring to your property will make
the program work better, the bait is very expensive and it's likely you could spend as
much on baits using them improperly as you would pay someone to do the program for
you.
If you are in our service area, Northwest TN. and KY. we can make a trip to your
property to give an evaluation and make an application of a new Mole Bait called
Talpirid. It is a bait that mimics the favorite foods of Moles in appearance and does a
better job than previous attempts at baits.
If you need detailed information on How to Seed, Fertilize, Water and Establish a
lawn you can order our Lawn Care Manual. It contains all the needed information
step - by - Step on how to go about it. Ordering by e-mail delivery is only $9.95
you can order here.
Dog Urine Spots On Your Lawn?
On highly maintained lawns that are well fertilized, you can have dead spots brought on
by the dog taking a "tinkle" on the lawn. This is caused by the high ammonia content in
the dog urine. A great product we have found is called G-Whiz. It is in liquid form, or in
the form of a dog treat that you give to your pet. Or the liquid can just be put into the
pet's water. G-Whiz is also available for cat's and puppies. The G-Whiz product works
by neutralizing the ammonia content in the urine so it will not burn the lush grass in your
lawn. Try it for your lawn's sake. Click G-Whiz Products here to go to our G-Whiz
page.
Watering/Irrigation
Lawn watering is often done incorrectly causing problems with fungus or Lawn
Disease. Simply put, lawns should be watered as infrequently as possible, but for long
periods of time. Long enough to water at least 1" of water per area. A lot of my
customers will tell me that they watered a bunch, but in reality they only watered for
10-15 minutes per area. This encourages a shallow root system instead of a deep root
system. Deep root growth is what we are after here. If the roots only have to look 2"
deep for moisture, they won't go deep. Different grass types have different water
requirements also. This section is only meant to be a primer on watering, do some extra
research on irrigation/watering specifically for your grass type.
The biggest mistake most people make is watering at night. Do not water at night! This
keeps the grass blades wet for many hours through the night encouraging fungus
growth. If you experience a fungus outbreak, you will understand what I mean. Brown
Patch is a common Fungus problem in our area. It loves lush, new Tall Fescue grass,
especially Spring seeded lawns. When Brown Patch gets started, it can march across a
lawn in a couple of weeks leaving it straw colored brown.
There are two main types of watering to be done through the year for your lawn. The
first is when you establish your lawn, whether you seed, sod, or sprig doesn't matter, it
will need the same watering. During the establishment period you will want to water the
lawn deeply the first time to get the soil wet to the point of being muddy. Then the grass
will need to be kept damp, not standing in water just damp or wet. This may require
watering every day or even 3 times a day for short periods of time. If you have an
irrigation system set it to water 3 times a day for just long enough to dampen the grass.
Newly seeded grass in our area will jump out of the ground in less than a week with this
type of irrigation. Sodded lawns need the same type of watering to get the root system
of the sod to take hold and get growing deep. This watering schedule will need to keep
up until the grass has grown to the point of maybe 3 or 4 inches. Shut the watering off
and let the grass dry out for a day or two, then do your first mowing. Be sure the
ground dries out first or you will do damage to the lawn with your mower. After you
mow, go back to watering for another week. Mow again and now you can start backing
off on the water you may get by with watering only every other day or two by this time.
Of course if you are getting rainfall during this time you may not need to water at all, a
little common sense will help your schedule.
After the grass is established, you will want to change the watering schedule over to a
maintenance schedule of irrigation. This is to keep the ground moist for what your
grass type needs. In Paris, TN. our lawns need at least 1 inch of water per week. The
weather patterns will vary and so will how much you need to water. During hot dry
periods with a lot of wind the ground dries out very fast and you will have to water
longer in order to get the same amount of water to the grass roots as you would if it is
over cast and cool. The basic idea is to water until you soak down about 6 inches.
Deeper is better when watering for maintenance. Once or twice a week is usually good
as long as you are watering very deeply. Infrequent and deep is what we want when
watering lawns in the summer time.
If you would like to install an irrigation system yourself check out our Irrigation
Installation page.
Proper Mowing
Improper mowing kills lots of lawns each year. Every Summer I hear someone say, "I
cut it down low so I don't have to mow it as often". Well, you will achieve what your
after doing this, because if your dealing with Fescue, of most any Variety, you will kill
it. Then you will be mowing just weeds. If that is what your after, then don't waste the
time and money in applying fertilizer or weed control products. Mowing heights are
based on the type of grass you have in your lawn. Fescue likes to be mowed ant 2.5 to 4
inches high. Just look at the name of most Fescue "TALL FESCUE" This alone tells you
where you should mow it. The growth habit of the grass determines where it likes to be
mowed. Fescue has no rhizomes or stolons, only tillers and it has an upright growth
habit. Bermuda and Zoysia have Rhizomes, stolons or both, and they are a lateral
growing grass. They will crawl along and fill in bare spots. These are also considered
"warm season grasses". These will tolerate low to very low mowing. Most golf courses
have both of these grasses and routinely mow Bermuda at less than an inch. To mow
this low you have to have a very smooth grade on your lawn. Most lawns do not unless
you have worked on it very hard. Mowing a Bermuda lawn low that is rough creates
scalping marks, these will be brown spots in the otherwise green lawn. Brown marks
can also be caused by routinely mowing Bermuda too high, and when your mower
drops down it will leave the brown marks. This is caused by the mower cutting off all
of the green leaves, exposing the stem of the plant. By lowering the mowing height that
you routinely use, you will eliminate this. Slowly lower the mowing height each week
until you are at the level you want to reach. Dropping the mower deck from 3" to 1" on
Bermuda during the season will turn it brown and the Bermuda will struggle to recover.
Zoysia likes to be mowed in between the Fescue and Bermuda. I find most Zoysia
Lawns in our area do well at 2" to 2.5".
Also, be sure your blades are always sharp, this will cut the grass rather than tearing it.
This will leave a clean look without leaving a tan haze across the lawn from ripped blade
tips. Another simple tip to increase the appearance of your lawn is to change mowing
directions each week. Change the pattern so your tires are not traveling in the same ruts
every week. From an appearance standpoint, you want to see the grass color, the
mowing pattern, but not the wheel tracks. And a final suggestion, if you have several
trees in your lawn, don't mow in circles around them. The wheels of any mower will
tear out the grass as you turn around the trees. Either the front wheels from turning, or
the back wheels from trying to get traction. Instead, try to make wide turns or pass by
the trees at 90 degree angles from several directions not turning around the tree at all.
This way you will have no tire marks or dips around your trees. You will notice the
grass will be thicker also, since it won't have to recover from being torn out all the time.
We are improving our site to give you all the Lawn Care and Landscaping
information you will need to install and maintain your Lawn and Landscape. If
you have a question email us and we will answer for you as quick as we can.
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1) Establishment
2) Fertilizing
3) Weed Control
4) Watering
5) Proper Mowing
6) Other Maintenance Items
7) Nuisance Animals, Moles, Geese
8) Dog Urine Spots on Lawn
Establishment
Lawn grasses are divided into two general types, Warm Season and Cool Season
grasses. Meaning they grow best in warmer climates or cooler climates. This is a broad
generalization but you get the picture. Then there is the transition zone of the United
States, where both types of grass will grow, although not as well as in other parts of the
Country. Example: In Tennessee, we can have a good Fescue or Bermuda Lawn, but
not an excellent either one. Too hot for Fescue in the Summer, and every now and then
it gets too cold in the Winter and we have Bermuda Winter Kill, kills off as much as 50
% to 75% of the grass. We can't win!
Establishing a lawn begins with determining if you need to work up the whole lawn and
start over or not. Is the grade smooth already? Or do you get a sore back from mowing
it? If the lawn is rough, now is a good time to level it. You can till it up, rake it smooth
and get a good grade, you'll never have a better chance to get it level than now so take
your time and do it right. If your lawn is smooth, but just thin, you can either rent an
Overseeder, Ryan makes a walk behind that works well on smooth lawns. Or you can
aerate the lawn very well, then seed. Either method works well. Just be sure you aerate
the lawn enough that you can look down at any spot and see holes no farther apart than
2 or 3 ". The closer the holes are the better the germination will be and the thicker the
lawn will be. My process is to aerate thoroughly, seed, fertilize, then drag a chain link
drag, or a board behind the mower to break up the cores left behind by the aerating.
Then if you have any spots that are completely bare, with no grass there when you start,
you will need to cover them with straw. Put down enough straw to cover about 75% of
the ground. The straw provides the protection to the soil to hold moisture and prevent
erosion. If you are tilling up the lawn and starting over, the process is almost the same.
Till it up, seed, fertilize, roll it with a roller or cultipacker, then spread straw. 100 50#
bales per acre are needed in most cases. If you slack on Straw, Seed, Fertilizer or
Water, you will not have success, so just don't do it. Do it right. The ground needs to
stay damp, not soaking wet, and not dusty dry, and do not wait for it to rain. Get out the
sprinklers and water the minute you get done spreading straw. NO WATER, NO
GRASS..... Seed amount needed varies by seed type. Roughly, 6# per thousand square
feet of Fescue grass, or 2# per thousand square feet for Bermuda. Time of year to plant
depends on where you are at. In TN. our dates are set as 3-15 to 4-15 in Spring, and
9-15 to 10-15 for Fescue and 4-15 to 8-15 for Bermuda. Seeding and establishing a new
lawn is much more involved than what this short description can tell you. If you need
serious information on how to establish a lawn from several methods, Click Here for our
Lawn Establishment Page.
Fertilizing
Grass needs to eat too! What it eats is Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potash. Or N, P, & K.
These are represented by the 3 numbers you see on a bag of fertilizer like 15-15-15 this
means the bag contains 15% of each nutrient of N P & K, in that order.
If you are establishing a lawn, you will need to apply a STARTER fertilizer. This will
have an analysis of 6-12-12 or 8-24-24 or a similar analysis where the first number
(nitrogen) is lower than the middle (phosphate) and the last (potash). Usually you will
need to apply 1 to 2 pounds of nutrient per thousand square feet of grass area. To
determine how much fertilizer to apply, multiply the number in the analysis you want to
apply, (phosphate or 100 / 12 = 8 This is 8# of 6-12-12 to get 1# of phosphate.
Regardless of the type of fertilizer you are using, use this formula and you will get the
desired results.
Fertilizing established grass is a little different. Depending on the type of grass you have,
it will require somewhere around one pound of nitrogen per thousand square feet per
month. Some grasses a little less, some a little more. The warm season grasses like
Bermuda or Zoysia can handle more nitrogen and they are a little needier for N than
other grasses. If you are just after Nitrogen, for fast green up and a burst of growth,
Ammonia Nitrate is a good choice. Be careful to not over apply it though. It is very
strong and you can burn your grass if you over apply. The Nitrogen content will usually
be 34%, so 3 #'s of it will produce 1 # of Nitrogen per thousand square feet. Using
Ammonia Nitrate in your lawn care program is acceptable, but your grass will also need
the other two primary nutrients in fertilizer, Phosphate and Potash. I like to apply a
15-15-15 once a year to give a dose of the other nutrients. Again, using the formula
above, if I want 1 # of each nutrient, I multiply 15 by the number that will get me
closest to 100, in the case of 15-15-15 that would be 6. So I need to put down 6#s of
15-15-15 per thousand square feet of lawn area to get 1# of each nutrient per thousand
square feet.
Frequency of fertilizing will be determined partly by what type of grass you have and
your climate. In the transition zone where we are, we fertlize 4 times per year for Cool
Season Grass, and as many as 6 to 8 times for Bermuda.
Fall fertilizing changes a little. You mainly want to put down Potash. This encourages a
deep root system through the fall and winter, which in turn will allow the grass to do
better next summer. The deeper the root system, the better the grass will do in warm
weather since it can gather moisture easier. A good fertilizer analysis is something with
Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potash like 8-24-24 or 6-12-12 something with a higher middle
and last number than the first. Apply 4# of the 8-24-24 per thousand square feet of lawn
area, or 8# per thousand square feet of lawn area if using 6-12-12. You are wanting to
put down at least 1# of nutrients per thousand square feet of lawn area. If you are
establishing a new lawn you will need to repeat this lawn application about thirty days
after the lawn is seeded or sodded. The lawn will use up all of the nutrients available in
the first 30 days and the lawn will start to yellow off.
Go ToWeed Control Page
If you are a hard core do-it-yourselfer you may want to do your own weed control.
Keep in mind that we can do it for you for about the same price you will pay for the
products to do it yourself. But if you do want to do it yourself, there are a few basic
principles to know and remember. Here is some basic information, if you need more
detailed information including identification of the weeds you may have, click the link
above and go to our weed control page.
Two basic kinds of weeds are Broadleaf and Grassy weeds. Dandelions, Plantain,
Chickweed, Henbit, Wild Garlic are all examples of broadleaf weeds. Crabgrass,
Goosegrass, Barnyardgrass are examples of Grassy weeds. The Best Control of most
weeds is Pre-emergent, that's before they ever even come up. Most people are familiar
with the generic term "crabgrass preventer". This is pre-emergent weed control that will
keep crabgrass and several other weed seeds from germinating. The lawn looks better if
it doesn't have weeds in it, alive or dead and dieing. The Broadleaf weeds are easily
controlled with broadleaf weed control products either in liquid form or granules.
Depending on the grass type you have you will need from 4 to 6 applications to keep
your lawn looking good and weed free throughout the year. The farther south you are
the more applications it will take to keep your lawn in great shape, generally.
If you are planning on re-seeding or establishing a new lawn, you will not be able to do
weed control at the same time. In our area, (transition zone) Fall is the best time for
seeding Fescue or other cool season grasses, so you can't seed and put down weed
control products at the same time. You will need to seed the lawn, then let it get up and
growing long enough for you to mow it twice, then you can apply a BROAD LEAF
weed control to take out some of the broad leafed weeds that will have no doubt
sprouted when you seeded. Then in spring you can start your Pre-emergent weed
control. If you use Pre-emergent weed control when you seed, or immediately
afterwards, you will prevent your seed from coming up, defeating the whole purpose of
reseeding your lawn.
Weed control on Warm Season grasses such as Bermuda and Zoysia is a little easier.
Bermuda is very tough, as a matter of fact, you can't kill it once it gets established. I
have tried to eliminate Bermuda from a Fescue lawn just to have it appear again the next
year after spraying it repeatedly with Round up and other non-selective weed killers. If
you have Bermuda grass growing in your lawn, and you have a full sun lawn, I would
embrace the Bermuda and just enjoy it. Bermuda will develop a 5 foot deep root system.
This is what makes it so hard to kill. Since it has a deep root system it is also hardier in
the dry periods, it can find water when other grasses will have long been dead.
A common inexpensive weed control for Bermuda is MSMA. Used properly, this will
eliminate all of the undesirable weeds and grasses from your Bermuda lawn. It will wipe
out everything except the Bermuda. Most of the time you will find it available in liquid
weed control formula and not in granules. Also as of this writing, 10-07, there is a lot of
talk that MSMA will be taken off of the market shortly. Right now, it's the best thing we
have going for the price to do weed control in Bermuda. You can always use the same
weed control products on Bermuda as you would on Fescue grass. They just aren't as
strong and won't eliminate Crabgrass that has already germinated. Scott's program of 4
step weed and feed program is used a lot by many people. What ever weed control
product you decide to use, read and understand the label! I have seen many times a
person will buy a bag of weed and feed at the local store, go home and apply the whole
bag to the lawn using the setting the spreader was already set on, only to have the entire
lawn die. The bag will tell you that you are to use X number of pounds of product for
each 1,000 square feet of lawn area. You need to measure the lawn to know exactly
how large your lawn is, then you can make an educated decision on how much weed
control product needs to be applied to your lawn. Most bags of product will tell you, "
This bag covers XXXX feet" Use that as a guideline but know how large your lawn is.
If you have some weeds in your lawn that you do not know what they are, you can
click on the link below to go to a website that has pictures of most weeds around the
country. It will be helpful for you to know what kind of weed it is you have before you
start trying to kill them.
Click Here For Pictures of Weeds
Nuisance Animals
If you have problems with moles there are a few answers. The old tried and true method
of applying an insecticide to the lawn to kill off grubs and worms which are the food
source of Moles has been used for years. Those who are unsuccessful usually do not
make the insecticide applications often enough. Grubs come closer to the surface twice
a year as they prepare to turn into a June Bug. During late May and Late August are two
times that are good to apply an insecticide. You will get more of the grubs with your
insecticide application during these times. Four applications per year will even control
more. But, don't apply the insecticide unless you have a problem with the moles.
Earthworms are the largest part of the moles diet, and given this proven fact, we
recommend letting us provide a Mole Treatment program for you. We will keep your
property Mole free for the entire summer using a Search, Bait and Kill program using
Talpirid Mole Baits. For a flat fee, we will visit your property as often as it takes to keep
the Moles out of your lawn. E-Mail us for a free estimate on Mole Control for your
Lawn.Mole traps are time consuming, but effective if you use them properly and have
the patience, you can often kill the mole quickly this way and not have to wait for the
insects to die off, then wait for the mole to figure out he needs to go somewhere else to
find his dinner, which is the case of spaying insecticides. We like the mole trap listed
here.
Recently one of the largest chemical companies in the US took on the problem of mole
control. Knowing that the products that were currently on the market did not work well
to control moles, or voles, they spent a large amount of money to set up a test area to
study the lifestyle and habits of moles. In a test covering several years they shattered
some of the long held ideas of mole problems and mole control. The main one being that
Grub Worms are the primary source of food for Moles. The study proved that the
Moles #1 food source is earthworms, not grubs. Given this information, they then set
out to manufacture a mole bait that would be accepted by the moles fooling them into
thinking they were eating an earthworm. A new bait was formed out of this study and is
being used every day by our company and others across the US. You can buy a similar
bait product at your local home store, however it does help to know the habits of Moles
and the experience a trained Lawn Care operator can bring to your property will make
the program work better, the bait is very expensive and it's likely you could spend as
much on baits using them improperly as you would pay someone to do the program for
you.
If you are in our service area, Northwest TN. and KY. we can make a trip to your
property to give an evaluation and make an application of a new Mole Bait called
Talpirid. It is a bait that mimics the favorite foods of Moles in appearance and does a
better job than previous attempts at baits.
If you need detailed information on How to Seed, Fertilize, Water and Establish a
lawn you can order our Lawn Care Manual. It contains all the needed information
step - by - Step on how to go about it. Ordering by e-mail delivery is only $9.95
you can order here.
Dog Urine Spots On Your Lawn?
On highly maintained lawns that are well fertilized, you can have dead spots brought on
by the dog taking a "tinkle" on the lawn. This is caused by the high ammonia content in
the dog urine. A great product we have found is called G-Whiz. It is in liquid form, or in
the form of a dog treat that you give to your pet. Or the liquid can just be put into the
pet's water. G-Whiz is also available for cat's and puppies. The G-Whiz product works
by neutralizing the ammonia content in the urine so it will not burn the lush grass in your
lawn. Try it for your lawn's sake. Click G-Whiz Products here to go to our G-Whiz
page.
Watering/Irrigation
Lawn watering is often done incorrectly causing problems with fungus or Lawn
Disease. Simply put, lawns should be watered as infrequently as possible, but for long
periods of time. Long enough to water at least 1" of water per area. A lot of my
customers will tell me that they watered a bunch, but in reality they only watered for
10-15 minutes per area. This encourages a shallow root system instead of a deep root
system. Deep root growth is what we are after here. If the roots only have to look 2"
deep for moisture, they won't go deep. Different grass types have different water
requirements also. This section is only meant to be a primer on watering, do some extra
research on irrigation/watering specifically for your grass type.
The biggest mistake most people make is watering at night. Do not water at night! This
keeps the grass blades wet for many hours through the night encouraging fungus
growth. If you experience a fungus outbreak, you will understand what I mean. Brown
Patch is a common Fungus problem in our area. It loves lush, new Tall Fescue grass,
especially Spring seeded lawns. When Brown Patch gets started, it can march across a
lawn in a couple of weeks leaving it straw colored brown.
There are two main types of watering to be done through the year for your lawn. The
first is when you establish your lawn, whether you seed, sod, or sprig doesn't matter, it
will need the same watering. During the establishment period you will want to water the
lawn deeply the first time to get the soil wet to the point of being muddy. Then the grass
will need to be kept damp, not standing in water just damp or wet. This may require
watering every day or even 3 times a day for short periods of time. If you have an
irrigation system set it to water 3 times a day for just long enough to dampen the grass.
Newly seeded grass in our area will jump out of the ground in less than a week with this
type of irrigation. Sodded lawns need the same type of watering to get the root system
of the sod to take hold and get growing deep. This watering schedule will need to keep
up until the grass has grown to the point of maybe 3 or 4 inches. Shut the watering off
and let the grass dry out for a day or two, then do your first mowing. Be sure the
ground dries out first or you will do damage to the lawn with your mower. After you
mow, go back to watering for another week. Mow again and now you can start backing
off on the water you may get by with watering only every other day or two by this time.
Of course if you are getting rainfall during this time you may not need to water at all, a
little common sense will help your schedule.
After the grass is established, you will want to change the watering schedule over to a
maintenance schedule of irrigation. This is to keep the ground moist for what your
grass type needs. In Paris, TN. our lawns need at least 1 inch of water per week. The
weather patterns will vary and so will how much you need to water. During hot dry
periods with a lot of wind the ground dries out very fast and you will have to water
longer in order to get the same amount of water to the grass roots as you would if it is
over cast and cool. The basic idea is to water until you soak down about 6 inches.
Deeper is better when watering for maintenance. Once or twice a week is usually good
as long as you are watering very deeply. Infrequent and deep is what we want when
watering lawns in the summer time.
If you would like to install an irrigation system yourself check out our Irrigation
Installation page.
Proper Mowing
Improper mowing kills lots of lawns each year. Every Summer I hear someone say, "I
cut it down low so I don't have to mow it as often". Well, you will achieve what your
after doing this, because if your dealing with Fescue, of most any Variety, you will kill
it. Then you will be mowing just weeds. If that is what your after, then don't waste the
time and money in applying fertilizer or weed control products. Mowing heights are
based on the type of grass you have in your lawn. Fescue likes to be mowed ant 2.5 to 4
inches high. Just look at the name of most Fescue "TALL FESCUE" This alone tells you
where you should mow it. The growth habit of the grass determines where it likes to be
mowed. Fescue has no rhizomes or stolons, only tillers and it has an upright growth
habit. Bermuda and Zoysia have Rhizomes, stolons or both, and they are a lateral
growing grass. They will crawl along and fill in bare spots. These are also considered
"warm season grasses". These will tolerate low to very low mowing. Most golf courses
have both of these grasses and routinely mow Bermuda at less than an inch. To mow
this low you have to have a very smooth grade on your lawn. Most lawns do not unless
you have worked on it very hard. Mowing a Bermuda lawn low that is rough creates
scalping marks, these will be brown spots in the otherwise green lawn. Brown marks
can also be caused by routinely mowing Bermuda too high, and when your mower
drops down it will leave the brown marks. This is caused by the mower cutting off all
of the green leaves, exposing the stem of the plant. By lowering the mowing height that
you routinely use, you will eliminate this. Slowly lower the mowing height each week
until you are at the level you want to reach. Dropping the mower deck from 3" to 1" on
Bermuda during the season will turn it brown and the Bermuda will struggle to recover.
Zoysia likes to be mowed in between the Fescue and Bermuda. I find most Zoysia
Lawns in our area do well at 2" to 2.5".
Also, be sure your blades are always sharp, this will cut the grass rather than tearing it.
This will leave a clean look without leaving a tan haze across the lawn from ripped blade
tips. Another simple tip to increase the appearance of your lawn is to change mowing
directions each week. Change the pattern so your tires are not traveling in the same ruts
every week. From an appearance standpoint, you want to see the grass color, the
mowing pattern, but not the wheel tracks. And a final suggestion, if you have several
trees in your lawn, don't mow in circles around them. The wheels of any mower will
tear out the grass as you turn around the trees. Either the front wheels from turning, or
the back wheels from trying to get traction. Instead, try to make wide turns or pass by
the trees at 90 degree angles from several directions not turning around the tree at all.
This way you will have no tire marks or dips around your trees. You will notice the
grass will be thicker also, since it won't have to recover from being torn out all the time.
We are improving our site to give you all the Lawn Care and Landscaping
information you will need to install and maintain your Lawn and Landscape. If
you have a question email us and we will answer for you as quick as we can.
Ask Us A Question !
Lawn Care Tips
Everything you need to know to
Establish and Maintain a Beautiful Lawn
Everything you need to know to
Establish and Maintain a Beautiful Lawn
Other Lawn Maintenance Items There are a few other items that will need to be done throughout the year on your lawn. These are items
that a lot of people don't think about, but really add to the vigor, health and overall looks of your lawn. You may see a neighbor who has a beautiful
lawn and all you ever see him doing is mowing, but there are a few things he's probably doing that you just don't see it being done.
Aerating is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your lawn. I have seen it said before that if you could only do ONE thing for your lawn,
aerating would be the most beneficial thing for it. It is very inexpensive, and fairly easy to do depending on the equipment used. As for aerators
there are a few different types. Spike aerators are just what the name implies, they have a spike, usually just a metal triangle shaped thing that
pokes a hole in the lawn. The problem with this type of aerator is that they actually increase compaction of the soil since all they do is press the
soil down and out. No soil is being removed, so the soil is just being pressed to other areas. A CORE aerator is the best type to use. These
machines will come in different styles also, walk behind motorized, tow behind the mower type, or large commercial versions that are 3 point
hitch tractor type. The core aerator will pull a plug of soil up out of the ground and deposit it on top. This leaves a hole in the ground and a core of
soil laying on top of the soil. This relieves compacted soil, gives a place for air, water, seed, fertilizer, lime, etc, to get into the soil structure. The
cores left on top of the ground will slowly dissolve over time as it rains, there is no need to remove them on most lawns. This type of aerator is
used by golf courses also, and they will remove the cores, then brush sand into the holes. For most home owners this isn't needed. Regardless
of which type of aerator you choose to use, you will need to aerate the lawn until you can look down and see the pattern of holes in the ground that
you want. Some aerator's will only put a hole every 6 X 6 inches, if you need them closer than this you will have to make 2 or 3 passes to be sure
you cover all of the ground an get holes as close together as you want. Depending on your soil structure and the type of core aerator you use, you
may have a lot of firm soil cores on top of the ground when done. This is not harmful, and is really helpful, since it relieves soil compaction, but if
you have to get rid of them for some reason, just drag a chain link fence drag around behind your mower and it will crumble them up. This helps
the soil build up organic material.
Aerating can be done most anytime of the year, while Fall is the best time. Spring second best. If your dealing with a sports field for your Little
League team, or church or any other public area, you may find that the area gets aerated several times throughout the season.
that a lot of people don't think about, but really add to the vigor, health and overall looks of your lawn. You may see a neighbor who has a beautiful
lawn and all you ever see him doing is mowing, but there are a few things he's probably doing that you just don't see it being done.
Aerating is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your lawn. I have seen it said before that if you could only do ONE thing for your lawn,
aerating would be the most beneficial thing for it. It is very inexpensive, and fairly easy to do depending on the equipment used. As for aerators
there are a few different types. Spike aerators are just what the name implies, they have a spike, usually just a metal triangle shaped thing that
pokes a hole in the lawn. The problem with this type of aerator is that they actually increase compaction of the soil since all they do is press the
soil down and out. No soil is being removed, so the soil is just being pressed to other areas. A CORE aerator is the best type to use. These
machines will come in different styles also, walk behind motorized, tow behind the mower type, or large commercial versions that are 3 point
hitch tractor type. The core aerator will pull a plug of soil up out of the ground and deposit it on top. This leaves a hole in the ground and a core of
soil laying on top of the soil. This relieves compacted soil, gives a place for air, water, seed, fertilizer, lime, etc, to get into the soil structure. The
cores left on top of the ground will slowly dissolve over time as it rains, there is no need to remove them on most lawns. This type of aerator is
used by golf courses also, and they will remove the cores, then brush sand into the holes. For most home owners this isn't needed. Regardless
of which type of aerator you choose to use, you will need to aerate the lawn until you can look down and see the pattern of holes in the ground that
you want. Some aerator's will only put a hole every 6 X 6 inches, if you need them closer than this you will have to make 2 or 3 passes to be sure
you cover all of the ground an get holes as close together as you want. Depending on your soil structure and the type of core aerator you use, you
may have a lot of firm soil cores on top of the ground when done. This is not harmful, and is really helpful, since it relieves soil compaction, but if
you have to get rid of them for some reason, just drag a chain link fence drag around behind your mower and it will crumble them up. This helps
the soil build up organic material.
Aerating can be done most anytime of the year, while Fall is the best time. Spring second best. If your dealing with a sports field for your Little
League team, or church or any other public area, you may find that the area gets aerated several times throughout the season.
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