February 10th 2012 LACK OF WINTER MEANS EARLY WORK

The fact that winter has been late in arriving this year, means we have an opportunity to do some early work in our yards.

We can do the following in our yards right now:

*Rake up or blow matted leaves. This will insure that our preemergent application works to its capacity. Matted leaves don’t allow the cool season grasses to spread and will stop the preemergent from controlling crabgrass in those “spots”.

*Spot spray broadleaf weeds (as long as the air temperature is above 40 degrees and will stay there for a couple of hours). Henbit and Chickweed are especially active right now due to the warm weather. We can “spot spray” these and other weeds with “Ester” formulas of herbicides that are available in any good Lawn & Garden store. They work at lower temperatures then conventional 3 Way herbicides. Turflon Ester is a very good product for spraying weeds right now. As with any pesticide application, read the label!

*Spot seed areas that need repair. Be sure that areas really do need spring seeding or sod. If you seeded last fall and the areas aren’t “thick” enough, you may just be impatient. Dormant seeding/sod can be damaged by bad weather, so they are risky to do this time of year. It’s almost better to mow the yard 2-3 times before you decide to do spring seeding or sod work. Spring seeding should be put off (in most cases) until March 1^st or so.

*Prepare the lawn mower and other tools. Lawn mower shops get flooded with work request during the first warm weeks of March. Get your equipment serviced, sharpened, drained…whatever it needs, so you can have it when you need it.

* Mowing. I like to mow my cool season lawns at about 2 ½ to 2 ¾ inches going out the gate. I bag my clippings so my lawn mower acts as a vacuum as well. I usually walk around with my rake or blower before mowing, so I loosen up the matted leaves that are there. This makes their removal more efficiently.

*Fertilizing. I will always suggest mowing the lawn at least 2-3 times before the first application of fertilizer. This will all but guarantee the best case scenario for crabgrass control. We will address this application in future post. Don’t do anything for now.

*Zoysia lawns. Do nothing! You might be tempted, but it’s way too early to do anything but look at zoysia lawns for 6-8 more weeks. They are a “warm season” grass, which means they like extended periods of warm weather, not a few warm days. Hold your horses on these.

Finally, never do any walking or work in the yard when it’s wet. If you see water forming around your foot when you press it down in the lawn…it’s too wet to work in. You may do more harm then good?

Thanks,

Glenn