Lawn Care
The best natural defense against insect and weed damage is a healthy, dense lawn. Many folks pay a lot of attention to theirs lawns in the spring and summer but loose interest in the fall. The fall season an important season to pay attention to lawn care, this is when your lawn starts absorbing moisture and nutrients to prepare itself for a dormant winter season. This article was designed to cover six of the most important fall lawn care issues.
Don’t Fall – For Spring
Don’t wait for the spring to get your lawn healthy. The lawn maintenance steps you take in the fall not only prepare your lawn for the upcoming winter, but set it up for a more successful lush spring season.
Fall Lawn Care Tips
Fall lawn care tips can be bulked into six categories:
□ Fertilization
□ Reseeding
□ Aeration
□ Leaf Removal
□ Lower The Mower Blade
□ Weed and Insect Control
Fall Fertilization:
The goal with fall fertilizing is to promote root growth. When you have strong roots, you have a healthy, lush lawn.
The most obvious step one can take to prepare a lawn prior to winter dormancy is fertilization. Fertilizing is essential during fall months and the storage of nutrients during the dormancy period to grow and sustain the root system.
In the fall grass growth slows down but the root system does not. Grass roots or, rhizomes, are the horizontal plant stems that lie just beneath the soil’s surface; they produce the grass blades as well as grow the roots system. By fertilizing in the fall, nutrients necessary to grow deep roots are delivered
A good time to apply fall fertilizer is mid-to-late fall. Apply a dry lawn fertilizer to all grassy areas; ensure good coverage.
Tip: Fertilize every six to eight weeks through October
When you buy fertilizer, you’ll see three numbers on the label. These numbers show the percentage of nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (N-P-K), respectively, which are the primary nutrients needed to feed your lawn. So a 20-5-10 bag will have 20 percent nitrogen, 5 percent phosphorus, and 10 percent potassium.
There’s A Simpler Way
Tip: A simple way to remember what these three numbers mean is to use the term “ Up – Down – All Around.”
□ Up [Nitrogen] is for promotes green, leafy growth.
□ Down [Phosphorus] is important for strong root formation
□ All-Around [Potassium ] is promotes vigorous growth, hardiness, drought and disease resistance.
At Concord Carpenter we recommend using a higher nitrogen fertilizer [20-8-8] in September to push grass blade growth.
At the end of October or early November we recommend that you apply a fertilizer formula of 13-25-12. The high phosphate [25] will stimulate root growth. By strengthening the roots now you will help your lawn green-up faster in the spring and be more disease and drought resistant.
Tip: Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s recommended rate of application.
Fall Seeding:
Often called the BEST time to start a lay, fall is an excellent time to add seed to fill in dead spots and assists the lawn from recovering from summer wear and tear.
The fall season offers cooler days and nights to help keep new seeds moist for germination and growth. Weed growth also slows in the cooler seasons and offer the opportunity to fill in weed spots with new grass plants.
The best time to start fall seeding is September to late October. You can focus on reseeding just the bare spots or over seed the entire lawn. Keep the soil moist for 7-14 days or until the seedlings are 2 inches tall
Aeration:
Fall is also a good time to aerate your lawn and is often best done before over seeding. Fall lawn aeration helps reduce thatch build up, promotes deep grass root growth and reverses grass compaction from summer traffic.
Aeration promotes deep rooting of the grass plant and helps the root system get needed oxygen and nutrients.
Mechanical aeration is one of the most preventative maintenance services you can do to insure a healthy green lawn.
Core aeration hops your lawn in the following ways:
- Improved air exchange between the soil
- Enhanced soil water uptake
- Improved fertilizer uptake and use
- Reduced water runoff and puddling
- Stronger turf grass roots
- Reduced soil compaction
- Enhanced heat and drought stress tolerance
- Enhanced thatch breakdown
Remove Leaves:
Leaves choke your lawn by blocking sunlight, which your lawn needs to store up nutrients for winter dormancy.
When leaves fall during an early fall rain storm the wet leaves end to stick to the lawn and will choke the growth of the lawn if not removed.
Mowing.
Lower the Blade:
During the fall mow your lawn to a height of 2-21/2 inches. As the lawn mowing season draws to a close, drop the mower’s blade to its lowest setting for the last two cuttings of the year, allowing sunlight to reach the crown of the grass.
Avoid cutting more than one-third of the grass blades at one time. additionally do not mow the lawn below a height of 2 inches or you will inhibit the plants ability to receive and store nutrients to the root system.
Weed and Insect Control:
If broad-leaf weeds like dandelions are prevalent in your lawn, fall is time to apply weed preventative. Weeds, like most plants, are in the energy-absorbing mode during the fall. They’re drinking in everything that comes their way, including weed killers.
Most herbicide manufacturers recommend applying the weed killer during early-to-mid autumn, when daytime temperatures are consistently above 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Fall is also a good time to apply grub or insect control and treat your lawn for other potential pests. With both weed and insect herbicide, follow manufacturer’s recommendations, for application.
Lush Green Lawn:
The best defuse is having a good offense. Follow these six steps every fall for a health , green and lush lawn.