Professionals know that good lawn care is not an easy task. There are many factors to consider, from weather patterns to customer demands to the fickle and hard-to-predict infestations of weeds, insects and diseases.
To keep these forces from wiping out entire stands of turf, professionals have developed management practices that have proven over time to effectively keep turf free from damaging populations of insects and weeds, and healthy enough to fend off disease organisms.
EARLY SEASON. The first two service calls are the most critical for setting the turf up to thrive. Doug Hague, president, Lawn Classics, Findlay, Ohio, said the first order of business is to assess how well the lawn survived the winter to determine whether any reseeding will be needed. Lawn Classics’ first application is generally a fertilizer and an herbicide combination to control crabgrass. The amount of nitrogen is generally low, because there will be some nitrogen carryover in the soil from the fall application. Fertilizer provides quicker green-up and vigor when the temperatures begin to warm.
The second application, six to seven weeks later, contains fertilizer and an herbicide that controls broadleaf weeds such as dandelion and plantain. Hague noted that his company, as well as many others, will spot treat broadleaf weeds when possible.
The key for the professional is to get the product down soon enough to stop emerging weeds from growing too large and choking out grass, but not so soon that the product loses its effectiveness before weeds emerge. Fortunately, the weed control products used widely in professional lawn care provide good windows of control.
In regions where grubs are a problem, some lawn care companies offer a preventive grub control application in May or June. This reduces the likelihood that grubs will become large and damaging to turf in the late summer and fall months.
AERATION: A Cure for the Aching Lawn |
At the recent Ohio Turfgrass Foundation conference in Columbus, plant nutrition expert Dr. Chuck Darrah, president of CLC LABS, Westerville, Ohio, was quizzing some lawn care service technicians about important nutrients in turf. He described a lawn that was thin, not growing and not responding to traditional fertilizer treatments. He also noted that there was no evidence of insect or disease problems. He asked them, “What is the missing element in the turf?” The answer was oxygen. The reason that the turf was not getting enough oxygen, he said, was the soil in his example was heavily compacted and unable to provide needed oxygen to the roots of turfgrass plants. The treatment that helps this problem in many cases is aeration. A lawn care technician may recommend this procedure, in which a machine digs small cores of soil across an entire lawn. This allows the roots and soil to spread and increases grass root exposure to oxygen. When performed properly, aeration is an effective way to revitalize a compacted, oxygen-starved lawn. – Paul Schrimpf |
SUMMER AND FALL. About six weeks later, an application of fertilizer is applied to carry turf through the summer months, noted Hague. Some companies also scout for grubs in late July and early August and will make an application of a product that will knock down damaging grub populations where they exist. Monitoring for disease problems and, if necessary, making an application of fungicide is also part of the summer regimen for many companies.
The final application of the season is generally fertilizer alone, which helps the plants develop roots and regain strength where drought or diseases are a problem.
DOWN SOUTH. Winter is still part of the season for residents in warmer climates, which means that technicians will need to visit through the winter months as well. Winter weeds are the big concern, according to John Boyd, weed scientist, University of Arkansas, Little Rock. Technicians will monitor and treat for common winter weeds in November and February.
The author is Managing Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.
pH Levels |
Another important consideration in the care of turf is maintaining a proper soil pH level. This is especially true when soil pH levels are too low. In soils with abnormally low pH levels, turf will have little response to fertilizer applications and have a thin, weak, unhealthy appearance. When a technician is concerned that pH may be a problem, he or she may recommend a soil analysis to determine the actual pH level and the amount of lime needed to correct the low pH. Most lawn care companies rely on independent laboratories or university soil labs to run these two tests. The technician draws several samples within the problem area using a soil probe and prepares them to be tested. If the results show that the soil is low in pH, the problem is usually correctable using one or more applications of lime. The amount used is contingent on how low the pH and lime test levels are in the soil. In the future, follow-up tests may be recommended to ensure that the pH stays at the desired level. In most cases, a high pH level in the soil is not a serious issue, and sometimes cannot be corrected with a surface application. When high pH can be corrected, sulfur is the product recommended. Information for this article was provided by CLC LABS, Westerville Ohio. |
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