Lawn Care

Although Spring does not know if it wants to come and stay, gardeners are itching to get back outside and work on the lawn.

I spent some time at a few chain stores garden department s over the weekend and quite honestly it is scaring to see the amount of product going out the door which will be misapplied; either too much product or the wrong product or the wrong time.

I am also disturbed that most of the products on chain store shelves are a combination of products such as weed and feed or an insect/disease product mix. I know that none of us have free time anymore but why applied a combination product if you only need one or the other. I don't think this is a wise idea and obviously not an environmentally sound practice. I have started to use the analogy that weed and feed products are sort of like washing and drying your clothes at the same time. It just doesn't work most of the time. For warm season grasses you should be treating weeds, with a pre-emergence product, but fertilization needs to wait until May or June if you have centipede. What happens if you use a Weed and Feed product too early? You stimulate the grass to come out of dormancy, we get cold temperatures and you have killed your grass. You also make the grass more susceptible to insects and diseases, so basically you waste money and spend a lot more in the long run trying to fix all the problems you created. Centipede is also very susceptible to herbicide injury while in the spring green-up period , so I don't recommend doing anything with centipede until it has totally greened up.

Mowing weeds can help reduce seed for next year. You should be getting your lawn mower ready for the cutting season. The golden rule is not to mow more than 1/3 the height of the grass blades. As my husband says, "If your lawn looks like it needs to be mowed you have waited too late." Most of us mow off ½ of the grass blades. Bermuda, centipede, and zoysiagrass should be mowed to 1 inch in height so don't let it grow more than 2 inches tall before mowing. St. Augustine can be mowed 2-3 inches in height. Be sure to have sharp mower blades for a clean cut which improves appearance and decreases the chance of disease.

Be an active gardener and watch for any signs of diseases or pest problems. Samples can be brought to the Wilson Ag. Center (1806 S. Goldsboro St.) on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday from 1-3 PM to the Master Gardener office for identification and control measures. You may also want a free Lawn Maintenance Calendar so you can remember what to do what time of year for your turf type. Please call the Master Gardeners at 237-0113, Monday, Wednesday or Friday from 1-3 PM and specify what type of grass you are growing. Gardening questions can also be answered via email at wilsonmastergardener@hotmail.com. For those of you who want to start a new lawn the Wilson Ag. Center has turfgrass plots of each type of warm-season grass. Come take a look and request a copy of Carolina Lawns which goes into specifics about each turf type.

Date Created: 3/31/2004.