Spring Lawn Care

Spring is the perfect time to rejuvenate your existing lawn.
Click on the components below to learn more:

Fertilizing

Weed Control

Crab Grass

Thatching

Seeding

Grub Control

Watering

To download a PDF file of the Carroll Gardens Spring Lawn Care Program click HERE.

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Weed Control
Germination of broadleaf weed seeds can be prevented with an application of Portrait at the same time that you fertilize. You cannot do any seeding for 60 days after the application of Portrait.

The best time to kill existing broad-leaved weeds and wild garlic is in the spring just as they sprout with tender green leaves. Easy-to-control weeds such as dandelion, henbit (light purple blooms in the spring), and the various plantains are sprayed with a liquid lawn weed killer, such as Weed Beater Ultra or Speed Zone. These products are especially effective for early spring weed control, and work particularly well on clover and chickweed. To increase efficacy, add a little Spreader Sticker that makes the weed killer adhere to the leaves. You can spot treat just the weedy sections of the lawn if you desire. Apply liquid lawn weed killer on a windless morning or late afternoon to dry foliage. Choose a day with no forecasted rain for 24 hours. A second application of the same or different lawn weed killer, 4-5 weeks later, will give more complete control. Our experience is that, with one exception, granular lawn weed killers, especially "weed and feed" type products, are often ineffective or worse. We do not recommend them.

For difficult-to-control weeds such as Creeping Charlie, clover and violets, liquid Turflon Ester or granular Confront  are the most effective weed killers. Turflon Ester must be applied with a pump sprayer. Clean the sprayer thoroughly with sudsy ammonia after each Turflon Ester application.

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Crab Grass Prevention
Crabgrass is an annual weed grass that germinates from seed produced by the previous year's crop before it was killed by frost. Crabgrass is difficult to selectively kill once it has started to mature. However, it is quite easy to prevent the seeds from germinating if you apply the proper product at the right times. The product of choice is Greenlight Dimension applied just as the Forsythia shrub is coming into bloom.

An application of Dimension works over a longer period and even kills young crabgrass seedlings. This is important because crabgrass seedlings do not all germinate at once. Germination, like Forsythia bloom, is triggered by soil temperature. Thus the first crabgrass to germinate is seed that is on the soil surface in a sunny place with reflected heat from a house, driveway or walkway. Crabgrass will still be germinating in cooler areas many weeks later. Caution: you cannot seed your lawn this spring wherever you applied Dimension. This product does not differentiate between various grass seeds; it kills all grass seed (desirable or not) and even a few broad-leaved weed seeds as they germinate.

Before you apply crabgrass preventer, you should determine if this is necessary. One crabgrass plant leaves thousands of seeds for next year, so if you had even a light infestation of crabgrass last year, you need to use Dimension. If you carefully applied Dimension for the last three years, you probably had no crabgrass left to produce seed for a new crop - unless you used a grass cutting service that did not clean their equipment between mowings or you had a neighbor with a crabgrass-infested lawn adjacent to yours.

Many people confuse crabgrass with another grassy lawn weed: wild Bermuda grass. It is important that you determine whether you have crabgrass or wild Bermuda grass because Dimension has no effect on wild Bermuda grass. Crabgrass remnants you find in your lawn will be totally dead - even the stems, runners and roots. You should find some remnants of seed heads if you look carefully. Some crabgrass has runners, some does not. When there are runners they radiate from a central rosette (usually about a foot; never more than 2 feet) and are right on the surface, sending roots into the soil. Wild Bermuda grass is a perennial that comes back from live runners that run all over, above and below the soil, often for yards and yards. It has virtually no remaining seed heads. When in doubt, bring a piece of the questionable grass to Carroll Gardens or mail it to us. Be sure to include a self-addressed, stamped return envelope and your phone number.

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Thatching
Unless there is an extreme build-up of thatch (over 3/4 inch), do not de-thatch the lawn this spring. The thatch provides the lawn with one of the major benefits that mulch provides to the flower beds: it prevents weed seeds from sprouting. If you are going to de-thatch the lawn, then it also needs to be reseeded. For all but shady lawns, dethatching (and reseeding) is best delayed until late summer.
If you must de-thatch the lawn, it needs to be done before feeding (as does any raking). A good "spot" raking of heavily matted grass and the remnants of last autumn's leaves and twigs is usually all that is needed.

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Seeding
Spring is the time for weed and crabgrass control and you cannot satisfactorily establish new grass seed in the spring in conjunction with a weed and crabgrass control program. Incidentally, all the other spring applications can occur simultaneously, in no particular order. Major lawn renovation is best accomplished in late summer - early fall. This is also the best time to establish a new lawn. Included in a late summer - fall lawn renovation program is lawn aeration, thatching, re-seeding and liming, if necessary.

Where weed and crabgrass control are not essential, you may do some spot seeding of bare and almost bare patches. Also where leaf fall is heavy, spring may be the only time a lawn can be established. Fortunately, shady areas tend to have less of a weed and crabgrass problem. The grass seed of choice for shade is Shady Nooks - a blend that has different grasses that will do well in wet or dry shade. Use at the rate of 1 lb. for every 750 square feet for overseeding and 1 lb. for every 375 square feet for bare areas. Some areas are too shady for any grass to persist. Grass requires at least 2 hours of good sun daily. If Shady Nooks will not establish after two seasons of trying, GIVE UP. You need to redesign the landscape, perhaps to include shade tolerant ground covers and perennials.

The grass seed of choice for sunny areas is Black Beauty, applied at the rate of 10-12 lbs. per 1,000 square feet for bare areas and 5-7 lbs. per 1,000 for overseeding.

The earlier the grass seed is planted in the spring, the better - as soon as the snow melts and the soil is workable (re-freezing will not hurt the grass seed). Throwing grass seed on hard, unprepared ground is just a waste of good grass seed. The soil needs to be loosened with a rake, fork or cultivator. (Hopefully you know someone who has a wonderful old hand tool called a Gardevator, which is no longer made) Poking holes, an inch or so deep, with a pitchfork also helps. Spread the seed at the recommended rate, rake it lightly and cover it with Chesapeake Green or Leafgro - just enough to cover the seed and keep it moist. We do not recommend using either hay or straw - too many weed seeds.

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Grub Control
If you see a heavy infestation of beetle grubs in the spring, these grubs can be controlled with Dylox applied when the grubs are still visible in the soil. Fall beetle grubs are best prevented with an application of Merit or Mach II in May-June.

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Watering
To germinate, new grass seed must be kept moist. To start with, it has no roots, so deep watering is not essential - just five minutes, morning and evening. On a really hot windy day, a third watering at noon may be required. As the grass germinates and sends down roots, deeper watering may be needed. When the new grass is one inch tall, double the watering time to ten minutes and gradually increase to twenty minutes six to eight weeks after planting. For large areas of newly planted grass seed, we suggest you buy a number of inexpensive sprinklers and leave them "permanently" in place. Then all you need to do is turn the water spigots on and off.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Question: If I use Dimension for crabgrass and then three to five weeks later apply Turflon for several broadleaf weeds, will the two chemical applications have any reaction with each other?

Answer: Turflon Ester (or Confront) and Dimension can be applied at the same time without ill-effect.

Question: I occasionally see a few grubs in my lawn, but they don't seem to do any damage. Is there any rule as to how many grubs can exist in a lawn before treatment is necessary?

Answer: Yes there is. If a thorough examination of a square foot of lawn reveals more than 6 grubs, treatment with Dyloxis needed.

Question: I read your Lawn Care Program. Can you prepare an all-organic lawn care program, or is this not feasible?

Answer: All natural-organic lawn care is quite expensive and delivers only partially satisfactory results. I have never seen an all natural-organic lawn that looked really good. However, some product substitution is possible.

There are 100% natural organic fertilizers, such as Plant-tone or granular Bio-Tone Starter, which work well on lawns. You can attempt to prevent grubs with Milky Spore and you can attempt to prevent weeds with corn gluten. Yet, for some situations, there is no organic solution. For example, I know of no organic product (other than hand pulling) to get rid of established weeds in the lawn.

Question: My New Year's resolution is to use all organic fertilizers in my garden. Which all natural lawn food do you recommend?

Answer: Espoma's granular Bio-Tone Starter is an all natural plant food enhanced with the same beneficial microbes that were in the old Soil Life product. Although it was not developed for lawns, for someone seeking an all natural organic lawn food, I doubt that you will find a better product. I suggest applying 50 pounds for each 5,000 square feet of lawn twice a year, in early to mid spring and then again in early autumn.

Question: Our builder seeded our lawn last fall. I noticed your Lawn Care Program is only for lawns at least 1 year old. What kind of program do you recommend for new lawns?

Answer: In general, the soil which builders use to establish new lawns is not good top soil. New lawns usually require several extra fertilizer applications, as well as restoration of the beneficial microorganisms with liquid Bio-Tone Starter.

Newly established grass is particularly sensitive to lawn weed killers. Moreover, many of the weeds that appear in new lawns will not survive regular cuttings and will disappear by Fall. Therefore I would withhold broad leaf weed control until next Spring.

If you are certain that all of your grass seed has sprouted and the lawn will not require spot seeding or over seeding, you can go ahead and apply pre-emergent Dimension crab grass control this Spring. If not, wait until next Spring.

Question: The worst problem in my lawn is wild garlic. I just can't seem to get it under control. I have tried digging and spraying but nothing seems to work. What do suggest?

Answer: Controlling wild garlic is not easy. I have never known anyone to make any significant progress with wild garlic (sometimes called wild onion) by digging and it takes about two years to control wild garlic with a good spray program.

Understand that wild garlic usually goes dormant in the Summer and sprouts a second growth in late Summer and early Fall. You need to control wild garlic by spraying right after it sprouts in both seasons - Spring and Summer/Fall. The ideal time to spray in the spring is when the daytime temperatures are in the 50's and the nighttime temperatures and in the high 30's.

Wild garlic has a waxy coating on the leaves which tends to protect it from your spray. Your spray will be more effective if you first rub the sole of your shoe over the wild garlic to break the waxy coating before spraying. Only lawn weed killers with 2, 4D are effective on wild garlic. Speed Zone is a particularly effective early season lawn weed killer with 2, 4D. Use Speed Zone, with a spreader sticker, and spray about three days after the lawn has been cut so the wild garlic is standing tall above the lawn to receive a maximum dose of 2, 4D. Then skip the next weekly cutting so that you will be cutting 10 days after spraying. In late Summer and early Fall follow the same procedure except use a Triamine combination product or an "-amine" formulation of straight 2,4D. In both seasons, if wild garlic is still showing, you can make another application five weeks after the first application. Do not apply lawn weed killers when the temperature is forecasted to exceed 80 degrees within 12 hours of application.
 

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