Is your Lawn Looking Sad?

Spring is just around the corner and many of you will want to get out and work on the yard. To your dismay, your lawns may fall short of perfection due to “bald spots” or thin turf as a result of pet damage, weeds, sprinkler coverage, fertilizer spill, or any other number of things.  I would like to say “That’s easy.  Just sprinkle a little seed out there” and all will be well, but it is a bit more complicated than that.

First I would determine what it was that caused the turf to thin out or disappear altogether.  If it is something that you did wrong then I would be sure to not do it again and maybe hire a professional.  If it thinned out due to shade then you need to find another grass or plant material that can tolerate the increased level of shade or open up the trees to allow more light in.  Grass does not grow here without adequate water, so be certain your sprinklers cover well.   I know this sounds really basic, but these are the problems that are often ignored and we repeat the same thing year after year and get the same mediocre results.

The next step is to determine what kind of lawn you have and learn what makes it happiest.  Tall fescue, ryegrass, and bluegrass lawns generally stay green year-round if they get fed, watered, and mowed regularly.  They thrive on 50-75 degree weather, tolerate some shade, don’t spread well or none at all if damaged, and don’t compete well with warm season grasses like bermuda.  Bermuda thrives on 70-100 degree weather, but can spread by rhizomes and stolons to repair thin turf under good growing conditions.  Don’t try to reseed bermuda in the winter, early spring, or fall because it will have little chance to establish.  Don’t seed tall fescue in the middle of summer or winter either for similar reasons.

Pet Damage (dog spot)

Finally there is the matter dealing with the threat of crabgrass.  It will out-compete all lawn types from March through September.  It starts to germinate mid February and if there is a history of crabgrass in the lawn I would not feel good about the chance of successfully seeding a lawn during this time frame.  For cool-season grasses like tall fescue, I would delay seeding efforts until October 1.  If I had bare spots or thin weedy spots I would consider resodding those areas February through early May to allow establishment prior to our hot summer months.  Bermuda can be sodded most any time, and it does have the ability to fill in by itself under good conditions and without seed or stolons in many cases.

If you are not sure about what to do with your lawn we will give you a free evaluation quickly.  Call Weed Man at 559-266-1624 or visit us at fresno.weedmanusa.com to learn more or schedule a free evaluation.

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