Gold Coast Gardener

March 19, 2006

By Gene Joyner, Extension Agent
Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service

Caring for lawns properly can be an expensive proposition, especially if you have a larger property, but it is important that lawn management be correct so that you don’t waste money either. Lawns typically are fertilized 3 to 4 times a year and in some cases as many as 6 times depending on the degree of maintenance you wish to follow. Right now is the time of year for the spring feeding of all turfgrass areas with good quality turf fertilizer.

If you have a weed problem, it’s also a time of year you can apply selective weed control products to take care of troublesome weeds and give grass a better chance.

This time of year you may see increases in drought stress or water stress, too, so make sure that you’re irrigating regularly but don’t overdo it. Too much water with our high temperatures can easily enable disease problems to appear and injure grass. A good watering schedule this time of year would be about once every 3 days.

If you want to re-sod or re-seed a turf area, now is a good time to do that and area nurseries that sell sod have good inventories this time of year. Remember that all existing sod needs to be totally removed or killed, otherwise present problems will continue in the new lawn. New sod needs to be irrigated at least once or twice a day for the first 2 weeks or longer to help it establish quickly.

Do not mow or fertilize new sod for at least 3 to 4 weeks or until it is well rooted. Mowing should be done often enough on turfgrass to maintain it between 3 and 4 inches if it is St. Augustine or Bahia. Also keep mower blades sharp so the grass is cut cleanly rather than being ripped or torn.

If you live in communities where you don’t do your own lawn care but have it contracted out, it’s still important that you check with those people on a regular basis to insure that they are doing a quality job.
As we move later into our spring months insect activity will increase in home lawns, particularly things such as chinch bugs, armyworms, sod webworms and mole crickets. If you haven’t had experiences with these in the past and are maintaining your own lawn, it’s important that you at least inspect the lawn once a week and look for potential problems. Once problems have been found they can be identified and treatment taken care of if that is needed.

Try to avoid watering at night, too, since diseases are on the increase with our warmer night temperatures so keeping the grass dry as much as you can will help to keep diseases at a minimum. Water in the early morning for best results so the grass is only wet for a few hours before the sun dries it off.

If you have questions about general lawn maintenance, the Palm Beach County Extension office has some great publications on lawn management. These can be picked up at their office during normal business hours or you can call the Extension office for free advice over the telephone. Dial 233-1750 in the north and central county area or 276-1260 in the south county area.