Just smell that new green grass! Mowing, fertilizing, edging and weed management for lawns and recreational areas help grass grow lush and green. Warm-season grasses, typically sodded at Mediterranean-type climates, need regular maintenance, especially during summer and spring. Cool-season grasses, grown in locations where temperatures dip below freezing, must be treated from March to October. Controlling weeds and scraggly growth enhances your lawn’s appearance and health.
Lawn Edging
Edging warm-season grasses such as buffalo (Buchloe dactyloides), Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) and zoysia (Zoysia spp.) Keeps stolons and rhizomes from propagating onto paved surfaces or to flower beds. Gas-powered or battery-operated edger cut into grass roots that grow against cement surfaces. Straight-line edges are typically best for lawns growing next to cement, but scalloped or wave shapes work well against flower beds, also. It’s ideal to cut edges around flower beds, rocks, trees and fences by hand, advises Utah State University Extension. You could also install dividers made from rubber, plastic, bricks, vinyl or wood involving grass and flower beds, but not where turf meets cement because these materials can damage lawn mowers. Applying a pre-emergent herbicide after edging keeps weeds and fresh grass from growing into clean dirt.
Marijuana Control
All lawns are susceptible to weeds, however, utilizing a pre-emergent herbicide can help to keep lawns from choking. Removing weeds as they appear also keeps them from producing new seeds. Hand-weeding using a shovel, rake or hoe is effective for smaller areas, but utilizing herbicide is the very best way to handle perennial grasses. Spraying post-emergent broadleaf herbicides four to six weeks before seeding or planting fresh sod can help to keep weeds like crabgrass, foxtail and goosegrass from sprouting. The growing environment often determines which grass cultivars are likely to sprout and spread weeds. Grass species differ in their capacity to withstand drought, shade, extreme temperatures and foot traffic.
Water
Watering, mowing and fertilizing young grass helps roots and blades grow powerful — deterring weeds. How much water is contingent on the type of grass, dependent on growing period, dormancy and climate. Proper watering is significant because many grass species thrive in deep lawns. Warm-season grasses usually need water once or twice per week. Cool-season types often need up water to three times a week when temperatures are in 90 degrees Fahrenheit or greater.
Treatments
Chemical and organic remedies can help control weeds in warm-season and cool-season grasses. Glyphosate-based herbicides kill and protect against many grassy and broadleaf perennial weeds. Corn gluten meal chemicals can protect against crabgrass, notes Virginia Cooperative Extension, but the procedure is still being researched. Fertilizers containing pre-emergent herbicides in the shape of “grass and feeds,” when applied in spring and early summer, are effective on warm-season grasses. Pre-emergent herbicides have to be watered to the turf within two days. Glyphosate, dycamba, mecoprop, or metsulfuron could be applied to take care of warm-season grasses through winter dormancy.
Aeration and Thatch
Compacted dirt pulls weeds when water, air and nutrients are limited from flowing into grass roots. Aeration — pulling dirt cores from the turf — alleviates overcrowded grass. Aerators remove clods of dirt from the turf, allowing roots to spread. Machine-driven aerators are available for large lawns and also you may rent them at gear or garden stores. Hand-held aerators work for smaller yards. Thatch, a mat of grass, rhizomes and stolons that forms over the grass and between grass blades, which needs to be removed sometimes. Dethatching lawns when layers are about 1/2 thick allows frozen blades to better receive sunlight, air, water and fertilizer. Warm-season grasses, such as zoysia or Bermuda, and cold-season grasses, for example bluegrass, must be dethatched yearly. Other types, such as tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), might need it after every five years, in the slightest.