getting ready for spring - lawn care, pre-emergent and fertilizer


 
John K BBQ

John K BBQ

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I'm getting antsy to see some green grass again, and see if I can get my back yard looking good as soon as I can. Based on last year's fall lawn care thread I'm guessing some other forum members are too. I'm going to start checking soil temps and get a soil sample done as soon as the dang snow is melted. I'm anxious to figure out my fertilizer plan going into the spring. I just bought a bag of Hi-Yield Weed and Grass Stopper with Dimension Herbicide.

My back yard is all tall fescue, and some sources suggest that it'll start growing when soil temps are consistently 45F or higher, so I might do a light fertilizer treatment right around then and of course throw down the pre-emergent when it gets close to 55.... This will be my first year using these products in seperate applications instead of the step 1 weed n' feed combo. Has anyone else tried a similar plan? Fertilizer first, then stand-alone pre-emergent on a cool season grass? Any opinions for or against?

I was also watching the Turf Mechanic on Youtube who is suggesting that granular fertilizers can get stale or lose their effectiveness after a few years of storage. Does anyone else believe that? I'm not sure if I do or not. On one hand, maybe he is right. On the other hand, he has amazon links to new fertilizer ;)
 
I just wish I could walk in my yard right now.....almost an inch of rain per week for the last 2 months has my yard feeling more like a sponge than grass. I have heard that you need fresh seed, but I personally have not heard of fertilizer going stale.
Tim
 
I prefer to give the grass a high dose of nitrogen right as it's going dormant in the fall. The theory here is that all that 'food' goes to the roots where it is stored until the grass wakes up in the spring. At that time, the roots go to work. I've read that an early spring feeding causes the grass to focus on top growth, which isn't ideal when it's first waking up (whether that's true or not, I don't know). Definitely pre-emergent here in early spring, which is often around St Patrick's Day. It can can be a challenge fo find a preemergent around here that doesn't have fertilizer in it, so I usually end up sucking it up and going with Scott's with Halts. Since the preemergent is only good for about 3 months and we have a long-ish season, I dose pre-emergent again around Memorial Day. Because of this, I don't usually end up using a "weed and feed", and instead focus on spot treating for any weeds by either pulling or spraying.
 
Maybe after the 2' of snow back there (some places even more) disappears hopefully by sometime in July I can start thinking about it LOL
 
First thing I do is spread some Gypsum on the front lawn.
That takes care of the road salt from the plows.
 
JimK said:
I prefer to give the grass a high dose of nitrogen right as it's going dormant in the fall. The theory here is that all that 'food' goes to the roots where it is stored until the grass wakes up in the spring. At that time, the roots go to work. I've read that an early spring feeding causes the grass to focus on top growth, which isn't ideal when it's first waking up (whether that's true or not, I don't know). Definitely pre-emergent here in early spring, which is often around St Patrick's Day. It can can be a challenge fo find a preemergent around here that doesn't have fertilizer in it, so I usually end up sucking it up and going with Scott's with Halts. Since the preemergent is only good for about 3 months and we have a long-ish season, I dose pre-emergent again around Memorial Day. Because of this, I don't usually end up using a "weed and feed", and instead focus on spot treating for any weeds by either pulling or spraying.
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There are a few options out there for pre-emergent without the fertilizer component, the Hi Yield brand I plan to use is relatively inexpensive and can sometimes be found at Ace, True-Value or other "independent" retailers. The Scotts Weed n'Feed and/or "Step 1" are good products, andreally dominate shelf space at the big box stores and that makes it hard to identify alternatives. I've used Scotts before but I want to try something different this year to see if it works better.

As far as when to apply fert, I have found that several major universities have lawn care plans / calendars that one can follow instead of following youtuber advice and/or whatever Scotts/Pennington says to do. Here's one I'm planning to follow this year University of MO cool season grass plan One lesson I've learned in the off-season is that you have to account for how many pounds of nitrogen you're "throwing down" each time you fertilize, and that requires calculations based on the N-P-K analysis of the fertilizer and square footage of your lawn..... there's lots of ins and outs and what have yous!
 
I'm still in rehab mode on my lawn, so I want stuff to grow and fill in as much as possible this spring.

So for me it is another round of plug and overseed this spring. So no pre-emergent. I will deal with weeds later with post-emergent.

To try to get more drought tolerance and lower water consumption in arid Colorado, I'm adding rye and tall fescue to my KYBG turf. Which is basically the Black Beauty Ultra mix.
 
John K BBQ said:
There are a few options out there for pre-emergent without the fertilizer component, the Hi Yield brand I plan to use is relatively inexpensive and can sometimes be found at Ace, True-Value or other "independent" retailers. The Scotts Weed n'Feed and/or "Step 1" are good products, andreally dominate shelf space at the big box stores and that makes it hard to identify alternatives. I've used Scotts before but I want to try something different this year to see if it works better.

As far as when to apply fert, I have found that several major universities have lawn care plans / calendars that one can follow instead of following youtuber advice and/or whatever Scotts/Pennington says to do. Here's one I'm planning to follow this year University of MO cool season grass plan One lesson I've learned in the off-season is that you have to account for how many pounds of nitrogen you're "throwing down" each time you fertilize, and that requires calculations based on the N-P-K analysis of the fertilizer and square footage of your lawn..... there's lots of ins and outs and what have yous!
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I used to use a product from Lesco that had zero (or close to zero) nitrogen and that worked pretty well. Agree on checking with the local Uni. And watch the weather. My cue around here is to see when the Forsythia start to bloom. I forget where I read it, but that was supposed to be an indication that soil temps were warm enough. Like I said, most years around here, that's sometime near St. Patty's day. Another great resource is your local cooperative extension. I actually had them come out (for free) to our old place. They took soil samples, analyzed them and came back with a recommended nutrient plan. I learned a lot from that.
 
OK, this is supposed to be a forum about cooking meat, but if anyone is looking for advice on zoysia grass, this video is about as good as it gets - this guy is just sharing his knowledge and not trying to sell anything from what I can tell (quite refreshing).
check it out if you have zoysia. My goofy lawn.... backyard now all fescue (started last season) frontyard half zoysia and half cool season/weed salad bar.
 
John K BBQ said:
LOL - hence the focus on the backyard!
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Exactly. Nothing kills my BBQ buzz like looking over a yard that I have waaaay to much stuff to fix.
i will say that without this site, I would never heard of Jonathan Green. I will be giving it a test drive this spring and probably the fall.
 
I've heard/read good things about Jonathan Green products. I called the University of Missouri extension office this week about soil sample testing, and found out they'll do it for $25 per sample which is a little cheaper than the Amazon My Soil kits @ $29 per sample. I did an "My Soil" test last fall, and I've got to say I'm a little worried that the soil test is being used mostly to sell fertilizer..... I'm thinking one shouldn't have the same concerns when using a state University service.

I'm going to start checking soil temps pretty soon... I'm really torn between throwing down a little seed in thin spots vs. applying pre-emergent. I will need to make up my mind on the seed before soil hits 45F... My thin spots aren't all that bad from what I can tell right now so leaning towards pre-emergent when soil temps hit 53F at the moment.
 
I hope everyone's back yard's/smoke-a-reedom's are looking better than mine this spring. Backyard turf type tall fescue is coming back but it's not growing evenly. About 30 to 40% of my 1000 sq ft back yard has put on significant growth, the other part is green but hasn't PUT ON ANY growth.

I sent a soil samples of my front yard (which is actually looking OK, with a few minor problems) into the U of Missouri back in early March... results came back with 5.3 pH, and recommendations to apply 50lb lime per 1000 sq foot, once this spring, and once this fall. Backyard was showing promise back in early March, so I didn't bother sending in a sample from the backyard (hindsight is 2020). Some basic research shows that pH needs to be between 6 and 7 for most grass to get nutrients from the soil and thrive. The sample I sent from a friends yard came back with a 6.4, and yep, his lawn is nicer than mine. I also bought a litmus style pH test kit and tested another friends yard with problems similar to mine... guess what, pH < 6...

So, what I think I've learned from watching way too many Youtube Videos, making a few mistakes, and reading some websites and even a little book reading is that in priority order

(1) pH is really important, confirm you're in that 6-7 range, if you're not in that range, you're lucky to have any grass! Get the pH fixed and move to step two. I've learned that some fertilizer programs can turn your soil acidic (lower pH) over time, so if you are applying fertilizers, but never any lime, you may want to check pH once a year or every other to make sure you don't wind up with a low pH. DIY litmus testers are pretty easy to use and according to some people, they are reasonably accurate.

(2) if your soil looks or feels compacted, you have to fix that by aeration - mechanical is tried and true. Liquid aeration may work but seems to be less recommended as a standalone fix. I think a combo is probably the right way to go for best, long lasting results.

(3) you gotta mow with a sharp blade, and only cut off 1/3 at a time, and at the right height for your grass type given the situation. Some grasses need to be cut 2" or less, and even scalped sometimes. Other grasses need to be cut 2" or higher. If your grass likes to be cut tall, cutting a little taller in the summer can help with overall lawn health by increasing heat tolerance.

(4) Monitor rainfall and make sure your grass gets about an inch a week if you can. Over watering is worse than underwatering because it can cause fungus and disease in your lawn. If you underwater, your lawn turns a little brown, then green again if you don't wait too long to water iter it fast enough.

(5) if you're doing 1 thru 4, the right fertilizer in the right amount can help, It seems like organic fertilizers are more beneficial for lawns because they feed the worms and other micro-life forms that are beneficial to the grass. Traditional synthetics don't do that. Not knocking synthetics, but using organics just seems to make sense.

(6) if you're doing 1 thru 6 correctly, weed control shouldn't be that hard.. of course if you're yard is a lot more weeds than yard, then you may wanna kill everything and start over, but if you have enough grass, doing 1 thru 5 and using selective herbicides is probably the better call. Ready to use hose end sprayers make it easy to deal with large populations of weeds. Tank sprayers or spritzing bottles are good to deal with more minor issues. Starting over is expensive and labor intensive, and there are no guarantees.

I might do a new thread on killin' weeds. I've got a "new" herbicide that I really like for killing wild violet, creeping charlie, and clover and have found some easy and safer ways to mix small batches from concentrate and spot spray on my smaller sized yard that I'd like to share.

Apparently I have a lot of work left to do. Any/all comments are welcome. I think it's really easy to get overwhelmed by all the information we have available to us today in general, and lawn care is no different. Hopefully points 1 thru 6 will guide me thru fixing my yard without losing my patience. Let me know what you think! Post a pic of your lawn.... I'll try to get some pics of my patch of dirt out pretty soon. Got my 2nd COVID shot today.... tomorrow's productivity will be a crapshoot...
 
Our spring has been so damn dry and cold my lawn is not growing well at all and is beginning to look bad. But I am NOT going to set up hoses when it's 35 degrees and the wind is honking at 30+ mph.
I did pass over it with the new Kubota but am totally disappointed after all the hard work wife and I put in last year to have this year slap us in the face
 
Lawn care can be pretty frustrating, especially when the weather doesn't cooperate. The weather will have to turn sooner or later. I think we've been on the dry side of things in St. Louis as well, but certainly warmer than your part of IL.
 
Mine took a beating last winter. I'm aerating and top dressing with black dirt to even out the divots, rolling and reseeding.
Reshaping/cut the planter beds and new mulch.
I bought 25# of Johnathon Green Black Beauty dense shade seed for my back lawn because my neighbor has two huge pine trees and a huge black walnut that shades my lawn.
I have a friend of the family who does this for a living and I'm paying him and his partner to help.
 
John K BBQ said:
I might do a new thread on killin' weeds. I've got a "new" herbicide that I really like for killing wild violet, creeping charlie, and clover and have found some easy and safer ways to mix small batches from concentrate and spot spray on my smaller sized yard that I'd like to share.
Click to expand...
I'd like to hear about that.:)
 
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