From the Vine – Lawn Cultural Practices

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COVID-19 has put many of us on lockdown and many people are working in their landscape and getting tasks marked off their honey-do list. With spring upon us, lawns have greened up and people have found extra time to spend working on their landscape and lawns. The best way to achieve a great looking lawn is for the lawn to be healthy and vigorously growing. A healthy and vigorous lawn can withstand insects, disease, and weeds much better than a lawn that isn’t growing or is unhealthy.

There are plenty of practices that homeowners can organize to ensure that their lawn remains green and beautiful in the spring and summer. The actions you take as a homeowner are called cultural practices, and they play a big part in the health of your lawn. Cultural practices should become routine for all homeowners and will lead to a healthy and vigorously growing lawn. If you want a great lawn, consider implementing these practices yearly.

  1. Take a soil sample. Soil sample analysis can give us valuable information about the pH and nutrient load or deficiencies in the soil. pH tells us if the soil is acidic or alkaline. All plants have a preferred level of pH in which they grow, thrive, and uptake nutrients. An imbalance in pH can have negative effects in all grass species. The soil analysis will also tell us how much fertilizer to add and at what rate. Over-fertilization is just as bad as under fertilization in lawns.
  1. Keep lawnmower blades nice and sharp. Typically, once a year is enough, but in the coastal plains region where we have sandy soils, you may have to sharpen them 2 -3 times a season depending on how many times you are mowing.
  2. Mowing heights: Centipede – 1”, Zoysiagrass 1-1.5”, St. Aug – 2-3.5”, Bermuda – 1-1.5”, Fescue 2.5 – 3.5”. Park your mower on a hard, flat surface, engage the park brake and remove the key. Measure the distance from the surface of the ground to the mower blade and adjust blade height according to your grass species.
  3. Use a guard when spreading fertilizers or herbicides as not to apply them to driveways, sidewalks, roads, or other hardscapes. Sweep any prills that may have ended up in these areas back into the lawn. Only fertilize warm-season grasses after they have greened up in the spring.
  4. Don’t bag your clippings. They are an excellent source of free fertilizer for your lawn. After you mow your lawn, blow any excess clippings from sidewalks and driveways back onto the lawn.
  5. Aerate lawns to reduce compaction, increase oxygen to the roots, and allow water infiltration into the root zone. Warm-season grasses should be aerated when they are actively growing in May through early June. Always use an aerator that remove the soil cores during the coring process and not a machine that just pokes holes into the lawn which can increase compaction.
  6. When irrigating, supplement rainwater and aim for a total of 1” of total water per week. Irrigate 2-3 times weekly with a goal of .5” of water per application. Irrigate during the early morning hours between 2–7 a.m. as to not extend leaf wetness. Extending leaf wetness by irrigating during the daytime and evening hours can promote disease and fungus growth in your lawn. One thing to remember about irrigation, if you can’t water this amount or during this time, it may be best to not irrigate.

For more information on lawns, search the NC State Extension Publications for lawn maintenance calendars.