Darrell Blackwelder

March 4, 2004

Lawn care in the spring is difficult because various maintenance practices such as weed control, over-seeding and fertilization must take place in a narrow time frame. Below are a few questions posed from the public that may give some insight on how to obtain a beautiful lawn.

Question: When is the best time to seed a cool season fescue lawn? Answer: The very best time is in September, however, seeding now will fill in bare or thin areas of the lawn. The establishment rate may not be as high as fall, but I have witnessed some turf establish in the spring.

Question: What are the seeding rates for fescue seed? Answer: Over-seeding thin areas use about 3 pounds of seed per 1000 square feet; a new lawn or bare areas should receive about 7 pounds per 1000 square feet.

Question: How do I kill wild onions in my yard? Answer: The wild onions are most likely wild garlic. Two applications of broadleaf weed killers such as Trimec, Weed-B-Gon or Spectrum 33+ or Image will eliminate the weed. Herbicide applications 10 days apart usually give satisfactory results.

Question: How soon after I plant my lawn can I use broadleaf weed killers? Answer: The lawn needs to be well established in the fall. You need to have mowed the lawn at least 3 times before an application.

Question: How soon after my fescue germinates can I cut the grass? Answer: Fescue should be cut when the newly emerging grass reaches about 4 inches. Raise the mower as high as it will go and mow. Make sure the blade is very sharp.

Question: Can I fertilize my lawn after May? Answer: Fescue lawns that are heavily irrigated can be successfully fertilized in the summer. Use low nitrogen, high iron fertilizer that will not burn fescue. Lawn fertilization past April is not recommended since nitrogen tends to aggravate brown patch, a very bad turf disease. However, highly maintained lawns with irrigation can usually get by with a light fertilization of nitrogen.

Question: Why do you always recommend a blend of turf type fescues? Answer: A blend of turf type fescues and blue grass survive brown patch much better than a monoculture.

Question: I want to control crabgrass in my yard. You always mention that the lawn must be almost perfect condition before I can use pre-emergence weed control. What do you mean? Answer: Using a pre-emergence on a weak or thin lawn will not allow grass seed to germinate. Grass seed planted in the fall is often damaged by pre-emergence herbicides in the spring. Focus on is what is causing the lawn to thin out. Is it too much shade, poor fertilization, drought, cut too close, etc? Once you have a well-established lawn that you want to protect, then consider an application of pre-emergence herbicides. Scott’s Step 1 fertilizer/ herbicide combination, which contains Tuppersan that can be used to control crabgrass, without impeding germination of fescue. Tuppersan (siduron) is the only preemergence herbicide to my knowledge that can be used at seeding.