When it comes to having a great lawn, what is most important?
Lawn care applications?
Maintenance practices?
Environmental conditions?
All three are keys to a great lawn - Lawn Care Applications, Maintenance, and Environmental Conditions.
Great lawns are not a result of getting one, or even two, of the three correct.
Great lawns are equally the result of all three.
Today, we are covering the second - Maintenance. In April, we covered Lawn Care Applications and in June we will visit about how Environmental Conditions impact your lawn.
Maintenance includes all mechanical activities involved in caring for your lawn: Mowing, Aerating, Dethatching, Turf Selection, Soil Test, etc.
Mowing
Mowing by far has the biggest impact on the quality of your lawn.
Think about it. More time will be spent mowing your lawn than any other lawn or landscape activity. If your goal is to have a great lawn, you will make somewhere between 28 to 40 trips across your lawn this year. A well-maintained warm season turf (bermuda, zoysia) will be mowed 28 to 32 times per growing season while a great fescue lawn will be mowed 36 to 40 times.
Cutting height is important.
Cutting too low discourages root growth and reduces the lawn’s ability to withstand extreme temperatures and drought.
Cutting too tall results in a stemy turf that is more susceptible to scalping.
Bermuda and zoysia should be mowed at 1-2” March through May. As temperatures start to increase in June, gradually increase the mowing height to 2-2.5” by mid to late summer and maintain that height through the end of the growing season. If mowing bermuda with a reel type mower, the lawn can be maintained at 1.5” during the summer months.
Maintain fescue at 3” during the summer months.
Cutting the lawn shorter in the spring and early summer promotes lateral spread and a tighter turf.
A taller turf in the heat of the year provides a canopy that cools the soil, promotes a deep root system, and provides insulation for low temperatures going into the winter.
Fescue should be mowed at 2.5-3” in the spring March through May. During the heat of the summer, June through September, maintain fescue at 3-3.5”. In the fall, as the weather cools returning to 2.5-3” is fine.
A good rule of thumb is to maintain all turf grown in shade at the recommended highest levels or a little taller. This will increase leaf area to compensate for the lower light levels.
Maintain turf growing in shady areas a little taller. The increased leaf area will compensate for the lower light levels.
Mowing frequency makes a big difference in the quality of a lawn.
The best lawns are mowed based on growth, not a set schedule. If you hire your lawn mowed, mowing on a set schedule, preferably weekly during the growing season, is typically the practical solution. But, if you mow your own lawn, a big step towards a better lawn is to start mowing based on growth.
The best time to mow is at the point where no more than 1/3 of the leaf area will be removed. For example, if you are trying to maintain your lawn at 2”, the lawn should be mowed before it exceeds 3”. Removing more than 1/3 of the height at one time results in cutting below the leaf and into the stems. Removing all the leaf requires the turf to use nutrients stored in the roots to generate new leaves followed by putting energy into storing more nutrients. Scalping into the stems starts a growing cycle that is not optimal for having a great lawn.
Mulch mowing vs bagging your clippings is one of the best things you can do for your lawn.
An added benefit of mowing often enough that no more than 1/3 of the leaf blade is removed at a time is you don’t need to bag your clippings. Leaf blades are mostly water and nitrogen. Every time you remove your clippings you are throwing away valuable moisture and nutrients.
I am a firm believer that what separates the quality of my lawn from other good lawns is that I always mulch mow returning nutrient and moisture rich clippings to the soil.
Mow often and don’t bag your clippings. Mulch mow and return nutrients to the soil. Your lawn will thank you.
When mulch mowing, a few clippings are ok. They will break down quickly and return nutrients and moisture to the soil.
But, if you are like me, you like a neat and clean lawn when you are finished mowing. So, use your blower to distribute any noticeable clippings.
Varying your mowing pattern will reduce soil compaction and give your lawn a professional appearance.
Keep mower blades sharp.
Dull blades bruise leaf tips, reduce growth, and causes a dull-cast appearance over the turf due to frayed leaf blades.
Vary the mowing pattern.
Mowing the same direction 30-40 times per year will create unnecessary soil compaction. Lawns look better when two or three mowing patterns are rotated through.
Aerating
We talk about aerating a lot. Why? The overwhelming common factor of our best lawns is annual aeration.
Aerating is the process of taking small cores out of the lawn with a mechanical core aerator. Aeration reduces compaction and improves the soil structure by improving air, nutrient, and water movement to the root zone. Cores should be left on the lawn and allowed to break down. Gradually the holes created by the aerator are filled in with loose soil from the cores creating pockets for root development. Aerating also reduces thatch.
Bermuda should be aerated any time after spring green up through early summer, April through mid-July.
The best time to aerate fescue is in the fall, September through October.
Aeration will take a lawn from good to great!
Dethatching
Thatch is the undecomposed roots and stems of the turf. Excessive thatch, more than ½,” impedes the flow of water, air, and nutrients into the soil. Lawns with excessive thatch are shallow rooted and therefore are less drought and heat tolerant.
Bermuda lawns are more prone to excessive thatch than fescue. The best time to remove excessive thatch is in the early spring, late February to early March, before the lawn greens up. The best tool to use is a power rake, also known as a dethatcher.
Important note – Lawns that are aerated at least every other year rarely have excessive thatch problems. If your lawn has a moderate amount of thatch, we recommend aeration as a preventative step to dethatching.
Turf Selection
Light is a basic requirement of turfgrass growth and is often the limiting factor in good turf development. All plants, including turf grass, have a minimum light requirement.
Bermuda prefers 8 hours of direct sunlight for optimal growth.
Zoysia will grow well in a little less light, but still needs 6 hours of direct sunlight.
For any areas with less than 5 hours of direct sunlight, fescue is the best option.
We all tend to underestimate the amount of shade our trees, shrubs, buildings, and fences cast on our lawns.
Lawn areas that receive only dappled sun are best planted in fescue.
Over the course of the growing season, take time to observe shade patterns in your landscape and make a plan for any areas with too little direct sunlight to support a thick lawn.
Zoysia is best established from sod and can be installed throughout the season.
Fescue does well established from seed. The best time to establish fescue from overseeding is in September or October. There is a second opportunity in March. But fall, is by far the best time because as a cool season grass, it will have more time to establish a strong root system for the summer heat.
During April and May, establishing fescue from sod is best. Avoid sodding fescue during the summer heat.
Soil Test
When a lawn isn’t growing well, has poor color, looks sickly, and doesn’t respond as expected to fertilizer, a soil test should be done.
There are 13 essential mineral elements in soil. Their availability to be used by turfgrass is based on soil pH. Between pH of 6.0 and 7.0, all essential soil elements are available for optimal turfgrass growth. A soil test will determine if lime is needed to raise the pH or if sulfur is needed to lower the pH.
Fill a quart sized plastic bag with soil from 10-12 random places in your lawn. Using a spade take soil from 2-6” below the surface. Remove roots from the soil. Take the soil sample to your local Oklahoma State University County Extension Office. They will test the soil and send you a report for a nominal fee. The Oklahoma County office is located at 2500 NE 63rd St., Oklahoma City, OK 73111.
Or, give us a call and we will gather a sample and take it to the lab for you.
Just like Lawn Care Applications, Maintenance activities by themselves will not fix
all your lawn problems. But, without proper maintenance activities,
lawn care applications will not be as effective.
We look forward to continuing the conversation of the three keys to a great lawn next month when we discuss how the environment impacts your efforts to have a beautiful lawn.
If you subscribe to a Hall | Stewart Lawn Care Program, good maintenance practices are a key to getting the most out of our lawn care applications.
If you have any questions, please let us know. We enjoy visiting with you about your lawn.
Lorne Hall
Hall | Stewart Lawn + Landscape
(405)367-3873
