YARD WORK STARTS NOW

 As you all know, we have had an unseasonably warm start to the 2012 spring and with the "April" weather comes April yard work. 

The plants in our lawns don't follow the calendar.  They follow the weather patterns.  Soil temperatures are as high as 64 degrees in Kansas City and that is an indicator for rapid growth and unfortunately crabgrass germination.  We need to get our pre-emergent herbicides "Crabgrass Preventer" out now. 

Many people have been asking about spring seeding.  I am going to give you the condensed version of this topic.  Spring seeding is not recommended, but it unfortunately is inevitable if we had a hot summer and a dry fall many people are left seeding lawns in the spring. The main reason we don't want to seed in the spring is the likely-hood of germinating as many weeds as we do grass in the seeded area.  Also the spring seedlings don't have enough time to completely mature before the hot Kansas City summer hits them resulting in a high mortality rate.

If you do seed in the spring now is the time.  DO NOT APPLY CRABGRASS PREVENTER TO SEEDED AREAS!!!  Crabgrass preventers are pre-emergent herbicides that prevent any seed from germinating in that area including our grass seed.  Soil temperatures are on target and the rains are falling so seed now.  You must disturb the soil and incorporate the seed into the top 1" of the soil.  Then it is best to cover the seeded area with hydro mulch or straw to trap moisture and to incubate the seed.  Keep the seed wet with at a minimum of one watering per day.  You can't treat any weeds in the seeded areas until the seed has germinated and the grass has matured to the point that you have mowed the seedlings at least two times.  At this point we can apply crabgrass preventer and hopefully reduce the amount of weeds in the seeded areas this season.  There are many other specifics that go along with this process so feel free to ask questions via the blog or email me at bstephenson@eaglegolf.com

One more quick tip for this week.  Scalp your lawns down to the lowest setting possible on your mowers without scalping the lawn to dirt.  Typically this is approximately 1 3/4" on most push mowers.  Mow the lawn once at this height bagging the clippings if possible.  If you don't have a bagger, do your best to disperse clippings evenly across the lawn so as to not suffocate the underlying turf.  If you have the time and energy you can rake the clippings off the lawn for best results.  What we are doing here is removing the brown winter burned leaf tissue and allowing sun to penetrate the soil.  This will give your lawn a jump start this spring and get it moving in the right direction for 2012.  After this mowing you should raise your mower to 2" and remain at 2" until mid-May.  At this time raise the height to 3" to prepare the turf for the hot June, July, and August. 

 Please see the following blog that Dr. Rodney St.John posted this week.  He is a professor and extension services expert from K-State.  Rod has an awesome blog that you should follow for awesome turf information. 

Crabgrass Germination: Do I put down my preventer now?
http://www.ksuturf.org/blog/2012/03/crabgrass-germination-do-i-put-down-preventer-now/

Is that Crabgrass Germinating in my yard?
http://www.ksuturf.org/blog/2012/03/crabgrass-or-knotweed-germinating-dont-panic/