Spring season is once again here and its time to take a look at your lawn for a double effort of taking care for it inorder to avoid diseases since on this season, lawns will be more attractive to fungus and other bugs. Therefore, this time you should be very much aware of what’s going on with your lawn. Check out for signs of diseases and fungus in your lawn. When you see mushrooms showing up, molds or mildew, then you should be alarmed and take necessary actions to block those diseases that would start to ruin your lawn.

These spring lawn diseases that you usually see is the result of decaying organic materials or too much moisture from your lawn. You couldn’t get away with heavy rains during spring but to help prevent them, you can fix drainage or the debris in your soil. Then, you can also dig through the dead roots of your trees and always aerate. And try to get those mushrooms you see growing within your lawn so through that you would be able to block their growth and not spread in your lawn.

And finally, Do not over fertilize your lawn as they may push growth of fungus more since other excess nutrients may help them grow and spread out more in your lawn. Always check labels before you fertilize.

photo by Garry R. Osgood

1. Set an effective pH levels in your soil- Soil pH has an effect on the availability of nutrients needed by your soil for a healthy growth. 6.5 pH level is the basic or minimum amount needed by turf grasses so if its below the required pH, that simply means that you need to add up lime and if it reaches around 7.o then that is the sign that sulfur content is too small.

2. Your grass cycle – Always remember to leave grass clippings in your lawn after you mow for the nutrients to be be again absorbed by your grass.

3. Putting on pre-emergents – Spring season is the perfect time to eliminate those unwanted grasses such as goosegrass,crabgrass to stop them from spreading into your lawn as this might cause problem to hinder healthy growth of your lawn.

4. Check your thatch level – layer of grass that is tightly bound on roots and the outer layer of living grass.The cause of too much thatch is when you excessively fertilize and overwatering of your grass. It should be watered according to its needed amount only as well as with fertilizing.

5. Watch out for Bugs and Pests – try to examine your lawn regularly especially when there are brown spots. You may not be aware that your lawn has already been invaded with diseases.

image source: hgtv.com

On this season of spring, you should expect that your lawn is susceptible to diseases primarily lawn fungus. The presence of mushrooms patches in your lawn, mildews or even molds. So, you should be aware on how to prevent these cases..

- try to clean up your lawn, eliminate snow to prevent those fungus due to excessive snow. Usually you can see snow molds in lawns when they melt in the ground. That is why it is best to clean them up in your lawn before the disease spreads out.

- Avoid too much moist in your yard to prevent mushrooms from growing within it. This usually happens when some organic things decayed in the area. Also, fix drainage problems in your area that way, you can prevent fungus from living within your lawn. Also, eliminate those dead plants and tree from your lawn to stop diseases from growing and spread all throughout your yard.

- Finally, fertilize your lawn very well according to your type of soil or grass and try to follow instructions correctly since too much fertilizer could make your lawn be more attractive to lawn fungus. It should follow the right amount of fertilizer that your lawn need.

The season of spring is here and we are researching some tips on how to start caring for our lawn and other techiques we have to do to preserve the health of our yard. This video speaks about how to care for our lawn specifically fertilizing our grass to prevent weeds and those common lawn diseases.

The season of Spring is here once again and for sure there would be a lot of things to patch up in your yard so, this is the best time for you to attend on your lawn care after a long winter. As spring is the most important season for you to start caring for your lawn since this is the season wherein your lawn becomes very delicate. Soil is mushy, and plants are soft with an unpredictable weather.

Here are major tips for Spring Lawn Care:

1. Raking is the first job for you to do in your lawn especially after winter season. But Raking is merely not just to rake leaves off your yard but also to control thatch, a half inch build up is already beyond its limit. Deep raking is recommended to remove thatch from your lawn. Also, Matted patches wherein grass blades are stuck on that could make your lawn suffer from a snow mold – a disease that could harm your lawn.

2. Lawn Aeration is the next thing should be done for your lawn in order to prevent it form soil compaction you can detect this when you’re starting to see some moss plants in your yard growing.

3. Liming your soil could help you avoid acidity aso your grass would have a neutral soil pH. This may be have a slower effect but its important for your lawn.

4. Dog Spots and high traffic in your lawn is one of the major problems you will be facing. You will need to put on grass seeds on those bare patches in your lawn this method is called Overseeding lawns. Slow release of nitrogen fertilizer when overseeding is needed at least for 5 weeks next to grass germination. However, this should be done during fall so new grass would not contest with crabgrass.

5. The organic fertilization through the use of mulching mowers and compost. Most experts recommend using lighter fertilizer this season of springespecially for cool-season grasses since too much fertilizer could harm your lawn’s health.

1. AERATION- Loosening the soil so that water, air and nutrients reach the root zone quicker. Aeration enhances the effectiveness of the products applied to your lawn. By loosening the soil, items needed by the roots (air, water & nutrients), are more available. Therefore, when fertilizer is applied, it is used more effectively by the grass plants.

Core aeration is accomplished by running a machine over the lawn. The machine pulls up plugs of soil, about the size of your finger, and leaves them on the ground. It takes a couple of weeks for the plugs to break up and blend back into the lawn. Liquid aeration provides the same great results as core aeration but is much easier to do. It also is cheaper, and cleaner.

2. MOWING - In general, keep fescue, rye and bluegrass mowed at a minimum of three inches. Zoysia and bermuda grasses can be mowed shorter. Mowing at the proper height will strengthen the grass plant and inhibit the growth of unwanted weeds. As a matter fact, studies have shown that simply mowing at the correct height will eliminate crabgrass over time. The shorter the grass is cut, the shorter the roots will be. Mowing high causes the grass to shade the weeds, so they cannot grow. Mowing high also makes the grass stronger, as more grass is using the sun to make it grow. Always keep your mower blade SHARP! Sharpen the blade after 8-10 hours of use. Grass clippings are a good source of nitrogen for your lawn. It is recommended that you not bag your grass clippings. Let those clipping fall to the ground and breakdown, thus returning nutrients to the soil.

The frequency of mowing should be such that you cut 1/3 of the grass stem off each time. Removing more than 1/3 of the grass stem at a time will damage the plant. This means that you should mow your grass at or before it reaches 4-1/2 inches. During periods of drought it is advised that you mow even higher, at 4” or more. It also advised that you mow higher in areas that are heavily shaded.

3. PROPER WATERING - Proper watering encourages grass growth and deters weed growth. Watering too frequently will actually discourage grass growth, as the roots are not required to go deep to find their water source. Weed roots are much shorter than grass roots, so watering less frequently will cause the weed roots to die, while the longer grass roots will be seeking deeper water. The grass will tell you when to water, usually once a week. The grass blades will begin to curl when they need water. They will curl before they turn brown. Another way to tell is to walk across your grass and take a look where you walked.

If your footprints remain, the grass needs some water. If your footprints disappear, the grass is fine.
You should water all areas of your lawn with an inch of water. Simply set a cup in the watered area and keep an eye on the water level in the cup. When it reaches an inch, stop. To conserve water, water right after it rains. You will need to know how much rain fell, then “top it off” until you have an inch.

4. WEEDS & TRIMMING -Have you ever given any thought as to why weeds tend to grow next to the fence, or the driveway, or around the planted areas? The answer is probably that these are the areas you are using the trimmer in. If you are mowing your lawn at the proper height, usually 3 inches, chances are the middle of your lawn looks nice. The problem areas tend to be the edges of the lawn, where the trimmer is used.

Weeds love to be cut short, and it is difficult to maintain a consistently high cut when using a trimmer. Besides the fact that weeds thrive when cut short, they also thrive in these closely cut areas because the grass is cut too short to shade the growth of the weeds. So, take a little extra time when trimming to keep the trimmer up in the air, instead of letting it touch the ground.

5. SHADED AREAS -Shaded areas of your lawn are probably the most difficult area to have a healthy lawn in.

Below are suggestions for dealing with the shade.

- The amount of sunlight can be increased by trimming the lower branches, and thinning higher branches of trees.
- You can trim shrubs to allow more air movement. To further reduce stress on grass in shaded areas, you may choose to mow this area 1/2 to 1 inch higher.
- Increased fertilizer will also help.
- If you plan to seed a shady area, be sure to use seed which is shade tolerant.

6. SEED & SEEDING -Unless you have a specific preference for a particular variety of grass, I suggest you use a mix of grass seed. Using a mix will help you obtain a uniformly green lawn, as different varieties of grass green up at different times, and some do better in different areas of your lawn than others. So, using a mix, will keep the entire lawn looking nice. Using a mixture of fescue, bluegrass, and perennial ryegrass. The key to choosing seed is to make sure the seed is high quality and contains very few weed seeds. All seed bags have a label which will list the content varieties of the seed, and the percentage of weed seed included. To determine if you need to seed and how extensive the seeding needs to be, you will need to take a close look at your lawn. Basically, if you do not have much grass, you need to do extensive seeding and work the seed into the soil. If you have a pretty good stand of grass, you can simply sow the seed and leave it alone. If you are pleased with the thickness of your lawn, you can probably skip seeding, and only do it every other year.