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Page 1 of 2 Lawn Care Tips
Establishment
Turfgrass
can be established a variety of ways. The method you choose will be
determined by the situation your lawn is in. Do you have a new
construction? An existing lawn that is thin and rough? A fair lawn that
is just a little thin? Depending on what condition your lawn is in will
determine where to start. Let's say you have a lawn that is in fair
condition but needs thickened up. An easy way to do this is to Aerate
and overseed. An aerator is a machine that will poke a hole in the
ground (thousands of them actually) and remove a core of soil and leave
it laying on the surface. These are called core aerators. Some aerators
will simply push a spike into the ground creating a hole, this type is
not as good. To start with, mow your grass as low as you can safely,
don't throw rocks and dig dirt with the mower, but get it down to about
1" high. This will stunt the grass and slow
it's growth allowing the new grass that you will seed to get started
with limited competition from the existing grass. After mowing take an
aerator, rent one, buy one or borrow one, and go over the entire lawn
at least twice. Depending on the model you use, the aerator will poke
holes every 2 to 8 inches apart.
I like to be able to look down at the
lawn at any point and not see spots that don't have holes larger than
6". If you have a spot larger than 6" without holes in it, you won't
have very much grass come up in that spot, so go over the lawn as many
times as it takes to be sure you have holes everywhere. Once your done
aerating, spread your seed. The amount of seed you use is important. If
you don't use enough you won't get the desired results. Professionally,
we use 350# per acre for lawns. Divided out per thousand square feet
that is 8# per thousand square feet. This brings up an important point,
measure the square footage of your lawn accurately and write it down.
Every thing you do in lawn care will ask for how large the lawn is.
Spread the seed with a spreader of any type, do not use your hand and
just throw it around, you won't get even coverage. Spread the seed
using half of the required amount spreading it in one direction, use
the other half spreading the opposite direction creating a cross hatch
pattern on the lawn. This way you are assured of getting even coverage.
After spreading the seed take a drag of any type, a piece of chain link
fence, a board with a rope tied to it, or what ever you can drag behind
your mower. Drag the lawn, this will push and drag seed into the holes
you created and break up the little plugs of soil that the aerator left
on the ground, it will cover up most of the seed giving much better
germination and a thicker lawn. After dragging, spread a starter
fertilizer, this can be done first if you want, it really doesn't
matter. A starter fertilizer has a higher middle number than first and
last numbers. (More Phosphate) For complete explanation on what the
numbers mean on fertilizer bags, how they affect grass and what
micro-nutrients grass also needs, refer to our Lawn Care Manual. You
will need to put down 8 pounds per thousand square feet of a 6-12-12 or
4 pounds per K of a 6-24-24. This will give the ground the nutrients
needed to germinate and start a turf lawn, thus the name "starter
fertilizer". After about a month the new grass will start to yellow off
some or maybe turn pale green, this is showing you that it is time to
fertilize again.
Apply 6# per K of 15-15-15 this will provide the
nitrogen for green and growth and phosphate and potash for root growth
and overall vigor. After the grass is about 3 weeks old you should be
able to start mowing. CUT IT HIGH!!! Refer to the section on mowing for
more. Fertilizing will also need to be done on a regular schedule.
Refer to Fertilizing for a complete schedule. If you have a new home
and this is the first lawn a few things are different. Mainly you will
have to do clean up and get the proper grade before working on seeding.
Once this is done you will have to till up the ground to make a soft
seed bed. After tilling fertilize, and seed just as described above
using the same amount of seed.
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Lawn Care Guide