Tips For A Spring-Ready Lawn

Spring is one of the most important times to perform maintenance to your lawn. By following these steps you can help prevent your beautiful lawn from being overtaken with weeds, stressed by drought, and heat. 

1. Remove any debris that has accumulated. This is a perfect time to also rake up any matted areas of the lawn, which can harbor Snow Mold. Raking these areas and removing debris will encourage better air flow throughout the turf grass and prevent any disease and insect infestation. It will also allow new grass blades to grow without struggle.
2. Applying a pre-emergent crabgrass control in early spring is very important! Timing is critical as it must be applied prior to the soil temperatures reaching 55-60 degrees. After this point the weed seeds will have begun to germinate and the pre-emergent will no longer be effective. An important thing to note is that crabgrass is VERY difficult to get rid of once it has germinated.
3. Fertilizing in the spring jump starts your lawn from its winter slumber. It provides a nutrient build up that will give it the strength to withstand heat stress and drought through the summer months.
4. Core aeration is a great thing to do to your lawn in the spring. It is important, because it allows water and air to reach the root zone faster. Resulting in new growth and increased root development. In the spring however it is important to core aerate before the soil temperature reaches that 55-60 degrees, because after this point the voids created in the lawn will only be an invitation to aggressive weeds seeds.
5. Winter can wreak some havoc on our lawns and come spring there may be some repairs needed to areas damaged by salt and snow plows. If weather permits spring can be a great time to re-seed any damaged turf areas, however if you are applying a pre-emergent weed control there is care to be taken. The pre-emergent weed control is non-selective, so it will prevent ANY seed from germinating. Our turf specialists recommend that if the weather permits, hold off the crab grass control to the latest point possible.  Then perform the turf repairs needed as early as possible so that the seeds have enough time to germinate and somewhat establish prior to the pre-emergent being applied. If this is not possible, don't skip the pre-emergent weed control. It is better to wait until fall to perform any turf repairs.