Turf Report
We work hard to give our customers the best lawn care experience possible. In addition to providing exceptional service, we strive to educate our customers on ways they can keep their lawn healthy and green all season long. Check out our seasonal tips below to learn how you can maintain your turf!
We are now applying a SPRING FERTILIZER AND CRABGRASS PRE EMERGENT. This application provides the lawn with the correct amount of nutrients to help recover from winter dormancy. It creates a barrier within the top 1-2” of the soil to help prevent crabgrass from germinating later in the summer (crabgrass pre-emergent is not 100% guaranteed due to many factors beyond our control. For example, weather, mowing, weed whacking, etc.). When two crabgrass pre-emergent applications are applied in the spring, there is at least a 90% control based on changing weather conditions throughout the year. Thin lawns and lawns serviced with a partial program may have less of a control. Crabgrass pre-emergent does not prevent broadleaf weeds, such as dandelions, from germinating. @@ DO NOT PLUG CORE AERATE YOUR LAWN AFTER THIS APPLICATION IS APPLIED @@
A liquid broadleaf weed control will be applied where needed. During early spring not all broadleaf weeds have germinated yet. Broadleaf weed control will control broadleaf weeds present in the lawn at the time of the application. Since weeds germinate everyday, Broadleaf weeds that germinate after this application will be taken care of with the next service. Broadleaf weed control does not prevent broadleaf weeds from coming up later.
Vole tunnels
Voles (also known as meadow voles, or meadow mice) are common rodents active underneath the snow cover, in rocked or mulched areas close to woods, shrub beds and decks creating snakelike tunnels in the lawn. The tunnels are about two inches wide and very near the surface so they can eat their favorite foods: grass stems and blades. While the damage may look visible in early spring, it is rarely permanent. Vole activity is heaviest in the springtime and does subside! Simply rake up the dead grass and reseed the area. As the surrounding grass grows, it will cover up the trails. You can also just let the area repair itself over a few months. The below photos are early spring to mid June as the grass repaired itself without seed.
Please keep in mind, there are many junkier type grasses that, when they germinate in the spring, you may look at and say "my lawn has crabgrass". It is not crabgrass. Crabgrass does not germinate until some time in June. Grasses that may be undesirable and not look as good as your Kentucky Bluegrass and Perennial Rye Grasses are: Annual and Roughstalk Bluegrass, Poa Annua, Poa Trivialis, Quackgrass, and in some cases, Tall Fescue. Broadleaf weed control does not kill these grasses because they are a grass......not a broadleaf weed.
Click https://turfblog.rutgers.edu/?p=1192 for more information for Rutgers Turf Blog
Lawn Tech/Simply The Best Lawns does not plug core aerate and overseed in the spring.
Why we do not seed in the spring……..
We get many requests for spring seeding and our answer is always the same……“We do not seed in the spring”.
The results of spring seeding are very poor and spotty at best. We know, with over 40 years of experience, that the results will not be up to our customers’ expectations. Why?
There are three very big reasons:
1) When you seed in the spring you cannot apply crabgrass pre-emergent in a timely fashion. By the time seeding is completed, the window to prevent crabgrass from germinating in the summer will most likely have passed. Crabgrass pre-emergent cannot be applied to newly seeded areas until the new grass has been cut a minimum of three to four times. (That also goes for broadleaf weed control spray.) By the end of June/beginning of July, the crabgrass will begin to overwhelm the new grass.
2) New grass does not have a deep root system to start, which means it can dry out quickly. Going into the heat of the summer, with unpredictable periods of drought, can cause damaging stress on new grass. During the summer is when crabgrass starts to take over; this is because the crabgrass pre-emergent could not be applied in the spring. Also, new grass cannot withstand dormancy as well as established grass can during drought/heat conditions.
3) New grass that germinates in the spring is highly susceptible to disease. Most university researchers indicate that the likelihood of disease in spring seeding is nearly 50%.
When you invest in seeding, you want to do it at the most ideal time to ensure a nice lawn. Lawn Tech/Simply The Best Lawns aerates and overseeds hundreds of lawns every fall. The results are terrific and our customers' lawns improve nicely.
Fall Seeding Schedule:
The window to perform plug core aeration and overseeding is short and the schedule will fill up fast.
* Scheduling is from the end of August through the first half of October. (Soil testing is required for us to seed. Dates are weather permitting).