Spring Turf Grass Troubles

I hope this finds everyone doing well. As we all know it has been an extremely cool spring and the turf grass has been severely affected. Please remember your warm season turf will look its very best around the 4th of July weekend. It needs hot days and warm nights for ideal growing conditions. Watering at this time of year is necessary, however not too much. A week with no rain you might want to water twice or three times at the very most. Because we had a very wet winter, lawns are exhibiting many different signs of disease.

I know most yards are looking far from ideal; however, you need to be patient. Mother Nature is warming up and the grass will respond accordingly. Areas of Ground Pearl infestation will need to be replaced. Also, areas that stay wet regularly in your yards may have been killed by the cold wet winter. In either case, make sure your choice of turf and the drainage are repaired correctly. We have found the Celebration Bermuda seems to stand up pretty well against the Ground Pearl infested areas. Also, before you re-sod take the time to install the correct drainage system in your yard so those wet areas can be corrected.

Now with all this being said, who has noticed a huge amount of weeds in your yard? Probably, a lot of you have weeds in your lawn. The winter pre-emerge for weed control is long gone, and the weather has been ideal for the last of the winter weeds to flourish. An application of a good post-emerge herbicide should take these weeds out pretty quickly. The warmer weather will cause them to die out.

I hope this helps answer some of your questions. Again, please be patient as greener days are right around the corner. Have a wonderful and safe spring!

Best Regards:

Stephen D. Hughes, COO Landfall COA