Fall Lawn Care Tips

Your fall lawn maintenance will depend on whether your lawn is composed of a warm season turf grass or a cool season turf grass. If you are unsure which type comprises your lawn, take a sample to your local county extension office.

Cool season grasses are Ryegrass, Fescue, Bentgrasses and Bluegrass.

Warm-season grasses are Bermuda, Bahia, Centipede, St. Augustine, & Zoysia.

Fertilizing:

• Cool Season grasses should be fertilized in September, October, or November
  
  Use a winterizing fertilizer that will provide a higher percentage phosphorus and potassium (potash) the second and third numbers on the bag while its nitrogen level (first number) is now the lowest (just the opposite of summer fertilizers).
  
  
• Warm season grasses should never be fertilized in the Fall; these grasses undergo a hardening-off process preparing it for winter. Fertilizing warm season grasses in the fall may interfere with that hardening-off process. These grasses should have been fertilized in July, August, or September.
  
  
• If your lawn is not performing well, have your soil tested. If the soil test should show a need to reduce acidity, apply lime now. If alkalinity needs to be reduced, apply sulphur.
  

Controlling Lawn Disease, Weeds, and Insects:

• Remove leaves regularly from your yard. If you don’t remove leaves there is a great chance for disease because sunlight and air is unable to get to your grass.
  
  You can either rake leaves or use a mulching mower thus breaking leaves down into a fine composite for your grass.
  
  
• Apply a Pre-emergence weed killer. You can get a combination fertilizer and weed killer if you like.
  
  
• Apply herbicides to broadleaf weeds. Do not apply herbicides, if the lawn is to be over-seeded with ryegrass during the fall.
  

Mowing and Watering:

• Try not to cut the lawn too often in the fall -- once every three or four weeks is sufficient.
  
  
• For your last cut of the season lower the mower to an inch below normal setting and use a grass catcher attachment. This will pick up any weed seeds in the lawn and the closer cut will allow for better air circulation.
  
  Make sure to drain old gas out of lawn mowers after last mowing.

• Cool season grasses need enough fall watering to carry them through the long winter. Just because temperatures cool don’t forget to water.
  
  
• Warm grasses do not need any special watering attention in the fall.

Dethatching and Aeration

• Dethatch your lawn, by raking deeply enough to remove thatch as well as fallen leaves. If your thatch problem is severe (say, 3/4" thick or more), rent a vertical mower from a rental center
  
  
• For bad cases of soil compaction(soil which is deprived of proper aeration and suffers from excessive water runoff and poor conditions for plant rooting), it is best to do a core aeration, for which lawn equipment known as "aerators" can be bought or rented. This is best done in the spring or fall.
  

Overseeding in the Fall

Fall is a great time to seed.

• Warm season grasses can benefit from overseeding with annual winter ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), so the lawns can enjoy a green color during the winter, instead of having to look at a brown lawn. Important to note is that you should always use an annual ryegrass not perennial. The best time for overseeding is 2-4 weeks before the first killing frost.
  
  
• Cool season grasses can also profit from overseeding. However the purpose is different. Overseeding lawns is to fix bare patches and to improve next season’s lawn.
  

If you need anything for your garden such as wooden garden furniture, decorative birdhouses, outdoor garden fountains, or tuned wind chimes visit my website- yourgardenretreat.com