Interestingly, all lawns have grubs but no noticeable damage will occur until there are 10 – 15 grubs per square foot.  This high concentration of grubs develops after Japanese beetles and Masked Chafer beetles emerge from the ground for a couple of weeks to feed, then return underground to lay their eggs. When these eggs hatch the larvae (grubs) starts feeding on the root systems of the grass.  The damage is easy to notice – you’ll simply see a dead patch of grass. If this dead patch pulls away from the soil, like a carpet, then that is grub damage.

Unfortunately there is no cure for grubs once you have them. The key is to prevent them with preventative grub treatments. Once you have grub damage, the only action is to replant the damaged areas. Give us a call and we’ll schedule a grub treatment.

OK, so you have a sharp blade, now what? Mow your grass tall and frequently. What does that mean? Simple. Tall grass is healthier and helps choke out weeds. So adjust the height on your mower so that the cut length of your grass is 3-4 inches. Second, as grass grows quickly in the spring, you should mow frequently to avoid lopping off more than one third of the total leaf surface. So if the desired length is 3 inches, that means you should mow every time your grass reaches 4.5 inches. That may mean mowing twice a week when grass is growing really fast.

There are mixed opinions on changing up your mowing patterns. Some folks say you should alternate the pattern in which you mow, some say it doesn’t matter. The one thing to consider in this area is whether or not your lawn mower is creating ruts in the lawn. This is most common with riding mowers. If you have a riding mower and you’re mowing over soft soil, ruts can develop. Especially after mowing the same pattern week after week. If so, change up your pattern to avoid ruts. For those with a push mower, do want you want…sometimes a change in mowing pattern is a good way to break up the monotony.

So as spring rain and mild temps cause your lawn to grow fast, consider these tips to ensure it remains healthy all season long. Happy mowing!

If you’re still seeing annual winter weeds, such as springwood and henbit, rest assured, these will soon die off once the temperatures warm up.

1. Rake bare areas before seeding to clear the area.
2. Add topsoil or a topsoil/compost mix to top-dress the bare areas for better seed germination.
3. Apply a starter fertilizer at the rate specified on the bag.
4. Apply the seed at the rate specified on the bag, either by hand or a spreader.
5. Gently rake the seed into the soil, so that it is covered by the soil. This improves germination.
6. Apply straw to help hold the moisture in the soil and protect the seeds from direct sunlight and erosion.
7. Keep the grass seed moist until it germinates, which may require daily watering or more often if temps rise (be sure to avoid standing water or excess runoff).
8. Germination time depends on the type of seed you use: Kentucky bluegrass 21 to 28 days; perennial ryegrass 10 to 14 days; and fescue just 7 to 10 days.
9. When the new grass is 4 inches high, you can mow it (set your mower at 3-3.5 inches).
10. Lastly, apply another round of starter fertilizer after the second mowing.

First, lets tackle weeds. Strong, thick turf is best defense against any weed. Weeds are most likely to pop up where the turf is thin or short. Therefore, we recommend a long lawn instead of a short lawn; your lawn is healthier at 4” than 2”. So while you might favor the look of a golf course fairway, the short turf does not help the fight weeds. Also, weeds are prone to pop up along freshly edged walks and driveways, so while a neatly edged walkway is attractive, the freshly exposed soil is prime territory for weeds.

But what if you whole lawn is thin? We suggest aeration and seeding – reducing soil compaction and adding new life into your root system. This builds the health of your lawn, and chokes out pesky weeds before they have a chance to grow.

Herbicides are only effective when the temperatures are warmer, say, when daytime temps are between 75° – 85°, so early spring isn’t always the best time to begin fighting weeds. The best time to fight weeds is actually the season before. So if you have weeds now, it’s best to let us treat them all season and into the fall – then your lawn will be better armed to fight them the next season.  So that means that fighting weeds is an on-going proposition. Weeds just don’t stay away, that’s why we include a weed control product with 6 of our 7 applications. (We actually do not apply a herbicide with our first, early spring, application, because it just doesn’t help. Plus, it would hinder any attempt to overseed your lawn.)

The two most common weeds are crabgrass and dandelions. Both are persistent and challenging, but if we continue to treat them, they will go away. And while they are unsightly, it will take a little time for our treatments to work. Even under ideal conditions, herbicides take several days to fully penetrate the root system and begin to kill the weed. And for some lawns it takes a few treatments to kill all the weeds.

In the end, we want your lawn to be the picture of health. If you have weeds now, don’t worry we’ll get them, we just need the weather to cooperate first. In the mean time, if you have any questions, please give us a call.

• Make sure gates are unlocked so that we can access the whole yard.
• Remove pets from any area that will be treated.
• An overabundance of leaves/limbs may prevent treatment from reaching lawn.
• Grass taller than 5” may prevent treatment from reaching roots.
• Home construction projects may restrict access.
• If you need to request specific treatment times, please contact us at least 72 hours in advance.
• Of course, weather (rain, wind) prevent us from applying lawn treatments
• For aeration, please mark your irrigation system.

Our first application is designed to jumpstart your lawn. But the first application isn’t all that is required to make your lawn picture-perfect. The first application is basically a blast of fertilizer to kick things off for the season and to provide our technicians with a starting point to evaluate your lawn moving forward. After last summer’s heat and drought, you might discover your lawn has some thin spots. In that case we’d recommend aeration and overseeding. Many of our competitors add a pre-emergent herbicide to their first application, which in our opinion is both a waste and a hindrance. Why? Well, first of all it’s a waste because pre-emergent herbicides require warmer temperatures to be effective, and early spring doesn’t offer those warmer temps. Secondly, if you do want to apply some grass seed to repair thin spots, the pre-emergent herbicide would kill the seed before it has a chance to take root. That’s why we hold off on the weed control until our second application.

Overall, your lawn will take several weeks to bounce back from its winter nap. Once temperatures reach the upper sixties through the mid-seventies, your lawn will start to take off. During this stage of rapid growth it’s important to mow often.

We’ll be updating this blog with more details as the growing season progresses, so be sure to come back from week to week! And, as always, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to post them here.

The recent combination of cooler Fall weather and heavy rainfall  make this the perfect time to aerate any Central Indiana lawn.

Aerating is the process of inserting holes in your lawn for new seed to grow strong roots, fertilizer to help accelerate the growth, and ultimately achieve a thicker, healthier lawn. The holes (or “plugs”) allow for better water absorption, nutrient absorption and help in the process of eliminating thatch. After several hot Summer months the top four inches of soil becomes extremely hard and compact, leaving no where for new seed to grow.

Compacted soil keeps all healthy elements out of soil including water and essential nutrients. Without any room to enter the soil, thatch from lawn mowing is not decompressed and returned to the earth. It will just sit on the lawn’s surface, inviting molds, mildews, disease and unwanted insects.

Indianapolis aeration also increases the amount of oxygen that can interact with your soil, which stimulates root growth and speeds up the decomposition of thatch. When the plugs of soil are removed during the aeration process the grass is stimulated to produce new shoots and roots that will fill in the new holes and increase the density of your lawn.

Additional benefits of Fall aeration include:

• Increase lawn’s drought tolerance
• Noticeable improvement in overall lawn health
• Provide new seeds time to grow strong roots before next Summer

If you’re interested in a quote for aeration services from Lawn Pride click here.