Just about everyone dispises crabgrass or weeds growing in the cared for lawn. An important part of Lawn Service in Orlando is keeping out the nasty grass. These pesky grass species grow primarily in the summer, what all grass grows but particularly in the warmest parts of summmer. Crabgrass thrives on the heat and hot
Crabgrass is usually blamed for any persistent weeds or unwanted grass that grows in someone’s manicured lawn. True crabgrass grows during the warmest part of mid and late summer. If the grassy weed that you are worried about started growing in the early spring, it is probably not crabgrass.

There are several types of weeds that look similar to crabgrass, and the treatments for them are also similar. If the problem you are experiencing is truly caused by crabgrass, there are some things you can do to help get rid of the prolific weed and rescue your lawn.

Keep Your Lawn Long and Thick

Crabgrass is an opportunistic weed. During the hot and dry parts of the summer your lawn may begin to thin out if you don’t give it enough water. A little thinning is exactly the foothold that crabgrass needs to begin to flourish. If your lawn is particularly unhealthy, crabgrass can come in and take over in the span of one season.

The best defense against a crabgrass infestation is to keep your yard healthy and thick. Water regularly and make sure that the soil is always moist. Don’t trim the grass too short, either. Let your grass grow until it is about two and a half inches long for best results. The healthier your lawn is, the fewer opportunities crabgrass will be able to work its way into your yard.

Mulch the Soil

Healthy soil also helps combat crabgrass. If you have dealt with crabgrass in the past, you know that it can come back year after year. Right after you remove a patch of crabgrass, lay down some mulch in that area. The crabgrass seeds that may be left behind in the soil will have a difficult time germinating because of the mulch.

A light layer of mulch can be beneficial if you know that you have had crabgrass problems in the past, as well. Don’t use so much mulch that you cause your grass to become compacted, though. Compacted areas will not grow crabgrass, but they also will not be able to grow the desired grass for your lawn, either.

Using Pre-Emergent Treatments

There are several pre-emergent treatments that you can purchase from a good lawn and garden store. The best time to use a pre-emergent is in the early spring before the grass has begun to develop. Crabgrass doesn’t begin growing until the weather is consistently hot, so you have plenty of time to apply a treatment before the growing season begins.

If you have experienced crabgrass problems before, you will know which areas of your yard are more likely to grow crabgrass again. Concentrate your treatments on those areas specifically so that the crabgrass won’t have a chance to gain a foothold as the summer progresses.

Late Season Crabgrass

Once crabgrass emerges in the late summer there is not much you can do to get rid of it. If you are really interested in making it go away, it is possible to pull crabgrass out by hand. This can be a time consuming process that takes a lot of work, but it will eventually get all of the crabgrass out of your yard. Make sure you treat the area that was filled with crabgrass as soon as possible after you have pulled it up. It doesn’t take long for crabgrass seeds to germinate and begin to grow again.

Use a pre-emergent treatment or good mulch to keep the seeds from becoming healthy and growing more crabgrass in an area you have already pulled from.

The Problem with Herbicides

Crabgrass may look like a form of grass, but it is really a common weed. The problem with using an herbicide to get rid of crabgrass is that the only effective chemicals are harmful to your grass as well as your crabgrass. Natural methods that work well on broad leaf weeds, like dandelions, are useless against crabgrass. There are really no good chemical methods that will rid you of crabgrass without harming your lawn.

The best way to combat crabgrass is to treat your lawn before the weed begins to emerge in the early summer or pull the crabgrass up by hand after it emerges. Crabgrass tends to gravitate toward sunny, dry spots in your lawn, which means that using plenty of water can also help keep your lawn intact.

Crabgrass is an annual weed, so it will die off every year during the first frost. You can take advantage of that time to lay down the pre-emergent that will stop the crabgrass from coming back next season.

1. Clean up the leaves
You can remove your leaves by using a rake, bags, a blower, or a lawn sweeper. You can then throw them in the garbage or have someone come pick them up for disposal. Most large companies will use a lawn sweeper to remove them.

2. Mulch the leaves
Another option is to mulch them your lawnmower. This is a good option for a smaller amount of leaves because it will lead to decomposition faster and fertilize your lawn.

3. Collect some of them
Fall leaves can be very beautiful and you can use them to make crafty arrangements.

4. Create a compost
Good compost has a range of different materials and leaves can be one of them. Collect a good bit of leaves and either pile them or put them in a compost bin to speed up the process of composting them for spring garden fertilization.

If you don’t want to worry about messing with your leaves, give us a call and we will take care of them!

Things you’ll need:

• Fertilizer spreader
• Fertilizer
• Water hose
• Water

Step 1:
Obtain the proper equipment. The equipment you use can make a difference in the results of your lawn fertilization.

• You will need a fertilizer spreader. There are two main types.
• Choose a rotary spreader for larger lawns.
• For smaller lawns or lawns with areas that need precise fertilizing (around flower beds and landscaping), pick a drop spreader.

Step 2:
Analyze the needs of your lawn depending on the time of year. This will help you determine which type of fertilizer to purchase.

• You will want to use a preventative fertilizer in early spring. This type of product takes care of weeds and diseases before they occur.
• Late spring calls for a high analysis fertilizer that releases nitrogen and also kills weeds that are growing in your lawn.
• Fertilize with a nitrogen release fertilizer every 6 to 8 weeks during the summer to keep your lawn looking its best during the peak-growing season.

Step 3:
Use 2 products in the fall. The first should control perennial weeds in the grass. The second will help prepare your lawn for the winter by creating a strong root system.

Step 4:
Open and close your spreader while it is empty to ensure that it works properly.

Step 5:
Fill the spreader with the appropriate fertilizer for the time of year and needs of your lawn. Check the packaging to see the recommended amount.

Step 6:
Adjust the spreader so the release of fertilizer matches the recommended dosage on the fertilizer bag.

Step 7:
Chose an area of your lawn where you wish to begin the fertilization.

Step 8:
Open the mechanism on the spreader.

Step 9:
Walk at a normal pace while spraying the fertilizer. Remain as constant as possible without stopping, slowing or speeding your pace or turning off the spreader.

Step 10:
Cover your entire yard with the fertilizer. Be cautious about not overlapping or skipping areas.

Step 11:
Clean your spreader. Spray the inside and the outside of the spreader with a water hose.

Step 12:
Check to see if the type of fertilizer you chose requires you to water your lawn after application. These details will be listed on the bag.

Tip:

Be careful about choosing a location when cleaning your spreader. You do not want to wash excess fertilizer onto an area of your lawn. Choose your driveway, rocks or concrete for the cleaning.

1. Make sure you are watering your lawn properly. Watering your lawn is a huge part of summer lawn care simply because, for the most part, it is the time of the year your lawn gets the least amount of water from rain. Normally you want to make sure your lawn is getting at least 1-1.5 inches of water including rainfall. During summer months this number sometimes needs to be adjusted a little higher, so look at your lawn and if you notice it is starting to yellow give it a little more water, 1.5-1.75″ should do the trick, but make sure not to over water the lawn either. It is also best to water your lawn in one big session than spreading it out all week long. You will want to water before 10 a.m. as well to cut down evaporation as you want all of the water to sink into the ground otherwise it will not help your lawn at all. You can also water at night when it is cooler, however it is best to water in the mornings because watering at night promotes fungus and disease in lawns. Never mow your lawn during the warm periods of the day as this will do absolutely nothing for your lawn, it can actually cause it to “burn up”.

2. Mow your lawn higher. The height of mowing your lawn plays a big role in the health of your lawn, especially during the summer. Mow your lawn a little higher in the summer months than you normally would to protect the roots from the heat of the sun. Although sun is important to the growth and health of your lawn it is also a big factor in the “burning”, or yellowing “dead” effect many lawns suffer from during the summer. We suggest leaving your lawn at least 3-3.5″ high. You may need to mow your lawn higher than that even sometimes as high as 4″ depending on the grass type, and the heat of the sun.

3. Mow your lawn less frequently. During the summer months you generally want to mow your lawn less then you do in the spring and fall months. You will at most want to mow your lawn once every other week during the summer. Also, mowing your lawn during the cooler morning and evening hours of the day is better, not only for your lawn, but for yourself as it reduces the risk of heat stroke and dehydration.

4. Keep your lawn mower’s blades sharp. You always want to have sharp blades when mowing your lawn so that you actually get a good clean even cut. Dull blades do not really cut the grass; they tear it. Tearing the lawn leaves it more open to diseases.

Lawn Care Orlando offers many services to assist you in the proper care, maintenance, and beatification of your lawn including: lawn mowing, aeration, detaching, lawn rolling, re-seeding, granular fertilization, weed whipping, edging, hedge trimming, pest control, flower planting, tree planting, landscaping, spring clean ups, fall clean ups, and gutter clearing.

Proper Timing

Because Orlando doesn’t quite have a 4-season climate, your window for planting is wider, however, it’s generally best to plant in fall August-September or in spring March-April. But in the spring you will have more weed competition and need to exterminate them. The problem with this is weed killer sprays are not good for the new grass, so we suggest planting in the fall for best odds of success.

Soil preparation.

For best results, have your soil tested before you seed your lawn. Then follow through on all the recommended amendments. Fertile soil makes all the difference. Also, make sure you till the soil properly if you are planting on harder dirt and a layer of fresh soil will also increase your chances.

Careful watering.

Soak the soil before you spread the grass seed. After you’ve spread the seed, keep it moist until it germinates, and then continue daily watering. Once the new grass is an inch tall, we recommend cutting back to watering every other day, and then to every third day after two weeks.

Care with chemicals.

A word of caution about weeds: killer sprays and solutions of chemicals don’t mix well with new lawns. Your best bet is to wait until your new lawn is mature and then use your arsenal to tackle those weeds.

Stay off the yard!

You can mow your new lawn when it needs it, but save the football games for next season!

Many people like to mow their lawns during the growing season and we encourage this for our clients. We understand that sometimes it doesn’t make financial sense for us to come to your house every week so we can work with you to fill in the gaps in your schedule to make sure your lawn is taken care of.

For those of you that do like to care for your own lawn, we have provided a list of 6 things you can do with your grass trimmings after mowing. Rather then loading up your trash can with stinky grass or leaving the trimmings all over your yard, you can use your chopped grass for various uses:

Make a Weed Barrier

Distribute the clippings around the base of your plants in your garden bed. You can use various materials to supplement the grass – Wood Chips, cardboard, newspaper, and even shredded junk mail. This will discourage weed growth by keeping the seeds away from the soil. In addition, nutrients from the decomposed grass will fall back into the soil. Just lay it on thick around the plants but not too much around the base of the plant.

Make Grass Infused Oil Aroma

In a similar vein as the previous suggestion, if you can transfer the scent of countless botanicals into natural carrier oil such as almond oil, why should your grass clippings be off limits? Friendly reminder – freshly mowed grass actually smells great and will make your home smell irresistible!

Make a Natural Fertilizer

Here’s a secret that local lawn maintenance companies don’t want you to know, because once you catch wind of it, you’ll stop paying them big bucks to chemically douse every last blade of your emerald green carpet. You can achieve a pretty fantastic fertilizing effect at absolutely no cost by allowing your clippings to decompose directly on the turf itself. The lovely thing about this process is that it’s easy to do and if followed consistently, it will infuse approximately two pounds of Nitrogen into every 1000 square feet that it is applied to.

Create your own garden compost

You can buy a compost bin and add grass clippings and old food, fruit, veggies and let it sit. Add in a little bit of soil and it will cook itself into a natural rich fertilizer that you can use for any type of plants.

Create Home Made Grass Paper

DIY enthusiasts – you’ve made your own paper before, right? While the process is a bit time consuming, the final product is totally fulfilling and entirely earthy, so don’t you think it’s high time that you incorporated fresh grass into the mix for a punch of texture and naturally pleasing scent?

Cutting your grass is easy but takes a bit of work and know how. Here are some general guidelines to follow:

1. Set your blade height

Your mower will have a blade height setting that may either be on the blade itself or on the wheels or the mower. You will want to set this to the middle setting when starting off. Cutting too low will damage the soil from the soon and is just not healthy for the grass. Cutting it too long defeats the purpose of why you are cutting it.

2. Cut in rows or stripes

The safest pattern for a beginner is to cut in straight lines along the sides. This will keep your rows even and keep you cutting straight lines to ensure you catch all those blades without missing parts.

3. Circle any obstacles

When you reach an obstacle in the lawn, make sure you circle it a few times. This will make sure you catch all of the spots and will also look good.

4. Check the bag often
One thing that can ruin your lawn is to let the catching bag get too full. The clumps of grass will begin to fall into freshly cut rows, which can cause the grass that the clumps fall on to die.

5. Cut often
Cutting your lawn often is the best way to encourage it to grow lush and full. Cutting too often is simply a waste of effort and materials. Once every week or so should be plenty for most climates.

1. Determine Planting Zone
Before building a lawn, you should determine your planting zone. Planting zones are climate regions in certain geographic locations. The zones are numbered 1-11 with each number representing different conditions. Certain grasses fare better in each zone – therefore the planting zone becomes an important tool in the creation of a lawn.

2. Selecting and creating the right soil mixture
The first step to building a lawn is the soil. Soil is the base of the lawn and the growth is dependent on the quality of the soil. To build a lawn without quality soil is risking the money, time and effort spent creating the lawn.

An important part of soil is the PH level. PH levels range from one to fourteen with the optimum for a lawn being five. The PH level measures the acidity or alkaline nature within the soil. The higher the PH level of the soil, the higher amount of acid the soil contains. Ensuring that the PH level is mid-line allows microbiotic organisms to flourish creating nutrient rich soil.

3. Fertilizing the soil with lime
Lime is used to increase the level of acidity in the soil. Lime comes in two forms; calcitic, and dolocitic. The difference in the two being that the calcitic contains no magnesium. Lime is implanted at least four inches into the lawn and could take months to react and have an effect on the soil therefore its best to plant the lime prior to the grass. Ensuring that this is completed will create an optimal growth environment for your lawn.

4. Planting Grass
You have 4 choices when planting grass: Sod, seeds, sprigs, or plugs. Each choice will require some effort. The easiest to plant are seeds closely followed by sod, plugs then sprigs. There are benefits to using each method in regards to time, and quality. Each of these methods has different characteristics, which are summarized below.

Seeds require that all turf be removed from the soil for optimal results. The seeds are applied directly to the soil, and then watered. It is important the soil is not be disturbed after the seeds are in place, and all traffic be halted to the area. The soil must receive the accurate amount of water as too much, or too little could stop the seeds from development.

Sod comes in rolls of grass that are ready to apply to the ground. Sod comes in sheets of seventy-two by eighteen inches and is to be laid perpendicular in a brick-like pattern. Sod provides instant gratification with the results of the lawn, and is relatively easy to apply.

Plugs are planted into the soil. Plugs are created in round or square shapes and are uniformly two inches in diameter. Holes are then created at even intervals throughout the area of the lawn and a plug is placed into each hole. Plugs take up to three months to grow and spread into each other creating a full lawn.

Sprigs are often installed by a professional landscaping company with a machine. It is important to note that sprigs can indeed be planted by hand but it is a fussy undertaking that warrants much detail, and effort. When a lawn is created with sprigs, runners are installed under the ground. These runners contain joints, which the grass will emerge from to connect with other joints and create the lawn.

5. Caring
The lawn must be watered, nurtured (fertilized) and treated with pesticides if required. It is important to take each step in the process with care so the grass will be greener on your side of the fence!

How do you know if planting a rye grass lawn is right for you? How do you determine that rye grass will grow best in the growing conditions of your lawn area?

Here are the vital stats about Perennial Rye Grass:

• Hardiness zone: 3-9
• Optimum pH: 5.8-7.2
• Days to germination: 5-10
• Mowing height: 3-4 inches
• Water requirements: average
• Growth spread: via clumps
• Nitrogen requirement: 2-3 pounds per 1000 sq. ft.
• Shade tolerance: low
• Disease resistance: high
• Insect resistance: high
• Heat tolerance: medium
• Cold tolerance: medium

As you can see from reading the above characteristics, rye grass is a good type of grass for most sunny locations in the central United States. Be careful not to confuse perennial rye grass with annual rye grass. Annual rye grass is often used to over seed warm season grass lawns in the south during the winter. Perennial rye grass seed is good to add to lawn grass seed mixtures in the north and north-central areas of the US.

Seeding a New Rye Grass Lawn
Rye grass grows well and fast from seed. It is not as aggressive as some other types of turf because it spreads by growing larger clumps, rather than sending out rhizomes or stolons. Therefore, the seeding rate is higher than for some other grasses. If you plant a rye lawn from seed, you will need to sow about 8-10 pounds of seed per 1,000 square feet, which is on the high end.

Fescues sometimes have a higher seed rate. One good attribute of perennila ryegrass is that it germinates quickly and establishes a deep root system, so it is excellent to plant in areas where erosion is a concern. It will sprout and maintain a steep incline very quickly. Establishing a new lawn requires good technique during three different phases:  preparation, planting and care after planting. Make sure you follow these tips during this critical time of lawn establishment.

Prepping
Don’t skimp on the prep work for your new lawn! If you do, you will pay for it time and time again. Always add as much good quality soil or soil/compost mix to the area where you are going to plant the new lawn.

Have the soil tested and correct any nutrient deficiencies or pH issues before planting. (At this stage, you cannot use synthetic fertilizer, as it can inhibit root growth. If you need to add nitrogen, use a feedmeal.) Rake the soil so that it is even, and soak it thoroughly a day or two before planting.

Planting
Put about 1/3 of the grass seed you will use into your spreader. Spread that load of seed. Repeat twice, for the entire lawn area, walking in a different direction. (This is similar to varying your mowing pattern.) This will allow for even coverage. When you have put down all of the seed, roll the seed lightly with a drum roller filled about halfway with water. This will ensure that the grass seed is in good contact with the soil.

Care after Planting
Cover the rye grass seed with a VERY thin (1/4 an inch or less) layer of compost, and water the lawn about twice a day for about ten minutes.

Use a sprinkler, not an unbroken hose stream, which will wash away the grass. Until the grass seed is fully growing, continue to water at least once a day, gradually tapering off. You will be able to mow after about 6-8 weeks. Set your mower blade as high as it will go, and mow once or twice a week. Evaluate the new planting about four months after you have installed the lawn. Over seed any areas that are thin.

Planting a rye grass lawn makes sense for most homeowners in its favored location. It is a hardy, disease resistant, low maintenance turf.

You want to make sure your grass is properly fertilized going into winter. The cold temperatures keep grass from absorbing all of their required nutrients. By fertilizing with a spreader, you enable the grass to be healthy during the winter and to grow quickly come spring. A walk-behind or motorized spreader is more accurate than a hand-held version. As you move the machine back and forth over the grass, grip the handle like a trigger and it releases pellets when you “shoot.” Follow the instructions on the fertilizer package. Apply only the recommended amount. This is not a case of “If a little is good, even more is better” — too much fertilizer can burn your grass.

2. Aerate the Lawn If Necessary

Provide some extra air for grass roots by aerating your lawn — taking out spikes of soil across your lawn to make holes for planting seed. Aerating is low-cost maintenance and even if it’s the only thing you do for your yard, you should see improvement. There are motorized aerators for rent, or manual versions that work like pogo sticks, pushing out two plugs of soil at a time. The pogo-stick versions are good exercise, but beware: the motorized versions can require substantial upper body strength to use.

3. Supply Cool-Weather Grass Seed

Purchase grass seed that says “cool season” or “cool weather” on the package, such as most fescues. Scatter it over the lawn with the same spreader you used for the fertilizer, or use a hand-held spreader for less fuss. Try to get the seed evenly distributed so you won’t have clumps of grass later.

4. Rake Over and Water the Lawn

Drag a rake over the lawn to break up soil clumps and cover the seeds a bit.

Water the lawn with the garden hose, using a nice gentle spray like rain. After that, keep the soil moist but don’t overwater it or let it dry out. You may have to mow your lawn a few more times before the cold weather sets in, and you can also fertilize another time in a few weeks to help the grass grow. During the cooler months, you should see a lot of growth as a result of your labors.

5. Winterize your lawn mower

You want to make sure you add fuel stabilizer and your lawn mower is emptied of any left over fuel. This will ensure you have a properly working machine come springtime.