    |
||||
|
The following fact sheets are available as PDFs. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these files. You may download Adobe Reader free.
Spring? Even though the calendar is telling us it’s spring, I’ve yet to really feel it. It appears that temperatures are going to begin to warm in the next couple of weeks but I think it’s still going to be a little bit before the turf really gets going.
Before we get started on any discussion of turf practices for home lawns let’s talk mowers. Your assignment this weekend if you choose to accept it, is to find where your mower is and secondly to un-screw that blade and take it down to the local hardware store to get sharpened. If you take action now you’ll miss the big lines because most lawn warriors will be glued to the tube for some NCAA basketball. Sharp blades are important not only from an aesthetics perspective but a clean cut reduces water loss and helps prevent pathogen infection in the turf.
Winter has definitely been a long one this year in Michigan and if I had to guess, I think we will definitely see some snow mold in some turf areas. There might be some pink snow mold and in other areas some gray snow mold, whichever is your favorite color I wouldn’t get too worked up over the symptoms you’ll see. Gray snow mold is typically seen in turf areas that were under snow cover for extended periods of time. The damage from either type of snow mold is typically restricted to the leaf tissue and once the temperature starts to warm the turf will start growing and recover from the damage quickly.
Keeping in mind that it’s March 18 and our next issue isn’t until April 15 (don’t forget your taxes!) I’ll give you some tips that can be done in the next month, hard to imagine that anyone would be mowing this weekend but by mid-April, let’s hope so!
Lowering the mowing height for the first mowing will help remove dead tissue and facilitate soil warming which will help the turf get growing faster. Be advised though not to get carried away with this lowering the mowing height recommendation. At most I would drop it 1 inch from your normal mowing height, be careful we don’t want to scalp the turf. For most dropping the height ½ inch (usually 1 notch on your mower) will probably suffice to clean up debris on the lawn from the winter and get that turf going. Lowering the height a notch will be especially helpful for turf with snow mold damage. You also might want to consider raking the turf in areas that the turf was really matted down to help stand it up and then mow it off.
Resist the urge to apply something, anything, to your turf right now to help wake it from it’s winter slumber. We’d like to see that turf growing before we apply either a preemergence herbicide (i.e. crabgrass preventer) or fertilizer. If you applied a late fall fertilizer application you may not need to apply an early spring fertilizer but instead might be able to wait until mid-May. Avoid the urge to get out there and fertilize the turf out of dormancy. This is the time to show restraint and let the turf naturally awaken. Applying high rates of fertilizer now will encourage excessive top-growth and has the potential to reduce summer stress tolerance later on. You might notice that professional applicators will start to make applications in the next month. They are most likely doing preemergence herbicide applications and/or light fertilizer applications. The fertilizer amounts they are applying are probably 0.5 lbs. N/1000 ft.2 or less, just enough to encourage some greening without causing excessive growth.
Remember that the environmental signal for applying a preemergence herbicide is when the forsythia bush is in full bloom. You can also use a soil thermometer to check soil temperatures. Apply preemergence herbicides when soil temps at a two inch depth reach 50 °F. In Michigan, the time for applications is usually around the 15th of April for mid-Michigan. Before you automatically apply a crabgrass preventer consider whether or not crabgrass is a big problem in your turf. Remember that the best way to control weeds in turf is to encourage a healthy, dense turf that competes well with weeds and crowds them out. Mowing high, returning clippings, and having a good fertility program are just some of the practices that will encourage a dense turf.
Kevin Frank is a turfgrass specialist with the MSU Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.
