Fall Lawn Care

What to do in the fall for a more spectacular spring lawn.

Set your mower as high as it will go (3 to 4 inches) during the growing season. Slowly lower mower height as temperatures cool and winter rains begin. The lower lawn height will allow the grass blades to ''dry off'' faster helping to prevent fungus and disease. - Water only when your grass shows signs of drought stress and then water deeply (put a cup in your sprinkler zone and make sure it gets at least an inch of water). -Fertilize with Dr. Earth Supernatural Lawn Fertilizer as recommended. - Have the pH of your soil professionally tested. Add lime if it is below 6.0 and soil sulfur if above 7.0.

Objective: This is a competition strategy. You want to make things favorable for the grass and unfavorable for the weeds so the grass will choke out the weeds. Naturally!

Mow high: There is competition for sunlight. If the grass does not shade the weed, the weed will shade the grass. Sunlight is energy, the source of strength and life. Shade is weakness, disease and death. Grass will shade the weeds only if it is tall enough. The shade of tall, dense grass turf will prevent essential light from reaching most weeds and will aid in the destruction of young weed seedlings (such as the notorious dandelion).

MYTH: ''If I mow short, it will be longer until I have to mow again.'' False! Your grass needs long leaves or blades for photosynthesis (converting sunlight into sugar) to feed the roots. When you cut the blades off, the grass has to race to make more blades to make sugar. It then grows amazingly fast. This fast growth uses up a lot of the grass's stored sugar, and weakens the plant. It is now vulnerable to disease and pests! Tall grass is healthier and can use the extra sugar to make rhizomes (more grass plants) thus thickening the turf. Have you ever noticed that short grass in the summer is always riddled with dead brown patches? After mowing, be sure to leave the clippings on the lawn. It adds organic matter and nutrients back into the soil, which also helps reduce the thatch layer. If you do not leave the clippings, your soil will begin to look more like ''dirt'' than soil.

Water infrequently: This will force your grass roots to go deep into the soil, deeper than most weed roots. As the top few inches of soil becomes bone dry, the weeds and weed seedlings up there die while the grass still enjoys water from its slightly deeper roots.

Shallow, frequent watering encourages ''thatch'' (the grass propagates with above-soil runners like strawberry runners) rather than rhizomes under the soil. There gets to be so many runners that they weave a mat, choking out water and air. If necessary, de-thatch your lawn once a year in the fall. If grass roots are shallow (located in the top inch or two of soil), a hot day will quickly dry the soil and much of the grass will brown. Weeds and weed seedlings love a daily watering. It is just what they need for a good start.

Fertilizer: Grass consumes high levels of Nitrogen. Legumes (such as clover) can get their Nitrogen from the air (remember that the air we breathe is 79%25 Nitrogen!). So, when you see legumes taking over your lawn (clover, etc.), you know that your soil is Nitrogen poor.

If your lawn needs fertilizer, apply Dr. Earth Supernatural as recommended on the package. This will feed it and supply organic material to the soil lasting up to 3 months. Dr. Earth contains PRO-BIOTIC, beneficial soil microbes and 3 species of Endo Mycorrhizae. These living organisms develop a symbiotic relationship with your lawn, helping it to better absorb nutrients from the soil. They also aid in relieving drought stress by absorbing water from a much greater volume of soil.

Beneficial microbes in Dr. Earth Supernatural not only help to digest the organic fertilizer, but also aid in the consumption of ''thatch''. Some of the microbes even produce antibiotic compounds that suppress disease-bearing fungal pathogens, preventing them from becoming established in your lawn. The end result is a healthy, productive, weed, drought and disease resistant lawn that will give you years of enjoyment.

Naturally!

Or read the article Turf Madness if you are looking for a way out!

http://ag.udel.edu/udbg/sl/vegetation/Turf_Grass_Madness.pdf