Comments (0) | |

Wednesday, Jul. 28, 2010

Give your lawn care after summer vacation

I remember vacations fondly from when I was young — days filled with fishing, swimming, eating blackberries and figs, exploring new places and just messing around in general. We children had a ball.

What happened to vacations after I grew up? Vacations are still fun, but now I return home tired only to have to help clean up after the fun is over. I did not know that vacations were so much work.

Many people are returning from vacation to see how their homes fared in their absence. Others may have been hiding inside from the heat and have begun to notice the lawn needs some maintenance. Either way, many lawns need some care now to get them into late summer shape.

If your lawn is overgrown, you may need to use some special mowing techniques to get it back into shape. We recommend removing no more than one-third of the height of the grass at any one mowing. If you have to remove more than this to get your grass in shape, you may need to mow twice several days apart. If you have to remove a lot of growth at one mowing, do not mulch the grass clippings into the lawn. Instead, let the mower pick up the clippings. Return to mulching the clippings after the lawn is returned to the proper mowing height.

Mow at the proper mowing height for your grass type. This is very important. Mowing heights for each type of lawn grass vary slightly. Begin with the lower mowing height in the spring and raise the height as the weather gets hot and dry. Proper mowing height for each grass type is: hybrid Bermudagrass and zoysiagrass, .5 to 1.5 inches; centipedegrass, 1 to 1.5 inches; common Bermudagrass, 1 to 2 inches; and St. Augustinegrass, 2 to 3 inches.

Have you ever mowed your lawn, only to return in a day or two to see 18-inch tall seed heads waving at you? If these seed heads have two forks, then you may have bahiagrass growing in your lawn.

Bahiagrass is a hardy weed that grows in fields and alongside roads. It can grow in stressful conditions where other grasses may not do well. It can withstand drought, hot weather, compacted soils, improper mowing and foot traffic. We find the weed in lawns as well, but it is probably worse in lawns that have the problems I just listed, especially drought. Bahiagrass will take over in these type lawns.

The first step in bahia control is to identify the growing conditions that are creating an opportunity for bahia to grow better than the lawngrass. Is the soil too dry, hard or infertile? Are you mowing at the proper height? Correct these problems so the bahia will not have an advantage over your lawngrass.

There are some chemical controls for bahiagrass as well. Vantage or Poast, which contain the active ingredient sethoxydim, will do a fair job of killing bahia or bermudagrass. Spray them over centipede to reduce the amount of bahia and bermudagrass in the turf. This may require several treatments four to six weeks apart. Results may be only fair without repeated treatments exactly as the label recommends. Even then, Poast and Vantage may not completely control bahiagrass. Do not use these on any warm season turf except centipede.

Manor or Blade (metsulfuron) is better at controlling bahia than Poast or Vantage, but is generally only available to commercial landscape firms. One of these firms can apply it for you.

Glyphosate, found in Roundup and other chemicals, or Finale should kill back bahiagrass and bermudagrass, but will also kill your lawn grass. You can use them to spot spray weeds in lawns, but expect them to kill part of the lawn if the chemical gets on the leaves of the grass. Bahiagrass control will probably require repeated sprays on a frequent basis.

MSMA and DSMA herbicides will control crabgrass, bahiagrass, dallis grass and some broadleaf weeds and will suppress nutgrass. Use them only on Bermuda and zoysia turf. You may need several treatments close together for best control. Read and follow all label directions exactly. They can discolor turf, especially in warmer weather.

Willie Chance is retired from the University of Georgia Extension in Houston County. To reach your local extension office, call (800) ASK-UGA1 from any non-cell phone. To subscribe to the newsletter, e-mail mg@uga.edu.