Spring Lawn and Sod Care

Spring has officially arrived, which means it’s time to start preparing for new landscaping projects and seasonal lawn maintenance. Every year, lawns, no matter how big or small, go through similar seeding and fertilization cycles and spring is the time when grass starts growing again. If you want to ensure a healthy lawn, take note of these tips.

For Arizona sod, as the temperature continues to rise, homeowners with over-seeded lawns (lawns with transitional ryegrass) will start seeing their winter ryegrass die away. As the ryegrass wilts and turns brown, it makes way for your sod lawn.

To facilitate the transition, take note of the nightly temperatures and when they begin the stay consistently above 65 degrees, it’s time to start adjusting your cutting, watering and fertilization.

The first step is to cut the ryegrass down, removing about 50 percent of the leaf blade. This allows sunlight and warmth to “wake up” the dormant root system of your lawn. If it’s after May 1, you could also aerate the lawn to achieve the same effect.

The next step is to cut back on water for five days, without fully stopping watering. This discourages the ryegrass from growing while encouraging the perennial grass to come out of “hibernation.”

Lastly, use a fertilizer high in ammonia sulfate to further discourage the ryegrass from growing. This step has the dual purpose of giving your perennial grass the nutrients it needs to grow. Be sure to rake the remaining ryegrass as it dies out to open up the perennial grass to the sun.

Now, if you decided against over-seeding your lawn with ryegrass, the process will be easier to get your lawn growing green again.

First, trim the grass on your lawn by about a third of the leaf blade and rake thoroughly. This allows the soil to soak in the sun and warmth to encourage new growth.

Next, fertilize with a 21-7-14 or 16-8-4 ratio fertilizer every 30 days.

Finally, start increasing watering to twice per week for 15-20 minutes a cycle. Deeper watering will encourage the root system to flourish as the summertime approaches.

For more details on how to maintain and jumpstart you lawn this spring, visit our Spring Maintenance Tips page.

Tags: arizona landscaping, arizona sod, Evergreen Turf, Lawn Maintenance, lawn watering schedule

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Arizona Sod Landscaping, Arizona Wildlife, Commercial Sod, Landscaping News, Lawn Maintenance, Uncategorized, Water Conservation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.