Lawn care nut mower. How to Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades

How to ​Care for your St. Augustine Grass

In this guide you will find everything you need to know about planting your very own St. Augustine grass lawn.

It’s no secret that the first thing people notice about your home is the lawn!

Get this, St. Augustine grass can make a beautiful lawn around any home.

If you want to switch things up, you must consider giving St. Augustine grass a try!

There’s a catch, there are a few things you must know about caring for a St. Augustine lawn.

So, without further ado, here is everything you need to know about planting St. Augustine grass.

Planning Ahead for the Planting Season

Here is the deal, being fully prepared for the planting season is important.

if you want to get your new St. Augustine lawn in this year, planning needs to be done in March or April.

While St. Augustine Grass grows best in well-drained soils and warmer temperatures, it also takes a lot of love and gentle care to get it going.

If you are looking forward to a lovely St. Augustine lawn this year, you will need to follow the next step.

Test your Soil

First, you will need to make sure you have the right equipment to test your soil.

Soil test kits are cheap, and easy to use. You can also check with your local universities, they often have cooperative extensions that will test your soil for free.

Once you have tested your soil, and amended your soil as needed, it’s time for the next step.

Plant Your St. Augustine Grass

The time for planting St. Augustine is April and May.

It’s simple, planting St Augustine plugs is as easy as throwing down one two inch plug for every twelve inches of soil.

Here’s the catch, you don’t want to plant St. Augustine plugs in a square grid. Rather you want to stagger the plugs in a diamond shaped pattern.

Water Your New Lawn

Once you have transplanted all your sprigs throughout the yard, it is important to keep them watered on a routine basis while also ensuring that they get plenty of light to get them growing.

Best of all, with a little time and patience, you will begin to see some runners spring up.

Knowing how much water to put down is important to your lawns success.

That is what the next step is about.

Water Requirements For New St. Augustine Lawns

As you go through the planting season, knowing how much water to give your sprigs is important for both your grass and water bill.

Many municipalities may impose water restrictions during parts of the year, so keep this in mind. As April finishes and May begins, the need for watering your St. Augustine grass everyday will lessen more and more.

However, finding a balance can be tricky.

As you find yourself watering the lawn less frequently, remember to give your grass a little more water with each session than you would have given toward the beginning of April.

A safe estimate for this would be about a ¾ inch of water for each watering in the last few weeks of May.

Don’t Overwater St. Augustine Grass

Sometimes, trial and error is the only way to discover the best solution for maintaining your lawn. Too much water often leads to a host of issues.

Side effects of overwatering St. Augustine grass include:

• A shallow root system,
• Susceptibility to drought,
• Weeds and overgrowth,
• Diseases and pest infestations.

If you notice any of these telltale signs of over-watering in your grass, never fear!

You still have time to correct the issue, and at the very least, this knowledge will better serve you tomorrow.

If you need more information check out this guide to St. Augustine turf Issues.

Mowing Over-Seeding

Good news! Mowing and seeding St. Augustine Grass is much easier than watering!

Check this out!

Best Mowing Height for St. Augustine

The height you want for your lawn will be a personal preference. In my experience however the best height is to cut St. Augustine grass to around three or four inches.

Just keep in mind, if you go lower than 3 inches, you are risking burning the lawn. In the warmer months St. Augustine Grass should not be cut much lower than 3 inches.

Seeding St. Augustine Grass

This is crazy but, seed for St. Augustine Grass is no longer an option. There was a time in which St. Augustine seed was available in nurseries for purchase, however the finicky nature of St. Augustine grass ultimately led to its own decline.

Sprigs or St. Augustine plugs are more readily available and can be purchased at your local nursery.

The Bottom Line on St. Augustine Grass

St. Augustine can take a bit of work to establish, but in my opinion the work is more than worth it.

St. Augustine grass is easily one of my favorite types of grass for lawns, and 100,000’s of home owners agree!

Of the 1000’s of grasses used throughout the history of the lawn, St. Augustine has risen as one of the favorites for homeowners across America.

If caring for St. Augustine is a bit too much work, consider hiring one of the professional lawn care providers on GreenPal. If they do a good job consider giving your service provider a tip!

Hi, I’m Gene Caballero and I’m the co-founder of GreenPal. At GreenPal, we’re helping hundreds of thousands of Americans solve one of the trickiest problems: a reliable, fast, and affordable way to get lawncare taken care of. On behalf of GreenPal, I’ve been featured in the Indianapolis Star. the Sacramento Bee. Entrepreneur. Inc.com. and dozens more. Please feel free to say hi on or connect with me on LinkedIn.

How to Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades

Is your lawn looking ragged and bland instead of healthy and lush? It may have lost its luster as a result of cutting your grass with dull mower blades. You can help bring your lawn back to life by learning how to sharpen your lawn mower blades. The purpose of this guide is to provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to sharpen a mower blade and let you in on some helpful tips, but before we do, let’s look at why sharpening your mower blades is so important.

“Sharp lawn mower blades create a cleaner cut, which improves the health of your lawn. Learning how to sharpen a mower blade is an integral part of maintaining a healthy lawn.”

Why Are Sharp Mower Blades Important?

Cutting your grass with a dull mower blade is sort of like having split ends in your hair. It inhibits healthy and vibrant growth. When you cut your grass with dull mower blades, it tears the blades of grass rather than cutting them. Not only does this contributes to the ragged appearance of your lawn, but it leaves your grass susceptible to diseases. With sharp mower blades, you get a clean cut, which allows your lawn to stay healthy and retain its vibrant luster.

Step-by-S tep Guide to On How to Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades

Sharpening a lawn mower blade is not as difficult as you might think. Once you learn the best way to sharpen mower blades, you won’t hesitate to repeat the process two to three times per season. You will soon find that your mower operates better and your lawn remains healthier. There are four main steps involved in the process.

Step One: Preparing to Sharpen the Blade

Preparing to sharpen your lawn mower blade is an essential part of the process. If not done correctly, there is a potential for disastrous results. Follow these steps carefully to produce the best results:

Assemble the Following Tools and Equipment:

Safety goggles or safety glasses.

2×4 wood block 16” to 20” long.

4×4 wood block and boards of various thicknesses 12” to 18” long (optional).

Paint stick, permanent marker or spray paint.

Breaking bar with a socket.

Wire brush and/or steel wool.

Using safety equipment is an essential element. Wear safety goggles or safety glasses and gloves before and during all the steps.

Disconnect All Sources of Power.

Be sure to disconnect all potential power sources before you begin work on your mower. If your mower is electric powered, be certain that it is unplugged. If your mower is gasoline powered, your best bet is to disconnect the cable from the spark plug. Failure to follow these steps creates the potential hazard that the machine could suddenly start or turn over while the blades are exposed.

Turn the Mower on Its Side.

To get at the mower blade, you need to turn the mower on its side. Either side is fine if your mower is electric powered, but a gas mower should be turned so that the carburetor is facing up. By turning the carburetor up, you prevent fuel from flooding the carburetor, which causes issues when you get ready to start your mower. Placing a block under the motor or engine housing helps to stabilize the mower while you work, you may need more boards of various thicknesses for greater stability.

Step Two: Removing the Blade

Removing the blade requires a bit of torque and a lot of caution to prevent injury. To safely remove the blade, follow these steps:

Mark the bottom side of the blade.

A major mistake many people make when removing lawn mower blades to sharpen them is installing them upside down when they put them back on. A simple way to avoid this issue is by marking the bottom side of the blade with a paint stick, permanent marker or a quick dab of spray paint. Find a place on the blade that is free of debris, so your mark remains after you clean the blade.

Block the blade for removal.

When you get ready to loosen the nut, which secures the blade to the driveshaft, you need to prevent the blade from turning. By wedging a 2×4 under the blade and over the cutter deck, you will pinch the blade so that it won’t turn. Keep in mind that you need to provide resistance from turning counter-clockwise. Place the wedge from the top, right side of the mower deck.

Remove the blade.

Removing the blade takes a significant amount of torque. Make sure that you have a breaking bar that provides plenty of leverage and equip it with the proper socket to fit the drive nut. Place the socket over the nut with the breaking bar a little above the nine o’clock position. Apply downward pressure on the breaking bar to break the nut free. You might have to apply penetrating oil to the area around the drive nut and washers if the nut is particularly stubborn.

Once the nut is loose, unscrew it, remove the blade and the washers. Pay attention to the number of washers and sleeves, as well as their placement, so that you can replace them in the correct order when you reinstall the blade.

Step Three: Sharpening the Blade

With the blade removed from the mower, you can sharpen it in a more comfortable position and do a better job of honing the edge consistently. The following steps will help ensure greater success in sharpening your mower blades:

Secure the blade.

The reason for removing the blade from the machine is so that you can get at it better to sharpen it. Once it is off of the machine, it is best to secure it in a vice. Place the end of the blade with one of the cutting edges in the vice with the cutting edge facing upward. Tighten the vice until the blade is secure.

Clean off the blade.

It is common for grass and rust to cake your lawnmower blade. Though you won’t need to clean off the entire blade (although the edge lasts longer if you do), you want to make sure that you clear all of the debris near the cutting edge so that you have better access to the edge for sharpening. You can use steel wool or a wire brush to clear away this debris. Especially stubborn buildup might require a cold chisel to remove it.

Sharpen the blade.

Most people sharpen lawn mower blades with a flat file, but some also use a hand grinder. Your technique may vary a bit with each tool, but there are several standard guidelines to follow, including:

Be sure to maintain the proper angle, typically 45 degrees.

Make even strokes from the inside of the cutting edge toward the outside, moving away from you.

Do not draw backward, regardless of whether you are using a file or a hand grinder.

Once you have finished one edge, flip the blade over and sharpen the other edge. Use the same technique and as close to the same number of strokes as possible, so the edges are uniform.

Bench Grinder Alternative

A bench grinder is particularly useful if the blade is severely nicked, but it also makes for pretty short work when sharpening as well. If you have a bench grinder, you can remove the blade from the vice after cleaning it and sharpen the blade on your bench grinder. Be sure to follow the proper angle of the blade.

Step Four: Reinstalling the Blade

Once your blade is sharp, you need to reinstall it on your mower. To be sure that it is properly installed, follow these steps:

Properly position the blade.

If you marked the bottom of the blade with a paint stick, permanent marker or spray paint, properly positioning the blade is much simpler. Be sure to have all the washers and sleeves on hand and place them in the right order as you thread the nut through the hole on the blade and into the drive shaft. Finger-tighten the nut as far as you can.

Tighten the nut.

Before you can tighten the nut, you need to place your 2×4 wedge on the left side of the mower deck so that you have resistance against clockwise turning of the blade. Secure the socket with the breaking bar above the three o’clock position and apply downward pressure. You need to repeat this several times until you cannot turn the nut anymore.

Prepare to mow.

With the blade secured in place, you can remove your wedge, tip the mower back up onto its wheels and prepare to mow. If your mower is electric powered, you plug it in, turn it on and get started. If your mower is gasoline powered, you need to remember to reconnect the spark plug cable before attempting to start it.

How to Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades without Removing Them

Though you have much better access and it is more comfortable to remove the blade from your lawn mower to sharpen it, you can sharpen it without removing it from the machine. The following steps show you how to sharpen lawn mower blades without removing them from the mower. By not removing the blades, you can complete the task using only two steps.

Step One: Preparing to Sharpen the Blade

Preparing to sharpen your lawn mower blade without removing the blade is similar to preparing to when you removed the blade. If not done correctly, there is a potential for disastrous results. Follow these steps carefully to produce the best results:

Assemble the Following Tools and Equipment:

Safety goggles or safety glasses.

2×4 block of wood 16” to 20” in length.

Additional 4×4 wood block 12” to 18”.

Wire brush and/or steel wool.

Using safety equipment is an essential element. Wear safety goggles or safety glasses and gloves before and during all the steps.

Disconnect All Power Sources.

Just like when you removed the blade, it is essential to make sure that all potential power sources are disconnected to prevent accidental starting or turning of the blade while you work. Unplug the power cord or disconnect the spark plug cable from the spark plug.

Turn the Mower on Its Side.

Turn the mower on its side, just like above with the carburetor is facing up on a gas mower. Placing a block under the motor or engine housing helps to stabilize the mower while you work, which is far more critical when you sharpen without removing the blade.

Step Two: Sharpening the Blade

Even if you do not remove the blade from the mower, you follow the same steps to sharpen it. However, executing these steps is a bit different.

Secure the blade.

Though you won’t need backward resistance to remove the blade, you need to secure it so that it doesn’t move while you are trying to sharpen it. Wedge a 2×4 under the blade and over the cutting deck to prevent the blade from turning while you work.

Clean off the blade.

You want to knock off any caked grass, rust or other debris from the blade so that you have unobstructed access to the cutting edge.

Sharpen the blade.

Though access is a bit more difficult, use the same technique for sharpening the blade with a file or hand grinder that you would use if you removed the blade. Here is a brief reminder of those guidelines:

Maintain the proper angle.

Even strokes, moving away from the center.

Once you have finished one edge, turn the blade over and sharpen the other edge.

Helpful Tips

Following the above steps whether you choose to remove the blades to sharpen them or sharpen them on the mower. However, there are a few tips to keep in mind that help make the process easier. Here are some of the best tips:

Knowing When Blades Are Dull. Check the blades of grass on your line and look for signs of splitting and tearing at the tips.

Sharpen When the Gas Tank Is Empty. You can prevent fuel loss by emptying your mower’s tank before sharpening or sharpening blades when it is empty.

Make Sure the Blade Is Properly Balanced. Be sure that the blades are properly balanced. You will hear funny noises under the mower deck if it is not. Improper balance comes from the blade becoming bent or the driveshaft hole being wallowed out.

Dealing with Nicked Blades. A nicked blade does not always mean that the blade is ruined. A nicked blade can be ground out, but you should use a bench grinder for best results.

Know When It Is Time to Replace Your Blades. A wallowed out driveshaft hole, a bent or out of balance blade or a blade with nicks beyond repair are all good reasons to replace your blades with new ones.

Summary

If your lawn is looking a bit ragged, the answer to restoring it to better health could be a simple one. Sharp lawn mower blades create a cleaner cut, which improves the health of your lawn. Learning how to sharpen a mower blade is an integral part of maintaining a healthy lawn. Follow these step-by-step instructions for the best results when sharpening mower blades. So get into it and start sharpening those blades!

How Often Should You Sharpen Your Lawn Mower Blades?

Sharpening your blades is one of the most important lawn mower maintenance tasks you will do this season.

Regularly sharpening your lawn mower blades will improve the appearance and health of your lawn. It might even make your lawn mower last longer. So how often should you sharpen your lawnmower blades? Experts’ opinions vary, but the bottom line is that most people don’t sharpen lawn mower blades nearly often enough.

How often should your mower blades be sharpened?

Alan Hayne of The Lawn Care Nut YouTube Channel sharpens his lawnmower blades every month. He believes six weeks is too far to go between sharpening. The Home Depot, on the other hand, says you only need to sharpen your lawnmower blades twice per lawnmowing season.

Hayne acknowledges that other people have their own way to remember when to sharpen their lawnmower blades. He admits that part of the reason he sticks with a monthly mower maintenance schedule is that, “it’s simple and it works and it gets the job done.”

The experts at The Home Depot add that if homeowners or landscapers are mowing many hours, every week, then they will want to sharpen their lawn mower blades more than twice a season. In addition, they suggest you sharpen your blades immediately if you ever run over a rock or another obstacle that could nick your blades.

Finally, Hayne says that dull blades damage grass stalks. Because grass is harder and grows more slowly in the fall, it is especially critical that lawnmower blades are the sharpest in the fall.

How many hours of mowing will your lawnmower blades last between sharpenings?

How often you need to sharpen your lawnmower blades depends entirely on how much you use your lawnmower. If you have a huge lawn that you mow twice a week, your blades will dull more quickly. The Home Depot suggests that you sharpen your lawnmower blades once for every 25 hours of use.

According to Home Depot’s logic, if you use your lawnmower for five hours every Saturday, you can go five weeks before its blades need sharpening. But what if you only run it for one hour a week? Can you mow for 25 weeks before sharpening your blades? Not necessarily, sitting for long periods of time can also rust your mower and dull your blades.

You can always inspect your mower blades to see if they appear worn. Look for either rounded cutting edges or small chips missing from their cutting edges. Hayne admits that some folks, including the experts at The Home Depot, feel “butter knife sharp” is sharp enough for lawn mower blades. But Hayne prefers to keep his blades “razor-sharp.”

In addition to inspecting your lawnmower blades themselves, you can also inspect your lawn to see if your blades need sharpening.

Does yellow grass mean you need to sharpen your lawnmower blades?

According to lawn expert Alan Hayne, a yellow tint to your lawn can signal dull mower blades. A properly sharpened blade will slice a grass stem cleanly, leaving its end neat and its entire length bright green. But a dull blade will hack through the grass, leaving its ends frayed. Those ends will quickly yellow.

Ragged, frayed stem ends make for sickly grass plants. When grass is hacked up like this, it is susceptible to picking up diseases and even dying. Take a look at the ends of your grass blades: if they are frayed or even yellowing, it is past time to sharpen your lawnmower blades.

Step by Step Guide for a Perfect Lawn in Kansas City

The results of our technicians’ hard work can be seen in yards all across the Kansas City area. Customers and neighbors are constantly asking us how we create such perfect lawns, but, unfortunately, the process of creating these beautiful lawns is a bit too lengthy for a quick conversation. For this reason, we decided to make a step-by-step guide on how to create perfect lawns in Kansas City!

The lawn care technicians at Heartland Turf Landscape are all trained and certified professionals, and their experience could be the deciding factor between a lawn that thrives and one that struggles. Proper lawn care can be applied by you at home, but improperly fertilizing or watering your turf will quickly damage your lawn. Always make sure you are following product-specific instructions for fertilizers, and keep track of how much/when you are watering. Also, make sure that factors like proper drainage, sunlight, and grass seed type for your yard are considered before treatments begin. While we are confident that this guide will help you create the perfect lawn, do not hesitate to call us if you have any questions or need an extra pair of green thumbs to help.

Below is a detailed breakdown of what lawn care and landscape maintenance methods work for us, and we have provided month-by-month instructions for you to follow at home, either on your own or with the help of professionals like us. Keep in mind that the techniques suggested below have proven to be effective, but every lawn has different needs, and results may vary. Nevertheless, the instructions laid out in this guide are certainly a great place to start, and we are here to help in any way we can!

LATE DECEMBER – EARLY JANUARY

-If necessary, clean any new leaves (leaves that accumulated since the fall cleanup) that collect in corners, fence lines, low spots, etc. If leaves pile up and remain in one area for too long, they will smother the grass and kill it. This is when turf damage can happen that often goes unnoticed. Failing to clean up the leaves can prevent you from achieving a great lawn.

FEBRUARY

-Apply a “full-rate” concentration of granular Prodiamine crabgrass pre-emergent. This concentration of herbicide is designed to provide crabgrass protection in a single annual treatment. The pre-emergent treatment is often mixed with a high-quality fertilizer. Unfortunately, if you’re applying your own fertilizer, you’ll be limited to a relatively small amount of choices. You will want to find something with a medium nitrogen content that has a blend of slow release, quick release, and micronutrients, if possible. Applying the pre-emergent at this stage will give the herbicide time to disperse into the soil and protect against many spring weeds, in addition to crabgrass.

-IMPORTANT: Be very certain that you are applying a pre-emergent that contains Prodiamine. If you use a product that contains Dimension (another very common pre-emergent herbicide), you will be applying it too early for effective results. Read the label or ask a salesperson for help choosing the correct product.

-Now is the time to cut back any deciduous shrubs that have outgrown their space. Drastic cutting can be done at this point. You want to cut them back before they sprout leaves, but it is also important to minimize the time that the cut wounds remain open. Your healthy shrubs will soon begin to regrow and heal themselves.

MARCH

-Blanket spray for broadleaf weeds. Use a three-way or similar herbicide (Trimec). Mix and dilute per the instructions. Many cold-season weeds and dandelions appear in early spring, so this is a good time to get ahead of them.

-Before the lawn begins growing, mow it at 3 inches. This will clean up the lawn and stimulate its growth to get an early green appearance. This is not something our mowing crews do automatically. We find that most of our clients would prefer to save the money and wait until the grass begins to grow. If you’d like us to cut it short early, just let us know.

-Unless we’ve had an extremely dry previous few weeks, lawn watering will not yet be necessary.

-Trim ornamental grasses, lilies, liriope, and roses. Roses will need to have any deadwood pruned and cut back to the appropriate height. Most roses can tolerate severe cutback to anywhere between 6-24 inches depending on the variety.

-Clean leaves from corners, edges, and landscape beds.

-Spot spray for weeds in landscape beds. Keeping up with them early will prevent bigger problems during the season.

-Install dark brown hardwood chipped mulch, which should not be confused with the more common shredded mulch made with a mixture of hard and soft woods. Shredded mulch does not look nearly as nice, loses its color faster, and decomposes much more quickly.

APRIL – MAY

-Second spring blanket spray for broadleaf weeds. New weeds will appear since the first treatment, and a second treatment will be necessary. Apply a “split application” or “half-rate” treatment of Dimension pre-emergent. This treatment will extend the crabgrass protection into late summer.

-Weekly mowing at a height of 3.5 inches.

-Watering is rarely needed during this period. Spring rainfall is typically plenty to keep the lawn in good shape. Only water during unusually hot and dry periods that last between a week to 10 days.

-Spot spray for landscape weeds.

-Prune Mugo pines and Alberta spruce. Only trim the candles of the pines and the soft new growth of the spruce. Use hand shears, and be careful not to damage old growth. To shape, use hand pruners to remove branches at the base.

JUNE – JULY

-Apply a 3-month, 100% slow release fertilizer. This type of fertilizer is included in our program and is very difficult for a homeowner to locate. In fact, only one other (highly respected) company offers it in the Kansas City area. It’s expensive, but it will efficiently feed the lawn throughout the summer. Our supplier does not sell to the public, so it’s unlikely that you’ll find this fertilizer. Instead, you can apply a low- to mid-rate fertilizer with the highest slow release percentage you can find. If the fertilizer is only a 5-6 week release, you’ll probably need to reapply in August.

-Apply grub control before July 4th.

-Blanket spray for nutsedge weeds, if necessary. If you’re doing this yourself, you may be able to achieve acceptable results by spot spraying if weeds are scarce. There are two common herbicides used for spraying nutsedge. The less expensive option will contain Sulfentrazone, but this chemical is easily overapplied and frequently kills turf. Even our trained technicians do not use it. Instead, look for a product called Sedgehammer. It can be expensive, but it’s better than killing your lawn!

-Spot spray for broadleaf weeds in turf areas.

-Once the spring rains have ended and the heat increases, water twice a week for 45 minutes per zone (25 minutes for zones that have fan sprayer nozzles). This frequency allows the water to seep deeper into the ground and the surface to dry out between watering cycles, minimizing the chances of turf disease. This method will allow the turf to go dormant but keeps it healthy. If you require a dark green color all season, you’ll need to water much more frequently, but you may experience problems with disease. For best water efficiency, water in the early morning hours before the sun comes up.

-Trim all shrubs that need it in late June to mid-July.

-Spot spray for weeds in landscape beds.

AUGUST

-Spot spray for nutsedge and broadleaf weeds.

-Once the spring rains have ended and the heat increases, water twice a week for 45 minutes per zone (25 minutes for zones that have fan sprayer nozzles). This frequency allows the water to seep deeper into the ground and the surface to dry out between watering cycles, minimizing the chances of turf disease. This method will allow the turf to go dormant but keeps it healthy. If you require a dark green color all season, you’ll need to water much more frequently, but you may experience problems with disease. For best water efficiency, water in the early morning hours before the sun comes up.

-Spot spray for weeds in landscape beds.

SEPTEMBER

-Aerate and seed. Verticut, if necessary, to fill in any bare spots. Laying seed while you aerate maintains soil quality and keeps the lawn thick. Many factors create a beautiful lawn, but annual seeding probably has the single biggest impact on creating a lawn that wows your neighbors. Thick lawns also help prevent weeds. If you have thin or bare areas, something will grow there, and it usually isn’t turfgrass. You just can’t beat the appearance of a thick lawn that doesn’t have thin areas or bare spots.

-Apply starter fertilizer that also contains a root stimulator.

-If you’ve seeded your lawn, follow the instructions for watering after overseeding, which can be found in the link below.

-If you did not seed your lawn, use the summer watering instructions, but reduce the watering frequency by up to 50% depending on rainfall and current daytime temperatures.

-VERY IMPORTANT: If you use us or another company to mow your lawn, it is very important that you turn off the watering a couple days before each mowing to allow the surface to dry out. After seeding, the ground will be wet, and the large commercial mowers can easily damage the new grass no matter how careful the operator is. If possible, you can even push-mow the lawn for a couple weeks after it’s been seeded.

OCTOBER

-Blanket spray for broadleaf weeds. Many weeds, including dandelions, germinate in fall. Spraying for them now will help eliminate them and reduce the number of weeds that grow during the following spring. If you have previously used a 2, 4-D formulation twice in the season, you will need to use a different broadleaf product for this treatment. State regulations prohibit using 2, 4-D as a blanket spray more than twice per year. Alternatively, you can spot spray as many times as you’d like, but the results may not be as good.

-If you’ve seeded your lawn, follow the instructions for watering after overseeding, which can be found in the link below.

-If you did not seed your lawn, use the summer watering instructions, but reduce the watering frequency by up to 50% depending on rainfall and current daytime temperatures.

-If rainfall is sparse, consider watering once or twice a week for 10-15 minutes per zone.

-Spot spray for weeds. Trim all shrubs that need it.

NOVEMBER – EARLY DECEMBER

-Apply a high nitrogen winterizer fertilizer. This can be done even if there are leaves on the ground because the vast majority of granules will fall right through the leaves. Any granules that stay on top of the leaves will fall once the leaves are disturbed by wind, a mower, a rake, or rinsed off by rain. The leaves will not reduce the effectiveness of the treatment.

-Full leaf cleanup. Remove leaves from turf areas and landscape beds.

-No watering is necessary. Most sprinkler systems will be winterized by early to mid-November.

Final Note

Short of writing several books on the subject, it’s simply not possible to talk about every important detail of great lawn maintenance practices. Your lawn is unique, and no single set of instructions or advice will be able to address the needs of every yard. If you have any questions about your lawn, we’re here for you! Advice is always free, and, if you need someone to do the work, we’re happy to help with that too!

Heartland Turf and Landscape