Let me save you the time from watching the weather forecast over the next 4 months and we can all just say it is going to be HOT! Yes we will see a few days under triple digits but the majority of them will be above 100 and the Bermudagrass and Paspalum are going to start taking over and pushing the winter Ryegrass out.

We are seeing soil temperatures that are favorable for warm season growth and with a little bit of time you can make this a painless transition process. If you opted not to overseed your lawn last year I am sure by now you’ve mowed the grass plenty of times and are starting to see it develop into a lush turf. The idea is to keep your lawn perfect and not get behind by forgetting to add fertilizer and a great choice with overseeded or non overseeded turf is the Soil Burst 5-15-10. The magnesium, calcium, and iron will jump start your lawn and get it the right nutrients to have a healthy start to the year. Below you will find instructions on making sure you have a good transition and your lawn stays healthy as the weather changes.

Step By Step Transitioning

1. Gradually lower your mowing heights to reduce the turf canopy. Warm season grasses are not shade tolerant and excess ryegrass provides shade. No need to scalp the lawn, just lower the height down and begin to thin out the grass.

2. Lightly verticut the lawn to open up the canopy and let sunlight into the grass below.

3. Be careful of fertilizer rates at this time of the year and stick to slow release products such as Soil Burst 4-0-6, 7-7-7, or 16-0-4. These can be applied in low nitrogen doses and will keep your lawn dark green (1.5 qts/1000 SF).

4. If you have standing water it is a great time to aerify so you can help air and water better infiltrate the soil.

5. Increase your mowing frequency to two times per week to reduce turf canopy.

6. Gradually back off the water in April and May to stress out the ryegrass when soil temperatures reach 64 degrees (usually around mid April). Turning off the water completely will stress out the warm season turf and ryegrass so this is not the optimal approach. Use 70% of your normal water rate.

7. When soil temperatures reach 64 degrees apply Soil Burst 5-15-10 at 20 pounds per 1000 SF to give the grass a jump start on the year.

8. Enjoy the beautiful summer lawn!

Watering

Let’s talk about how much you need to be watering to get your grass growing and properly transitioned. As I have been preaching for the last few years you do not want to just turn your water off for a week to ten days and kill the ryegrass because you are also stunting the growth of the bermudagrass. All grasses need water to survive so cutting off water only causes you to have more issues with your lawn. During the summer you should use between 1” and 1 ½” of water per week and that can be broken up into 3-4 days depending on your soil type. During this time of the year you want to use 70 percent of that amount so your bermudagrass/paspalum thrives and the ryegrass begins to choke itself out. Over a couple weeks of this practice, lower mowing heights, and opening up the turf canopy with a verticutter you will transition very quickly. It does not take much for your warm season grass to take off and begin to grow but if you have too healthy of ryegrass you are putting the equivalent of a shade canopy over the turf.

This is why you don't turn your water off for 7-10 days

Lots of people often ask if verticutting is the same thing as dethatching and the answer is no. While they are similiar the cultural practice of each is slightly different. To verticut a home lawn you would use a self propelled unit that utilizes vertical blades to help thin out the turf canopy. You set this machine to run through the grass leaf tissue and it never affects the root system. Thinning out the turf canopy allows light in, helps the grass use less water, and most of all it gives your grass new growing points.

Photo courtesy of Renothin

Dethatching is the process of removing built up organic matter. This is a process that usually needs to be done every three to four years and it is similiar to a verticut except it cuts much deeper into the soil. it is extremely important when operating this machine that you don’t go so deep that you’re pulling up root mass. Dethatching should be done during the summer months when the grass is actively growing and when you have an extreme spongy feel to your turf.

At this time of the year we battle through some tough visual periods with our lawns but there is no reason to be concerned unless you’re just seeing dirt. The yellow to brown tinge is the ryegrass starting to die out and it takes some time for the bermudagrass or paspalum to overtake it. This is not an instant process and you should keep in mind that having dead material on top of your bermudagrass is providing shade and warm season grasses hate shade. This is why it is good to verticut or rake up any dead material and allow the sunlight to get into the plant so it can grow.

Last but not least remember everyone will go through this painful process including high end million dollar golf courses so don’t worry about seeing some brown grass.

One of the most common questions during late October/early November is “I overseeded my lawn a few weeks ago and now I need to know how to proceed?” First of all, if you are asking yourself this question that means you take pride in your lawn and you are looking to have a beautiful lawn all winter and spring. If you put the seed down and haven’t thought about what’s next you may just end up with the yellow lawn on the block after we get a couple fall freezes. I have talked about several fertilizers that will work to get your lawn established and I will go over another plan of attack today so you can look beyond the month of October and enjoy your turf all winter long. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re getting closer to the overseeding process! I am sure many of you reading my blog have started to see perennial ryegrass arriving in stores by the truck full, but we are still a little early. It isn’t too early to start some of the initial prep work, but it is still a little hot to drop seed. I realize that some of you won’t have a choice in the timing of overseeding, but if you do have a choice it is best to wait. Today’s blog is going to give you 10 easy steps on how to overseed and establish a great lawn for the winter. I have also attached a short video on doing so. www.youtube.com

Read the rest of this entry »

We are half way through the month of July and there have been a few days of rainfall and some nice humidity that has given our grass a boost. As I said a week ago this has been a particularly trying transition year. I have answered tons of e-mails from people concerned early on about the growth of their bermudagrass or paspalum, but as we move forward it seems people are starting to see what is necessary to get their lawn up and going in the summer time. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been one of those transition years that make us in the turf industry want to get back to the drawing board and find that magical year round grass. Will there ever be a grass like this? It is doubtful, but at least in the mean time there is paspalum!

If you are a bermudagrass grower or going through a tough transition this summer I am going to give you a few tips and try to alleviate some of the panic that may be setting in as you see your beautiful ryegrass start to turn brown. I want to explain just a few things in today’s blog that will help everyone understand the different phases of growing grass and how to get through the growing pains. I have attached several pictures that will make everyone see just how normal it is to have a few minor issues during transition. Read the rest of this entry »

My beautiful overseeded lawn has turned brown over the last couple weeks. Do I need to apply a fungicide, insecticide, or is this normal?

It is not normal for your entire lawn to go brown at the same time. What you are seeing is the quick die off of the ryegrass. Normally we have a month to two month long gradual transition period and the ryegrass dies slowly and gives way to the bermudagrass or paspalum. This year we had a mild spring and then were blasted with a heat wave causing the ryegrass to shrivel up. If you have a small lawn, lightly rake up the dead material and give the warm season grass a place to grow or lightly verticut to remove the material. I posted a short video on how to verticut last week if you didn’t get a chance to watch it. Read the rest of this entry »

I am pretty sure that I have utterly confused a lot of people about just how to verticut your lawn, and why I only suggest dethatching or power raking every few years. I put together a little video talking about the basics of verticutting and showing how and what machine to use for this process. Read the rest of this entry »

I guess you can say that I have been slacking on the blogs lately so I will try and catch everyone up on where you lawn should be at this time of the year.

We’ve had some unusual weather which has resulted in a very slow transition of the ryegrass over to our warm season turf. People with non-overseeded turf probably noticed that it took much longer this year to get their lawn actively growing. Read the rest of this entry »

Our 4 weeks of spring are coming to an end as the forecast appears to be touching close to 100 degrees for the next week.  I am being hopeful when I say that it is only for the next week, but most likely the cooler weather is behind us, the soil temperature is going to rise quickly.  It will be bermuda/paspalum season before we know it. 

The soil temperature is still hovering right around 60 degrees so we have not seen an excessive amount of growth with our warm season grasses, but I am sure most people are starting to see their lawns green up quickly.  If you did not overseed this past year and your lawn is a little behind on color the answer is fertilizer.  The Soil Burst starter 5-15-10 is your answer because we are looking to warm up the soil and using this dark pelletized granular will get you going in the right direction.  The magnesium, calcium, and iron will give your lawn a great kick start and get it ready for the growing season as it begins to arrive.  The nice part of using a slow release product like this is that you can expect to receive 4-6 weeks of results.  Read the rest of this entry »