The cool temperatures have settled in and so has the start of the yellow ryegrass season. Amazingly enough, here in the desert we do get pretty cold during the winter months and a few days of hard frost is enough to wreak havoc on your lush ryegrass or now completely dormant turf. Read the rest of this entry »

The holidays are right around the corner and everyone getting ready to enjoy some family time.   I think you should do the same with your lawn!  This is a good week to put some final touches on your grass and get it ready for all your visitors.  Read the rest of this entry »

While most of the country has been experiencing some of the worst early winter weather on record, we have been blessed with some of the best weather I can remember for December–especially for our  lawns!   It is not that often that we only receive a couple frosts and then the temperature pops back up into the high 70’s, low 80’s.   Read the rest of this entry »

The month of December is a time of slow growth for your winter ryegrass.  We won’t start to see the resurgence of growth until early February when the temperatures start to warm back up.  Since we typically receive the majority of our harder frosts during December-February it is a great time to get outside and adjust your clock for the winter season.  If you are still running a summer watering schedule on your lawn, or if you haven’t adjusted your clock since you overseeded now is the time to make some changes.  Read the rest of this entry »

Well it’s Thanksgiving week.  As is usually the case we saw a little bit of frost in the outlining areas this morning and it appears we may get a couple more light frosts later in the week.  When we start to get frost you will notice that your beautiful ryegrass might be losing some of that new grass color.  The best thing you can do before we get some of the harder frosts is to apply a fertilizer such as calcium nitrate 15.5-0-0, 15-15-15 or if even a slow release dark pelletized product such as Soil Burst or Milorganite.  Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday was an eye opening day for several people in the turfgrass industry as West Coast Turf played host to Dr. Ronny Duncan for a workshop on how to grow paspalum at our Scottsdale farm.  He also gave some tips on keeping color and winter hardiness for bermudagrass and St. Augustine.  Many people are still opening up to the idea of growing a different grass than bermuda, but the paspalums is where the turf industry is quickly heading.   Read the rest of this entry »

At this time of the year there is not a warm season grass that is going to have time to root into the ground without having ryegrass to help it establish itself into the soil.  We are just beginning to get into the season of having cool nights and mild days, but that doesn’t mean you can’t put down sod.  Read the rest of this entry »

As we begin the month of November (and we are about 4-5 weeks into the overseed season) it’s time to make sure your lawn is ready for the winter.  Winterizing your lawn with overseeded turf is quite different than getting it ready to go dormant for the winter.  We have been blessed with some warm temperatures so far this fall keeping our non overseeded turf green, but as temperatures move into the 50’s at night you will start to see a sudden decline in non-overseeded turf growth. 

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About once a month it is always good to post some of the most frequently asked questions during that time period as well as some that I know many of you may have.

I overseeded too early and lost some of the seed to the heat, when do I know I need to reseed? Read the rest of this entry »

I had the chance last week to lie around the beaches of south Maui, and that gave me plenty of time to check out how great the paspalum looks on the lawn areas at the hotels and golf courses, come up with some new things to write about overseeding, and assess my horrible college football picks so far this season.  I know I have covered the basics of seeding and fertilizing, but since these steps are so vital to the success of a winter lawn I am going to tell you how to push the growth and fight off the loss of color when the frost hits.

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