Category: Maintaining a Home Lawn

A November application of fertilizer is extremely important to keep your lawn healthy and looking good this fall and next year. Late fall N promotes good root development, enhances storage of energy reserves, and extends color retention this fall. Most...

Though weather this summer and fall wasn’t as bad as last year, we’ve still had our share of thin turf and fall events are taking their toll on the cool-season grasses. The perennial cause is the naturally shallow rooting of...

The trees are dropping their leaves and it is important to prevent a heavy layer of leaves from building-up on your turf before winter. Heavy layers of tree leaves will shade the grass can smother and kill grass yet this...

Fall use athletic fields are taking a beating right now. To help those fields, fertilizing aggressively with 1.0 lb N in September and again in October will help. Fertilizing is the most inexpensive but effective way to improve any sports...

It is increasingly common for newly-established lawns to thin or completely fail within a year. There are many reasons for this to occur but here are my top ten: 1. Poor soil - heavy clay in today’s subdivisions is not...

From the parts of the state with adequate rainfall, we have received reports of turf with white, black, gray, red, orange, purple, and or rust-colored powder (see photo). This is slime mold, a fungus-like organism that often occurs during prolonged...

Persistent air temperatures of 90F and soil temperatures greater than 80F combine with high humidity and adequate rainfall (in some areas) is also doing in the Poa annua (annual bluegrass) and Poa trivialis (rough bluegrass)on lawns and athletic fields. Patches...

Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, and perennial ryegrass are now producing seedheads. This natural phenomenon is induced by daylength and occurs every spring. Seedheads detract from the appearance of a turf because they grow quickly and unevenly and the tough seed...

With the rainy weather lately, it is inevitable that you will have to mow when it is wet. Though we much prefer to mow when the grass is dry, it is better to mow when wet rather than waiting until...

We have received a ton of calls in the last week about improving shaded lawns. Following is a summary about shaded lawns:  Turf does not perform well in the shade  “Shade-adapted“ grass species and cultivars will always perform...

A November application of fertilizer is extremely important to keep your lawn healthy and looking good this fall and next year. Late fall N promotes good root development, enhances storage of energy reserves, and extends color retention this fall. Most...

Currently advertised on television and in home improvement stores are “winterizer” fertilizers. There’s good and bad about winterizer fertilizers. It’s good that they are emphasizing fall and late fall fertilizer. These fertilizers usually contain the same amount of potassium as...

The trees are dropping their leaves and it is important to prevent a heavy layer of leaves from building-up on your turf before winter. Heavy layers of tree leaves that shade the grass can smother and kill grass yet this...

Nitrogen stimulates increased photosynthesis and the extra energy derived from this goes directly into growth, respiration to maintain the plant (similar to humans), or into storage. In early November, the temperature is still adequate for photosynthesis, but cool enough to...

The summer’s heat and humidity have taken an unusually high toll on turf in lawns, athletic fields, and golf courses. Most of the decline can be attributed to poor root growth weakening cool-season grasses and starting an avalanche of secondary...

With the returning rains in the state, now is the most important time to fertilize cool-season turfgrasses like creeping bentgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and tall or fine fescue. September fertilization is crucial on all turf areas regardless if it...

A few rust calls are starting to trickle in, which is typical at this time of the year. Rust symptoms are reddish-orange lesions or spots on the leaf blades and a rust-colored powder that you can rub off with your...

The dry summer allowed sandbur to get a competitive edge over the other lawn grasses on the sandy soils in northern Indiana. Most people don’t realize they have sandbur in their lawn until they come into painful contact with it,...

Tired of the way your lawn looks? If it hasn’t looked up to par this summer with the relatively good weather, it never will and reseeding your lawn is an option. Mid-August is the best time to seed a new...

There are many questions about turf survival in drought with the on-going drought in most parts of the state. Though we understand many of the mechanisms of turf survival in drought, it’s hard to duplicate all of the potential situations...