Experts Advise Lawn Care Does Not End With Summer

By Nancy K. Crevier

It might be that your neighbor knows a few secrets about lawn care, if it seems the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. After all, every homeowner knows that lawns need food, water, and air throughout the summer, but what happens once the weather takes a turn to the cool side? Area lawn experts each have their own take on autumn lawn upkeep, but all agree that certain lawn care practices after summer can go a long way toward a sumptuous sod next spring.

Hopefully, says James Higinbotham of Ground Crew Landscaping in Newtown, you took the time in late August and early September to aerate and reseed spotty areas of your lawn. Core aeration relieves compaction and “opens up the lawn,” giving it a chance for nutrients to work optimally. Early fall seeding gives grass the chance to grow and get established before winter sets in.

“Fall fertilizer, or winterizer,” says Mr Higinbotham, “is probably the most important fertilizer of the year you can put down.” Fertilizer applied in the fall works quietly beneath the surface all winter long, greening up the lawn come spring.

If your lawn still has brown patches after aerating, seeding, feeding, and watering, Mr Higinbotham suggests tugging up a few patches to check for grubs. Grubs are the larvae of beetles that cause damage to the root system of lawns, resulting in brown, spongy patches. He says, “If the patch comes up like carpeting, roots and all, you probably have grubs.” A grub control, which requires diligent watering in, can be applied in the cooler months.

Another pest that creates mayhem in your lawn is the chinch bug. This tiny insect, says Garry Ober of Burr Farm on Obtuse Road, is apt to attack drought-stressed lawns: just what Connecticut residents are dealing with this fall. The chinch bug feeds on the crown of the grass creating a distinctive browning of the lawn that an expert can readily identify. Fortunately, if chinch bugs are adding to your autumn turf woes, it is not too late in the season to apply a control.

Don’t put away your lawnmower yet, either, say Mr Higinbotham and Chris Symes of Chris Symes Landscaping in Newtown. Both men advocate a shorter grass height in autumn to keep the lawn more easily raked of grass-smothering debris. “If you leave patches or piles of leaves,” Mr Symes warns, “it can kill the lawn.” By spring, he says, matted down and wet leaves will have made a mess of your lawn.

As the temperatures drop, grass should gradually be cut shorter. Lowering the height of your lawn by about a quarter-inch every other week until it is at a height of about two inches, says Mr Higinbotham, makes it easier to get up leaves, and keeps the soon-to-come snow from crushing long grass and setting the stage for snow mold. Lawns should be kept trimmed until the growing season ends, which in this unusually temperate autumn will be a few weeks longer than usual.

This summer’s drought was hard on lawns, says Linda Whippie, manager at Lexington Gardens on Church Hill Road. Because of the dry summer, people may think that the brown areas of their lawn indicate dead grass. Both Ms Whippie and Mr Higinbotham caution that in actuality, the grass may merely be dormant, waiting for cooler weather and some rain to make a come back.

“Don’t rake it up in the fall unless you are certain it is dead,” says Ms Whippie.

If we get more rain, or if you have a well that permits you to do deep watering, fall is “a great time to seed,” she says. “The seed sits there, the rye seed germinates and the rest are ready to go in the spring.”

Core aerating and overseeding (the application of new seed to spotty drought or insect-damaged areas) can be a boon in the fall, but if nature doesn’t cooperate and you are not willing to devote time to watering the newly spread seed, it can be a waste of time, money, and energy.

Fertilizing the lawn in the fall builds up the root system, Ms Whippie says, which is key to a healthy lawn.

What else is your neighbor with the green, green grass doing this autumn to make you look bad? If you have been waiting until spring to rake off fallen leaves, and your neighbor faithfully removes the fallen fronds, your lawn will not hold a candle to that pretty spread next door in April. Eliminating heavy leaf cover is essential. It does not matter if you go for the fresh air and exercise offered by brisk raking or prefer to strap on a leaf blower and easily blast away the debris. Leaves left on the grass over the winter smother it, creating problems in the spring.

“Oak leaves, especially, should be removed,” says Dan Holmes, owner of Holmes Fine Gardens in Sandy Hook, noting that oak leaves do not break down as quickly as other deciduous varieties. If you lack a place in which to dump the raked up leaves, he suggests mulching the leaves and leaving the mulch on the lawn to nourish the grass over the winter.

“Connecticut is a difficult spot to grow lawns without proper irrigation, especially this past summer. Our summers are hot and it can be dry. Fall is the best time, hands down, to overseed a lawn,” says this landscaper. He also agrees that the mechanical aeration of the soil is fundamental to lawn care, as is the application of a fertilizer

“Fall fertilizing is very important,” he says. “It [the lawn] takes it into the root system over the winter.”

What Mr Holmes advocates is an organic approach to lawn improvement. “Every person has a different expectation of what they want their lawn to look like. They need to walk the lawn, identify problem areas, and ascertain what’s going on.” Then, says Mr Holmes, the question is, what are they willing to do to achieve that?

Many commercially available fertilizers, foods, and insect controllers are synthetic, highly toxic products. Synthetic fertilizers are high in salts that leach out quickly from the soil, according to Mr Holmes. The chemical runoff from these products can end up in the ground water and, eventually, in drinking water if not used responsibly. And while your lawn may look nice and green on the surface for a few years, ultimately says Mr Holmes, synthetic fertilizers kill off the necessary microorganisms that keep grass plants alive. It is a case of too much of a good thing.

Mr Ober recommends a soil test before applying fertilizers if it appears your lawn is not recovering this fall from the dry summer weather. “People are worried about how lawns are perking up or not,” he says. A soil test can ascertain the proper nutrients needed for your lawn to obtain optimum results. For a small fee, a soil sample can be analyzed at the University of Connecticut. Go online to www.bartlett.arboretum.uconn.edu/new/soil.html for detailed information on obtaining a soil sample. Because there is a chance that more nitrogen will be leached into the water table when applied in late autumn, Mr Ober suggests fertilizing no later than mid-October, using a fertilizer that is at least 50 percent slow release material.

Mr Holmes recommends organic fertilizers. Organic fertilizers have the advantage of building up the biology of the soil, something that caustic, synthetic fertilizers do not do. They also provide foods for the microorganisms necessary to a vigorous lawn.

The use of milky spore is an example of a natural grub control. The spore is a naturally occurring fungus that attacks grubs; but Mr Holmes warns that it sometimes can take two years for the fungi to develop and become effective. “There is some debate as to the effectiveness of the treatment,” he admits.

Finally, one thing consumers want to be aware of, says Mr Holmes, is the source of the organic product. A product can be high in heavy metals if not from a reliable source, but still be labeled organic.

Says Mr Holmes, “If your lawn is thick and full, it will choke out weed competition. Keep it watered, fertilized, and seeded in bad spots.”

Ultimately, patience, persistence, and a dedication to tending to your lawn not only in spring and summer, but fall, as well, is the trick to creating a lush lawn. Who knows? Maybe next summer your neighbor will gaze on your turf and turn green — with envy.