Late Summer Lawn Care

Late summer and early fall lawn care complete the active attention your lawn needs throughout the growing season. In planning this late season treatment, it is most important to pay attention to weather conditions, temperature, and humidity rather than dates in determining the type of maintenance you will be providing. As long as the weather is warm and rain scarce, you should continue your summer lawn care protocol. As temperatures begin dipping and moisture from dew returns to the grass and soil you can add early fall lawn care protocols.  Cooler air holds less moisture;  as temperatures dip during the nights of late summer and early fall the dew precipitates on the tender grass leaves. This moist environment is conducive to renewed seeding and fertilizing.

Following are the key points of late summer and early fall lawn care

• Remember to continue summer lawn maintenance until the hot weather ends, usually sometime in September
• Seed or re-sod damaged sectors of the lawn. The start of cooler weather is an ideal time for seeding the grass areas that have suffered damage during the summer due to heat or wear. Brown patches that fail to revive in the cooler weather or areas with scant grass should be over-seeded or re-sodded. The ideal time for grass repair depends on your local climate.
• Keep mowing. Ideally you should cut grass to a height of 2.5 - 3 inches during late summer and most of the fall. This height will permit more leaf tissue to be involved in making food, which will result in stronger more robust root systems that fare better in the winter. For the last two mowings of the year, lower the blade to 2.0" - 2.5"; this will permit sunlight to reach the crown and ensure that less leaf turns brown in the winter.
• Do core aerification. As fall begins aerate your soil to allow air, water, and fertilizer to reach the roots. You can rent a gas powered aerator or have your landscaping company do the job for you. Leave the cores in place as this will facilitate thatch control.
• Do thatch control as needed. Thatch is a brown fibrous mat lying between the earth and the green part of the grass. It is composed of living and dead material including plant roots and other dead and decaying parts of the plant sloughed off by the grass. You can remove thatch with a rented vertical mower or better yet have your landscaper remove it for you.
• Do weed control as needed. As the days become shorter, perennial weeds send the food they have synthesized all summer to their root system for winter storage. This is the ideal time to treat with weed control pesticides as the plant will draw the poison down into the roots along with the food and subsequently die. Plant pesticides work best when the temperature is between 50-80 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Fertilize grass in the fall as needed. As the temperatures drop and dew begins forming, the fall growing season commences. This is an ideal time to fertilize your lawn. Before adding fertilizer, check your soil to see which chemicals are missing.
• Rake the leaves. Leaf raking is mostly a late fall project; however, it is a good idea to rake leaves as soon as they begin falling and not let them lie for a while and form matted material that can block the sunlight and foster mold growth. You can combine mowing and leaf collection into one chore with a mower that has a grass and leaf collection bag or  vacuum system.

As  summer ends and turns to fall let consistency and not over-confidence characterize your continuing lawn care strategy. With this in mind, you will finish the season in style and produce grass that easily weathers the winter and comes out strong again next spring.

For the tops in outdoor lawn care and masonry contact the Turf Barbers,  914 302 2469; 2929 Quinlan Street Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 http://www.theturfbarbers.com