 | Brad Lechner
owner and operator of Lechner’s Landscape & Lawn Service, LLC, has been in the lawn maintenance & landscaping industry since 1984. He is a certified Kansas Nursery Dealer & Certified Lawn Pest Control Applicator. Brad also maintains memberships in PLCAMA (Professional Lawn Care Association of Mid-America), Project Living Green, The Wichita Lawn, Flower and Garden Show, and The Better Business Bureau. Lechner's Landscape & Lawn Service does landscaping, lawn maintenance, lawn fertilization programs, tree & shrub insect and disease programs, tree & shrub pruning, seeding and sodding, and positive corrective drainage. You may contact Brad by e-mailing him at: lechnerslawn@aol.com, or by phone at (316) 729-2600. |
Lawn, Garden & Landscaping
2003-09-01 14:53:00
Fall lawncare tips
: Should you aerate and then slit seed as one process?
ANSWER: If you are trying to establish new seed, slit seeding, or verta-slice seeding, could be done right after aerating. The verta-slice seeding process may actually speed up the degradation of the cores left on the surface and permit a better seed to soil contact. However, for casual seeding, an aeration followed by overseeding and dragging can be sufficient. QUESTION: I have crabgrass and clover growing in my yard. I would like to know how to get rid of these pests. Should I gather my clippings and not use them in my compost? ANSWER: Crabgrass and clover both tend to invade lawns that have thinned for some reason and allowed the weeds to invade. Crabgrass, an annual grass, often occurs in lawns that are mowed too short, although there are other reasons the lawn may have thinned. Clover, a perennial broadleaf weed, often thrives in lawns that do not get enough fertilizer. The first suggestion would be to follow sound lawn care practices to get the lawn growing thicker and more vigorously. Crabgrass will die off this fall. Preemergence herbicides could be used to help prevent a repeat invasion next season. Clover, since it is a perennial, will not die out on its own. For optimum control, herbicides are the best way to control these perennial weeds. September would be a good time to treat them. As far as returning clippings after mowing, there is no reason not to. QUESTION: I think I have some type of bent grass. It started in areas near the down spouts and has now spread across the lawn, primarily in circular patches. As the temperature cools and the moisture is replenished it seems to be taking over the lawn. Where does it come from, and how do I get rid of it ? ANSWER: It does sound like bent grass. Bent grass likes moisture and higher levels of fertility. At high heights of cut, it tends to be shallow-rooted and pulls up easily. Bent grass will spread via stolons. Reducing nitrogen applications and water may help reduce spread somewhat, although you still need to make sure the Kentucky bluegrass is getting enough fertilizer to stay competitive. There is no selective way to treat bent grass in a bluegrass lawn. The patches will either have to be torn out or sprayed. In either case, it will be necessary to reseed or re-sod. Now would be a good time to address the problem, then mid-September would be a good time to re-seed. Bent grass can get started in a lawn through a variety of ways. It may have been in the original seed mix as a contaminant, for example, and then gradually got established and became more visible in the lawn. Perhaps the seed or stolons got carried onto your lawn some way.
