The Serious Lawn Amateur Speaks Up

Lawn grass is made up of an assortment of perennial grasses most of which are extremely winter hardy and cold loving. An established lawn of almost any regular high-grade grasses comes out of the coldest winter early and unscathed.

Troubles usually begin in the middle of the summer in the crab-grass belt (an area with long periods of hot and dry weather). At this time annual crabgrass (digitaria) germinates quickly. Growth is astoundingly rapid and it soon shades out the good grasses with its broad blades and heavy growth, then lies down flat to duck the lawn mower and eventually takes over the lawn completely. A copious amount of seed is produced in spite of close mowing and a source of next year’s crab-grass is assured. About the only way to completely kill the seeds is with a flame torch or soil sterilant.

As in war, a good offense is the best defense, so a good, thick, deep-rooted lawn is the basic defense against crabgrass. This is especially so since the shading retards seed germination and the crowding causes erect growth so that even a high-cutting lawn mower prevents seeding. It is cruel lack of generalship to march a spring-seeded half-grown lawn against the threat of a burning summer and such an enemy as crabgrassl

Selective herbicides are good and becoming better each year, but they need to be used with care. For example, they should not be applied during extremely hot weather since injury to the permanent lawn grasses is usually the unhappy result of this treatment.

Ideally a lawn should be well established before the crucial test of summer. This suggests seeding as early in the fall as mid-August. Seeding a few weeks before this time does no harm but the seed will lie dormant until the temperatures drop to around 6 degrees.

The finest seed mixtures, low in quick nurse grasses, may - and usually do - show very slow germination for this reason. Grass germinates and grows well in cold, even frosty weather. Thanksgiving Day is not too late to make a lawn in the vicinity of New York City. Nature provides exactly the conditions the seed needs to make the maximum growth through the winter and early spring. Much growing time is lost by waiting till spring to sow seed as the ground must warm up before it can be worked; also spring rains may make the ground muddy.

So now it is October. My conscientious neighbor has kept the crab-grass down by a couple of applications of selective crab-grass killers. Thanks to a phenomenally long cold spring and a well-watered summer there is still considerable grass standing on his lawn.

“It is time to reseed” I tell him.

He has about half a lawn there now, due more to luck than sense, and the bed is certainly well prepared. The old grass roots will help hold seed and soil till the new grass grows. You won’t know your place by Thanksgiving, and by next summer you’ll be able to lick the crabgrass with one or two applications of weed-killer.

The lawn should come through the summer in good shape as long as he does not get overconfident and neglect the grass feeding and treatment program.

by V Grieff

Related Articles

• Tips in Choosing the Perfect Grass for Your Landscape - If you enjoy the look and feel of grassy lawns, then there are some important things you should now when it comes to choosing the perfect grass for your landscape. By learning a few things, you will be able to create a lawn that is low maintenance, energy efficient and makes your lawn look the
• A Dozen Lawn Weeds… What To Do About Them - Lawn weeds where do they come from? On the wind, the feet of birds and other animals, from untreated manure or compost dressings, in the topsoil you may have bought— and alas, in the seed you thought was pure grasses. Broadleafed weeds, in general, can be killed with 2,4-D, which is mentioned under several of the