Turf programme
Fertilizer and Herbicide Applications
A four season programme timed to your grass type and the Kansas growing season, applied by a licensed technician rather than sprayed on a fixed date.
Chapter 01
Four seasons, not four dates
The programme runs across the whole year because a lawn wants different things at different points in it. Feeding to push growth when the plant cannot support it is wasted product, and in the heat of a Kansas summer it is worse than wasted.
Timing follows the grass type on your property and what the season is actually doing. A cool season lawn and a warm season lawn want their heaviest feed at opposite ends of the year, and treating them the same is why some lawns look tired every August.
River rock foundation bed with a row of young arborvitae and ornamental grasses against maintained turf
Pre emergent timing is the entire crabgrass job
Crabgrass is controlled before it germinates or it is not really controlled at all. The pre emergent application has to go down and be watered in before soil temperatures reach the point where seed starts moving, which is driven by the soil rather than by the date on the calendar.
Applied a fortnight late it does very little, and the whole season then becomes an argument with a weed that has already won. This is the single application where timing matters more than product.
Chapter 03
Broadleaf weeds, and why autumn does more than spring
Dandelion, clover and the rest are most vulnerable in the autumn, when perennial weeds are moving resources down into their roots for the winter and carry the treatment down with them. A spring application knocks the top off and looks impressive for a fortnight. An autumn application deals with the plant.
A thick lawn does a large part of this work on its own, which is why feeding, mowing height and overseeding are part of weed control rather than separate from it.
Licensed application, and what that means
Applications are made under a State of Kansas Commercial Pesticide Applicator licence. That governs what can be applied, at what rate, and what records are kept.
In practice it means the rate on your lawn is the label rate for the conditions on the day rather than a judgement call, and that there is a record of what went on and when.
State of Kansas Commercial Pesticide Applicator. Member of the Kansas Turfgrass Association.
Turf programme
The pre emergent window is driven by soil temperature
It moves from year to year, which is why the programme is scheduled against conditions rather than against a fixed date in the diary.
Call the Auburn office on (785) 256-7300, or request a consultation and someone will come and walk the property with you.