Crabgrass in Jacksonville, FL

In most people's minds the lawn care season begins in the spring here in Jacksonville, FL.  However, most experts would say that the most critically timed lawn care service application of the year take place in February.  This is your crab grass pre-emergent.  Unlike other parts of Florida, Jacksonville will often get a freeze in the winter.  A freeze can selectively kill crabgrass in your yard.  

This is a case where nature can do what chemicals cannot.  It is only after a freeze selectively controls crabgrass, but before soil temperatures reach 65 degrees when you must apply your pre-emergent crabgrass application.  Pre-emergent weed control is highly effective in keeping crabgrass and other weeds from germinating.  Over time crabgrass can be greatly reduced or eliminated with proper year over year care.  

It is important to ensure your desirable turf is hardy enough to withstand the freeze itself.  Mow higher than normal recommended heights for your turf and water the night before a hard freeze if possible.  Lawns in the shade will often withstand cold damage better than yards in the full sun.  

Stay away from lawn care service companies that only come every 45 to 60 days.  It is not possible to properly time crabgrass and large patch applications on this schedule.  It is our recommendation to use a monthly lawn service for best results. Longer service intervals mean poorly timed applications which can lead to failures.

Winter is the season when people tend to overlook lawn care, but it is extremely important to have your lawn service company apply these critical applications with proper timing.  Once crabgrass has germinated it cannot be controlled in St. Augustine turf throughout the remainder of the growing season. Crabgrass pre-emergent is included in our regular service.

Lawn Fertilizer

Properly applying fertilizer can require some expertise.  When you are picking a lawn service company here in Jacksonville.  We recommend selecting a monthly lawn service and staying away from companies that come only 45 to 60 days.  Proper knowledge of a landscape and timing is everything.  A company that comes only 6 times a year cannot possibly know your landscape well enough to make the correct decisions.  

Current recommendations from the University of Florida suggest applying the first fertilizer application of the year in the beginning of April.  In the past the first application has been applied in March, but homeowners were not getting the full benefit due to a number of late freezes.  In Duval county you are permitted to apply between 2 and 4 pounds of nitrogen each year.  Current fertilizer restrictions make timing and proper applications even more critical.

We recommend applying one pound in the spring.  Then putting your turf on a spoon feeding regimen.  Our lawn service company, Trutco, applies low amounts of nitrogen every month to keep the turf properly fed.  We will use one pound of nitrogen to apply to a landscape that has experienced unexpected stress throughout the duration of service.  We advise homeowners to stay away from heavy fall feedings here in Jacksonville, FL.  The large patch fungus has become so prevalent that it is very risking to put a full pound of nitrogen on a landscape.  Nitrogen can also have undesirable results to your turf.  Not only can it accelerate a fungus, it can make your lawn a more desirable feeding ground for fall army worms.  Army worms are selective feeders.  They prefer heavily fertilized lawns in the shade.  It would be unwise to use a heavy nitrogen fertilizer in response to worm damage.  

For more tips or free advice please don't hesitate to give us a call at (904) 303-7285.

Rain and proper lawn irrigation.

Irrigation can often be a point of contention with a  lawn service.  We don't think it has to be.  To get to the bottom of the irrigation issue it is important not only to check system coverage but also know your weather conditions and the value of natural rainfall.  

If it does not rain for one full hour, you should still irrigate.  Without doubt, accounting for rain is the most difficult part of deciding how often to water your lawn.  A good quality irrigation should be in the morning for 45 minutes to one hour each zone.  The goal should be 3/4" to 1" of water uniformly across all turf areas.  Current watering guidelines allow homeowners to water twice a week.  We recommend taking full advantage of both irrigations during the hottest months of summer.  Let's take a look at this month's rainfall to date at Julington Creek, the 32259 zip code, to illustrate how difficult determining when to irrigate can be:

Week one: It rained twice.  Monday's rainfall was 1/4".  This was not enough to account for an irrigation.  Short, heavy, rainfall can often have a negative effect on turf.  Roots will grow towards the water to soak up as much as possible in order to survive.  Over time, without proper irrigation practices roots will shorten, causing the turf to look yellow and be susceptible to nematodes, fungus, insects, and drought. The next rain was Friday.  Fridays rain was heavy and put out between 3/4" and 1".  If your irrigation was scheduled to run on Friday, it would be ok to skip this irrigation.

Week two.  Week two was interesting. It rained 6/7 days, however, only once day did it run long enough to warrant skipping an irrigation. The other 5 days of rain can have a negative effect on the turf if proper watering practices were not observed due to rain.

Week 3:  No rain at all.  It is critical to water properly and uniformly.  In a week with no rain, weakness in your irrigation coverage can more clearly be seen.  If one area of your yard is not as green as another it is a good idea to check to make sure you are getting the full 3/4" to 1" per irrigation.  Putting out less than that can cause shorter roots, yellow turf, and attract insects.

In summary, It has rained ten times so far in the month of June.  Only 2 of those rainfalls have had a positive effect on the turf.  Proper watering can be very complicated.  Looking backwards at the rainfall is the only way to make the right determination for your yard going forward.  A good rule of thumb is if it does not rain for one full hour you should still irrigate.