Soil Management

• Aerify and renovate compacted soils to restore turf coverage.
• Install drain tiles to redirect excess water away from areas with extensive drainage problems.
• Use organic fertilizers and amendments on newer stands of turf to increase nitrogen absorption.

Grass Selection

• Choose disease-resistant and drought-tolerant tall fescue blends or “low input” validated perennial ryegrass and Kentucky bluegrass cultivars.
• Tall fescue is a preferred low nitrogen input turfgrass species for lawns and has excellent season long nutrient uptake. Perennial ryegrass would be a good second choice.

Turf Establishment

• Don’t apply high nitrogen fertilizer before newly planted grass germinates or new sod has rooted.
• Use slow release nitrogen fertilizers instead of water soluble nitrogen fertilizers when establishing a new lawn.

Mowing

• Mow lawns to a height of 3 inches.
• Return clippings to recycle nutrients and reduce fertilizer need.
• Do not mow just prior to fertilizer applications. Wait 2, preferably 4, days after mowing to fertilize.

Irrigating

• Water lawns based on need, not on a schedule.
• Irrigate only when water loss due to evapotranspiration (ET) exceeds precipitation.
• Wet the root zone of the turf, typically the top 4-6 inch layer of soil.
• Adjust water rates to take into account shaded areas or areas with lower air flow. Those areas will have lower ET rates.
• Keep mowing heights as high as possible in the summer months.

Thatch Management

• Subsurface layering of undecomposed organic material can create poor drainage, increase nutrient losses through runoff, and result in poor use of fertilizer nitrogen.
• Reduce thatch to ½ inch or less to improve drainage and decrease runoff and nitrogen loss.

Fertilizing Lawns

• Base phosphorus and potassium applications on soil test results.

Nitrogen Rates

• Well established lawns where clippings have been returned may need little or no nitrogen. Other lawns may require up to1.5 to 3.0 lbs nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per year.
• Don’t apply more than 1 lb of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per application. It’s better to apply nitrogen at the 0.5 lb per 1,000 square feet rate at several key times during the season.
• Don’t apply more than 0.5 lb of water soluble nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per application.

Timing

• Don’t apply fertilizer in the spring unless the turf is thin or weeds are encroaching.
• Don’t apply fertilizers when soil temperatures are below 50º F.
• Reduce or eliminate fertilizer rates during peak summer stress.
• Don’t apply fertilizer in late fall. Make your last application in September or make two smaller applications one in early September and the other in early October.

Application

• Inspect and calibrate equipment before applications.
• Review area of application and determine square footage of area to be treated.
• After application, apply ¼ inch or less of water to wash fertilizer into the soil profile.
• Do not apply fertilizer within 20 ft of surface water, storm drains or groundwater recharge areas.
• Maintain buffer areas around impervious surfaces and surface water features.
• Sweep up any material spilled or accidentally applied to impervious surfaces.

Weed Management

• If turf is thin, a light spring fertilizer application can improve turf development to crowd out weeds.
• Don’t cut your grass less than 3 inches tall. Tall grass sends down deeper roots helping outcompete weeds.
• Organic fertilizers may provide better weed prevention particularly at higher cutting heights.