Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Lawn renovation and Fall lawn care
Our lawns are in prime growth period right now, the cooler temps and, usually, more frequent rainfall create this growth spurt.
It’s a good time to dethatch and aerate your lawn. Thatch is that brownish looking layer of dead tissue between the green grass and the soil. If left alone, thatch can eventually kill your lawn.
Renting a mechanical dethatcher is the best and easiest way to rid your lawn of thatch.
Aerating your lawn allows rain, oxygen and nutrients to penetrate the soil. Again, renting a core or plug aerator will give you the best results.
The ground is still warm so grass seed will germinate well at this time of year plus there’s no competition with annual weed seeds. The most important thing for you to remember is to make sure there is seed to soil contact. Lawn Renovation information from the UofMN Ext.
Starting this week, we’ll also be in the best position to start controlling those perennial broadleaf weeds such as dandelions, white clover, creeping Charlie and broadleaf plantain. Like our grass plants, these weedy plants are also actively growing and will actively take up and transport the weed killer throughout the plant.
Fall herbicide for lawns [Iowa State University]
Control options for common Minnesota lawn and landscape weeds
Creeping Charlie control from the UofMN Ext.
For example, dandelions are best treated from about mid-September to early October in cooler zones. Plants will be killed this Fall but the real difference will be observed next spring when there are few to no dandelions in what may have been a previously heavily infested area.
Broadleaf herbicides applied in Fall will be absorbed by the broadleaf weed’s foliage and transported to the roots along with the carbohydrates, resulting in the destruction of the broadleaf weeds. Spring applications are generally less effective than fall applications. REMEMBER, apply chemicals with caution. It’s not my favorite thing to do but seems to be a perennial battle with someone wanting a pristine lawn and the other wanting to do it organically!! ? Here are some non-chemical methods:
Eartheasy lawn care
Organic weed control from The Spruce
By the way, this is NOT the time to use a pre-emergent for crabgrass, leave that for Spring. Continue to mow your lawn as needed, keeping the height at about 2 ½ to 3 inches long.
By late October, you can cut your lawn back to about 2 to 2 ½ inches long.
Of course, there’s always letting it be….
By the way, this is NOT the time to use a pre-emergent for crabgrass, leave that for Spring.
It IS time to fertilize your lawn, if that’s your thing. Now to mid-October. Continue to mow your lawn as needed, keeping the height at about 2 ½ to 3 inches long. By late October, you can cut your lawn back to about 2 to 2 ½ inches long.
Or go clover!
