Getting Your Lawn Ready for Spring

posted on April 9th, 2012 by admin

The time is here. The weather is warming and your grass is starting to green. To get your grass ready for a healthy, lush summer, there are a few maintenance tasks for you to do.

First things first – weeds. While Zoysia grass is incredibly resilient and can choke out many weeds on its own, it is not entirely immune to the occasional weed. Start your spring prep by spot weeding any that have appeared over the winter or early spring. If you find yourself faced with weeds from the crabgrass family, you’ll need to use a pre-emergence product that will kill the seeds before they have a chance to germinate. For the best results, pre-emergence products should be used in early spring and again in the fall.

As new green shoots start appearing, this is the time to apply your fertilizer. There are two great options for giving your Zoysia a leg up as the growing season starts. First is our water-soluble Nutri–20 fertilizer. Second, we now sell organic Turf Thrive, a concentrated blend of bacteria and microbes that strengthen your lawn naturally. Remember most granulate type fertilizers are not appropriate for zoysia lawns. Read all labels carefully.

If possible, take some time to aerate your lawn. It is one of the single best things a homeowner can do for an established lawn. Aeration is the process of poking holes in your lawn to allow water and nutrients to penetrate to the roots of the grass. Aeration machines are generally available from equipment rental stores. We’ve created a list of Do’s and Don’ts of lawn aeration that can be found here.

Finally, check to see how much thatch is building up in your lawn. This layer of material called “thatch” is an accumulation of cuttings and stems that build up between the grass blades. This buildup can prevent air, water, and light from reaching the surface of the soil. You can remove thatch by using a hard rake or our organic liquid thatch remover. This doesn’t need to be done every year, just when necessary.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 9th, 2012 at 3:56 pm and is filed under Care & Maintenance, Zoysia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Responses to “Getting Your Lawn Ready for Spring”

  1. Hugh Still Says:

    May 5th, 2012 at 10:42 pm

    Do you have a zoysia that will grow in sun and shade? My yard goes from one to the other. I have had no luck with plugs but really had pretty good luck with Dw
    Squares. I have bought and then replaced plugs with no luck. Zoysia is wonderful when it works. Any way of seeding patches

  2. Lawn Ready Says:

    May 14th, 2012 at 3:05 am

    awesome as usual! :)

  3. Trudy Grofcsik Says:

    May 13th, 2013 at 8:53 am

    I just planted plugs in April. Do they really extend into the existing crab grass that is the existing lawn?
    Would I use the organic liquid thatch remover now or next year?
    When would I use the Turf Thrive on my lawn?
    I have used the Nutri20 after planting and I have weed wacket around the area where the plugs are planted so that I do not disturb the plugs per directions not to mow for 45 days.

  4. admin Says:

    May 15th, 2013 at 8:20 am

    Hi Trudy,
    Amazoy zoysia grass is a spreading grass and will slowly spread and choke out the crab grass. Since the plugs have just been planted you would not need to use the liguid thatch remover until the lawn is established. After the first year of filling in you would want to apply the thatch remover the following spring. Turf thrive is a soil condition and can be applied at any time. You only need to hold off on the mowing for 30 days, so it won’t be long until you can mow the lawn.

  5. Murray Coulter Says:

    June 4th, 2013 at 3:46 pm

    I planted plugs of your zoysia in early April. Unfortunately we had 6 hard freezes (low 20′s)since that time and have had three days in May reaching. It is 103 here today. No more than half of the plugs survived and those that did have showen minimal activity. I delayed fertilizer application until this week due to the erratic cold spells. Would it be safe to decrease the watering frequency to once a week or should I allow more root growth first? Thank you for your assistance. Murray Coulter

  6. admin Says:

    June 5th, 2013 at 1:37 pm

    Hi Murray,
    I have to say the weather has been very unstable this year. After the first three weeks of planting you would only need to water the plugs if you are having drought type conditions. It sounds like the weather could have affected the success of your zoysia plugs, please contact our Customer Service Department. Some of your plugs may need to be replaced at this time, per our nationally advertised guarantee.

  7. A,DeAngelo Says:

    June 7th, 2013 at 7:31 am

    I as well planted my plugs in April the 16th to be exact,and I was a little worried when they arrived mostly brown, and the instructions said that wouldn’t matter. First I tilled it cause instructions said it could establish faster, several frost and now some plugs have life and some none but the 45 days isn’t up I also use the nutri,20 please advise.

  8. admin Says:

    June 17th, 2013 at 8:55 am

    Hi A,DeAngelo,
    It sounds like the plugs are starting to take a good roothold and green up. If your temperatures have been maintaining 70 degrees or higher the plugs should green up within the 45 days period. If for any reason any of the plugs fail to green up at that time, please contact our Customer Service Department at 410-756-2311.

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