Sustainable Lawn Care

Sustainable Lawn Care

With more than 2.8 million acres of home lawns in New York State, what we do with our lawns matters. By cultivating a dense, vigorous lawn, you create an attractive environmental asset that will:

• Provide a safe and fun place for outdoor play for people and pets
• Catch, filter and conserve surface water to reduce run-off of contaminants
• Reduce soil erosion
• Cool surface temperature.
• Capture and store carbon
• Filter air pollutants.
• Reduce noise pollution
• Increase property values

Maintaining your lawn is a process lasting from spring through fall.Creating a healthy, attractive lawn involves following guidelines that will help the lawn crowd out weeds and resist diseases and insects while minimizing the use of pesticides and protecting water quality.The outline below is specific for the Capital District of New York State and can be used as the basis for a year-long maintenance plan.

March Through November:Soil pH testing.Soil testing can be done anytime the ground is not frozen and samples can be collected.The simplest type of test is the pH test.This is a measure of the relative acidity of the soil.Lawn grasses generally like a pH in the range of 6.2 to 7.2, which is slightly acidic to slightly alkaline.Our pH test will return a numerical value as well as a plan for adding lime or sulfur, if needed.

March Through November:Soil nutrient analysis:This test will examine the pH and nutrient levels in the soil, and provide a fertilizer plan.For lawns, a complete nutrient analysis is most useful when establishing a new lawn, re-seeding a lawn after reducing a moss population, or diagnosing a lawn which is not growing well.

April:Crabgrass management and bare spots.Crabgrass is an annual weed which germinates in early spring (after the Forsythia blooms) and grows rapidly all season.It weakens in the autumn and is killed by frost, leaving lawns bare and prone to soil erosion.Pre-emergent herbicides are widely used on home lawns, but careful use of fertilizer and repetitive overseeding can go a long way to increase lawn density and crowd out crabgrass without using herbicide (see below).Our crabgrass fact sheet explains the details.Spring is also a good time to patch weak or bare spots left by de-icing salt, dog urine and other factors.

Late May and early September:Lawn fertilizer can enable a lawn to build a deep and extensive root system, which helps the plants recover from insect and disease pests and grow densely, thereby crowding out weeds.Cornell’s webpage on lawn fertilization provides details on how to fertilize your lawn.Fertilizers should be used carefully to avoid misapplication, environmental pollution and unnecessary use.New York’s phosphorous law was enacted in 2012 to help protect water resources by greatly reducing the amount of phosphorous applied to lawns.

Summer:Watering.Most Capital District lawns receive only rainfall and grow very well, with no supplemental irrigation.Ideally, lawns generally need one inch of water per week to remain green and growing through the summer.If rainfall is lacking, lawn growth slows and grasses may turn brown, but they don’t die unless the drought is prolonged.Grasses can survive in a dormant state for several weeks, greening up when rain returns.If you do have an irrigation system, turn it off during rainy periods.Too much water is an important factor in developing some, but not all, fungal lawn diseases.We routinely see more lawn problems from too much water rather than a lack of water.Watering in the early morning hours is best, since the rising sun will dry the leaf blades and reduce the chances of disease.Providing one inch of water in two or three waterings per week is better than watering a little each day.The Northeast Regional Climate Center Lawn Watering Tool can help you decide if your lawn needs water.

May through November:Mowing:Not many people get excited about mowing the lawn, but there are some important considerations.Dull lawnmower blades provide jagged cuts to the leaves of grasses and give the lawn a brownish cast, so sharp blades are a must.Mowers with sharp blades are also more efficient, reducing the energy needed to run the machine.Mowing the lawn to a height of three inches tall is better than keeping the lawn very short, since the taller plants will grow deeper roots and compete with weeds more effectively.By using a mulching mower, you can leave the clippings on the lawn, which will return nitrogen to the grass and reduce the need for fertilizer by up to 30%.Leaving the clippings as well as mowing and leaving the autumn leaves also keeps organic material out of landfills and incinerators.

May to mid June:Common yellow nutsedge.Capital District lawns are occasionally infested with common yellow nutsedge, a difficult to manage weed with very specific management guidelines.

July through October:Chinch bugs.Tiny chinch bugs can kill large areas of turfgrass quickly over the warm summer months.Their destruction is often mis-diagnosed as drought damage, grub feeding or disease.

July through September:Seeding a new lawn.Warm soil, even soil moisture and less weed competition in late summer and early fall increase the chances of establishing a new lawn.The series of steps in the    lawn establishment by seed fact sheet will get your site from bare soil to dense turfgrass.

Mid-August through September:Core aeration.Core aeration is a process where cores of soil are taken from the lawn and deposited on the surface using a machine.The holes created in the lawn allow for increased air and water penetration.This may reduce thatch and soil compaction, but core aeration usually has to be done many times to have an impact.Overseeding is often done after core aeration.Since core aeration is a costly and disruptive process, it should only be done after a careful examination of the lawn warrants the need.

Mid-August through September:Repetitive overseeding.Existing lawns which are thin may benefit from repetitive overseeding.In this practice, grass seed is repeatedly spread over an existing lawn, which will increase the lawn’s density and crowd out weeds.In fact, repetitive overseeding can significantly reduce the amount of crabgrass in a lawn without using herbicide and should be the cornerstone of any lawn care program.The repetitive overseeding fact sheet, research report with photos and video provide details.

Mid-August through September:Moss management.Managing moss in the lawn makes sense this time of the year, since treatment can be followed up by seeding and other needed steps.

Late August through October:White grubs.White grubs are the larval stages of a variety of beetles, including Japanese beetles and European chafers.White grub eggs hatch at this time of year, so carefully cutting a section of lawn and examining the roots, as shown in this video, will indicate if young grubs are present. Most lawns do not always have high numbers of grubs each season. Many lawns are treated with insecticide needlessly because there are few or no grubs present. Beneficial nematodes may provide a biocontrol option but are not easy to use.Our white grub fact sheet provides detailed information and management choices. To identify the species of grubs you find in your lawn, use this Cornell tool.

September into October:Ground ivy and broadleaf weed management.Autumn provides the best time of the year to treat broadleaf weeds, including plantain and ground ivy, with a selective herbicide which targets the weeds but leaves grasses alone.Broadleaf weed herbicides can be especially effective after the first frost.Our ground ivy fact sheet provides specific details on identification and management options. Explore ways to reduce lawn weeds beyond the use of herbicide here.

Year Round:Know your lawn grass species.Each species of lawn grass used in the Capital District has unique characteristics, and knowing a bit about them can help you choose the right seed mix to buy.Kentucky bluegrass has spreading rhizomes and dark green color, making it highly attractive.Perennial ryegrasses germinate quickly and can be useful patching damaged lawns and crowding out weeds.Tall fescue has a deep root system and is tolerant of poor soil and dry conditions.Fine fescues are site adaptable and grow slowly, reducing the need for mowing.Cornell’s Turfgrass Species and Variety Guidelines for New York State provides an in-depth discussion, as the Choose the Right Grass video.

Year Round – Know Your Weed Species:Weed identification can be tricky.If you have unknown weeds, call us at (518) 272-4210, email sharply focused, close-up photos to dhc3@cornell.edu, or try out the Cornell Turfgrass and Landscape Weed ID website.

November through February: Relax!Hopefully, your efforts have created a dense, healthy lawn.During the winter months you can take a well-deserved break from lawn care.

Last updated November 22, 2024