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Phosphorus-Free Fertilizers - Good for Your Lawn?

Title:Phosphorus-Free Fertilizers - Good for Your Lawn?

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Many of the lawn fertilizers being sold by national turf supply companies are described as Phosphorus-Free!

But, this is not necessarily the best thing for your lawn!! Adequate phosphorus which supports strong root growth is essential to maintaining a healthy lawn.

Approximately 40% of the soils in NC are deficient in phosphorus, some severely so.

The only way to know is to have your soil tested. The NC Department of Agriculture's Soil Testing facility does testing free to the public and provides a recommendation for how much phosphorus to apply. Boxes for submitting soil samples can be obtained from NCDA Soil Testing in Raleigh or from your local county extension office.

For more information go to:

http://www.ncagr.gov/agronomi/sthome.htm

NCSU Turf program student wins first place in new business venture challenge

Title:NCSU Turf program student wins first place in new business venture challenge

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Ryan Walsh, soon to graduate, and his business partner Daniel Walser recently won first place in NCSU Entrepreneurship Initiative’s Lulu eGames: http://ei.ncsu.edu/lulu-egames-winners-announced-2/ . The honor carries with it a cash prize of $9500. Congratulations to Ryan!

Conversions and Calculation Aid

Title:Conversions and Calculation Aid

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Centipedegrass Lawn Maintenance Calendar

Title:Centipedegrass Lawn Maintenance Calendar

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This calendar of suggested management practices is designed to assist you in the seasonal care of your lawn.
Location, terrain, soil type and condition, age of the lawn, previous lawn care, and other factors affect turf performance.
For these reasons, management practices and dates should be adjusted to suit your particular home lawn conditions.

Centipedegrass Lawn Maintenance Calendar

Bermudagrass Maintenance Calendar

Title:Bermudagrass Maintenance Calendar

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This calendar of suggested management practices is designed to assist you in the seasonal care of your bermudagrass lawn.
Location, terrain, soil type and condition, age of lawn, previous lawn care, and other factors affect turf performance.
For these reasons, management practices and dates should be adjusted to suit your particular home lawn conditions.

Bermudagrass Lawn Maintenance Calendar

Zoysiagrass Maintenance Calendar

Title:Zoysiagrass Maintenance Calendar

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This calendar of suggested management practices is designed to assist you in the seasonal care of your lawn.
Location, terrain, soil type and condition, age of the lawn, previous lawn care, and other factors affect turf performance.
For these reasons, the management practices and dates on this calendar should be adjusted to suit your particular home lawn conditions.

Zoysiagrass Maintenance Calendar

St.Augustinegrass Lawn Maintenance Calendar

Title:St.Augustinegrass Lawn Maintenance Calendar

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This calendar of suggested management practices is designed to assist you in the seasonal care of your lawn.
Location, terrain, soil type and condition, age of the lawn, previous lawn care, and other factors affect turf performance.
For these reasons, management practices and dates should be adjusted to suit your particular home lawn conditions.

St.Augustinegrass Lawn Maintenance Calendar

Tall Fescue Lawn Maintenance Calendar

Title:Tall Fescue Lawn Maintenance Calendar

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Recommended maintenance practices for a tall fescue, tall fescue + Kentucky bluegrass or tall fescue + Kentucky bluegrass + fine fescue lawn are the same as those for a tall fescue lawn.

Management practices will help you care for your lawn throughout the year.

Location, terrain, soil type and condition, age of the lawn, previous lawn care, and other factors affect turf performance, so adjust these management practices and dates to suit your particular lawn.

Tall Fescue Maintenance Calendar

Water Quality and Urban Nutrient Pollution

Title:Water Quality and Urban Nutrient Pollution

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Coastal and urban water quality is a major concern of federal, state, and local governments.

Point and non-point source nutrient pollution of water bodies causes degradation or impairment of the water bodies for their intended uses, such as recreation, fishing, drinking water, irrigation, etc.

One reason for this is due to nutrients primarily nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) which can be involved in increasing the rate of algae and other aquatic plant growth (eutrophication) leading to impairment of intended uses.

Urban nutrient sources can include:

Urban fertilizer
Pet waste
Leaf litter and yard wastes

In areas where there is stormwater collection through a storm drain system, the potential for these to enter local surface water is high, especially in regions having frequent rain events.

Studies in Florida and Wisconsin found that decomposition of leaf and grass clippings determined that quick removal of street organic debris is needed to avoid the rapid loss of pollutants from the debris and that lawns and streets were the largest sources.

How to deal with these problems:

Blow or sweep fertilizer from impervious surfaces before rain carries it into the stormwater system.
Plant debris such as grass clippings or leaves should be removed (street sweeping) as soon as possible because water (rain) can easily and rapidly extract nutrients from the debris.
DO NOT blow leaves or grass clippings into the stormwater drains!!!

GrassCycling

Title:GrassCycling

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GRASSCYCLING...
an ecologically and financially sound program for your lawn.

Facts About Grass Clippings

North Carolina state law prohibits disposal of yard wastes, including grass clippings, in landfills.
Using grass clippings as a nutrient source for your lawn can save time and money and protect the environment.
Grass clippings don't cause thatch.

The GrassCycling Concept

Leave grass clippings on the lawn! Grass clippings are 75 to 85 percent water and a good source of nutrients. When left on the lawn after mowing they quickly decompose and release nutrients. Through grasscycling, you can supply up to 25 percent of the lawn's yearly fertilizer needs, which means saving money and time. (And it means you do not have to rake and bag for hours.)

For more information on grasscycling, contact your county Cooperative Extension Center.

Moles and Grubs

Title:Moles and Grubs

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Moles are active right now and the spring litters of newborns will soon be arriving. This means a lot of tunneling as they search for food.

It is a common misperception they are feeding on beetle larvae or grubs. While this may occur, their main diet is earthworms. So, the presence of mole tunneling does not necessarily mean there is a grub problem in the turf.

A grub infestation in the turf can be verified by digging and seeing if grubs are actually present. However, even if they are, now is not the time to treat as the grubs are too large to be controlled by insecticides. Grubs are best controlled in the fall after the new cycle emerges from the summer breeding season and they are small.

For more information on grub control go to:

http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/insects/white_grubs.aspx

Unwanted Grasses!

Title:Unwanted Grasses!

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You may be seeing unsightly plants in your tall fescue lawn similar to what is in the photo. This is probably annual ryegrass or orchardgrass. Both can come with seed put out in the fall or with straw if the lawn was mulched. Annual ryegrass is a common weed in wheat production.

There is no selective control for either of these problem grasses.

Annual ryegrass will most likely die out as temperatures get hot. Orchardgrass will weaken but possibly not go completely away.

You can control either with glyphosate (Roundup) applied directly to the plant, but some of the surrounding turf may also be killed. To keep these from spreading, make certain you mow often enough to keep them from forming seedheads and setting seed which may germinate this fall.

Drs. Charles Peacock, Fred Yelverton and Travis Gannon

Turf and Weed Management Specialists, Dept. of Crop Science, NC State Univ.

Summer Fertilization

Title:Summer Fertilization

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Cool-season grasses:

Tall fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass - Do not fertilize again until September.

Warm-season grasses:

Bahiagrass - fertilize in mid-June at 1.0 lb. of nitrogen per 1,000 sq.ft.
Centipedegrass - delay fertilization until mid-June and then apply 0.5 to 1.0 lb. of nitrogen for the entire growing season.
Bermudagrass - fertilize every 4 to 6 weeks at 1.0 lb. of nitrogen per 1,000 sq.ft. each time during the growing season approximately three weeks after the turf is completely green.
Zoysiagrass - fertilize again during mid-summer at 1.0 lb. of nitrogen per 1,000 sq.ft.
St.Augustinegrass - fertilize in June and early August at 1.0 lb. of nitrogen per 1,000 sq.ft.

These rates are for the Piedmont and coastal plain. If you are growing warm-season grasses in the Mountains, adjust the rates down by 1/3 to account for a shorter growing season.

Dr. Charles H. Peacock

Professor and Extension Turfgrass Specialist

Economic, environmental and social benefits of plants and landscaping

Title:Economic, environmental and social benefits of plants and landscaping

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Below are quick facts about the economic, environmental and social benefits of plants and landscaping according to the American Nursery and Landscape Association (www.ANLA.org):

Landscaping can add between 7% and 15% to a home’s value.
Source: The Gallup Organization
Landscaping can bring a recovery value of 100 to 200 percent at selling time. Kitchen remodeling brings a 75 to 125 percent recovery rate, bathroom remodeling a 20 to 120 percent recovery rate, and addition of a swimming pool a 20 to 50 percent recovery rate.
Source: Money Magazine
Landscaping can reduce air conditioning costs by up to 50 percent, by shading the windows and walls of a home.
Source: American Public Power Association
Trees can reduce bothersome noise by up to 50 percent and can mask unwanted noises with pleasant sounds.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Trees can reduce temperatures by as much as nine degrees Fahrenheit.
Source: American Forests
By spending 5% of the value of your home on the installation of a quality low-maintenance landscape, you could boost the resale by 15%, earning back 150% or more of your landscape investment.
Source: Smart Money Magazine, March 2003
95% of the members of the Society of Real Estate Appraisers say landscaping adds to property value, while 99% agree landscaping increases speed of home sales.
Source: Society of Real Estate Appraisers Study, 2003

Irrigation Management for Water Conservation

Title:Irrigation Management for Water Conservation

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Irrigation frequency will vary with environmental or climatic factors. Frequency of irrigation is often determined by depth of rooting. Checking the depth of the root system with a soil probe or something similar can help guide how deeply to wet the soil profile.
Water should not be applied at a rate that exceeds the infiltration capacity of the soil, otherwise runoff may occur.
Deep rooting should be encouraged by thorough irrigation as infrequently as possible. A sure sign turf will benefit from irrigation is a wilted appearance. Footprinting of the turf followed by actual wilt where the leaves lose an upright erect appearance and take on a blue-gray cast are indications of wilt. Wilt will usually occur only in a few areas at a time which serve as good indicator spots when assessing the need to water.
The most efficient time to water is between 10 pm and 8 am. Nighttime is generally less windy, cooler and more humid resulting in less evaporation and a more efficient application of water.

Basics of Turf Irrigation

Title:Basics of Turf Irrigation

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Irrigation is one of the key cultural practices used in turf management. In general, irrigation supplements, not substitues for, rainfall except on very specialized areas or under extreme drought conditions.

Irrigation management must include water conservation practices. Lack of adequate moisture can result in stress, dormancy, and even death of turfgrass.

Variables to consider:

Knowledge of the water reserve in the root zone - on many turf areas, 75 percent of the root system is often found in the top 4 to 6 inches of soil.
With knowledge of soil water reserves and the actual daily evapotranspiration (ET) and rainfall information, it is possible to determine when the available soil moisture will be depleted and irrigation required.

An automated on-line system is available to help make this decision. Entitled TIMS (Turfgrass Irrigation Management System), it is a free web-based program which tracks daily ET and rainfall to provide site specific guidance about irrigation amounts and timing.

TIMS can be accessed at Turffiles.ncsu.edu/tims

Where does the nitrogen go?

Title:Where does the nitrogen go?

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People constantly wonder why they need to apply nitrogen fertilizer each year. Scientists at Cornell University have been researching this using recent technological advances in measuring gaseous nitrogen emissions in home lawns.

High soil moisture, low soil oxygen and sufficient nitrogen (a very common situation in carefully managed turf areas in NC) lead to the process of denitrification, which occurs in small areas during brief times. The Cornell researchers used this sophisticated technology to determine that denitrification is an important pathway for removing excess nitrogen from lawns. Annual loss was about 15% of the total applied. They determined that while small amounts of nitrogen were transported to groundwater and streams, the majority of fertilizer nitrogen inputs were retained in lawn soils.

Source: November/December issue of Journal of Environmental Quality

Cultural Considerations in Water Conservation

Title:Cultural Considerations in Water Conservation

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The following are cultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) for water conservation:

Maintain soil pH between 5.5 and 6.5
Minimize soil compaction through turf cultivation commonly called aeration
Control potentially serious insect and disease pest problems that feed or attack the root system
Maintain an adequate soil potassium (K) level based on soil test recommendations
Avoid excessive nitrogen (N) fertilization, especially of cool-season grasses; it forces shoot growth at the expense of root development
Avoid excessive thatch accumulation; thatch encourages root development only in the thatch/mat layer
Avoid intense mechanical maintenance practices, such as cultivation or vertical mowing during any stress periods

Save gas!

Title:Save gas!

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A study at the University of Nebraska found that gas consumption of your lawn mower could be reduced by up to 26% by keeping a sharp blade!!

Seeding bermudagrass

Title:Seeding bermudagrass

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Can bermudagrass be established from seed?

Common bermudagrass can be seeded as well as several improved varieties including Princess 77, Blackjack. LaPrima, Riveria and Yukon.
The more fine-textured cultivars including the "Tif" series are sterile hybrids and must be established from sprigs or sod.

Drought tolerant grasses

Title:Drought tolerant grasses

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What are the most drought tolerant grasses?

Tall fescue for cool-season grasses
Bermudagrass, bahiagrass and zoysiagrass for warm-season grasses

These grasses do well under drought conditions without supplemental irrigation if properly maintained.

More detailed information on each of these grasses can be found as follows:

Tall fescue

Bermudagrass

Zoysiagrass

Heat tolerant grasses

Title:Heat tolerant grasses

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What is the most heat tolerant cool-season grass?

Tall fescue

This grass is adapted to a wide range of soil conditions and tolerates heat stress in conjunction with drought stress extremely well if properly maintained. For more detailed information on tall fescue care see the Tall Fescue Maintenance Calendar

Wear tolerant grasses

Title:Wear tolerant grasses

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What are the most wear tolerant grasses?

Kentucky bluegrass for cool-season grasses
Bermudagrass and zoysiagrass for warm-season grasses

Grasses for shade

Title:Grasses for shade

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What are the best grasses for shady landscape conditions?

Fine fescues for cool-season grasses
St.Augustinegrass for warm-season grasses (Coastal Plain area); zoysiagrass (Piedmont)

NC State Turf Pest Management Manual

Title:NC State Turf Pest Management Manual

The newly revised version of the Turfgrass Pest Management Manual provides extensive and detailed images of common North Carolina turfgrass insects, weeds, diseases and identification characteristics. Visual icons and an accompanying key allow readers the ability to view each pest and instantly determine key characteristic information. Complete information for each pest is provided from current scientific names, hosts, symptoms, control practices and of course high resolution detailed full color images.

Pest Control for Professional Turfgrass Managers 2013

Title:Pest Control for Professional Turfgrass Managers 2013

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Pest Control for Professional Turfgrass Managers supplies up-to-date information on pesticides used to control pests in turfgrasses. The tables in this book supplement information available in other NC State Extension publications. The Turfgrass Pest Management Manual, AG-348, provides information that will help the reader to identify major turfgrasses and turfgrass pests, and better understand their lifecycles, symptoms, and biology.

Mowing heights

Title:Mowing heights

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Turfgrass	Mowing Height (inches)
Kentucky bluegrass	1.5 - 2.5
Tall fescue	2.5 - 3.5
Bermudagrass	0.75 - 2.0
Centipedegrass	1.0 - 1.5
St.Augustinegrass	2.5 - 4.0
Zoysiagrass	0.75 - 2.0

Mowing at the proper height is critical to maintaining turf in its healthiest condition!

Under times of stress, make certain the highest height of cut is used based on the turf use.