Myers Lawn Care

Serving Rockford, Illinois and surrounding areas

Service we provide

Mowing Tip

Good mowing practices are critical to the appearance of your lawn. If you follow these general guidelines, you’ll surely increase the health and appearance of your lawn:

• Make sure your mower blade is sharp. A lawn mowed with a dull blade appears gray shortly after mowing, and the tips turn brown within 48 hours.

• Cut often enough to remove no more than one-third of the grass blade. This will help avoid scalping, which puts the grass under stress and reduces its vigor. Mowing at the correct height also shades the soil, keeping temperatures lower for optimum growth.

• You may leave clippings if you mow often enough. The grass clippings will recycle nutrients back into the soil, and they don't contribute to thatch buildup. This process is called grass cycling.

GRASSCYCLING

Leaving grass clippings on the lawn not only reduces the problem of limited landfill space, it also provides many benefits for you and your lawn. Lawn Doctor recommends grass cycling for the following reasons:

• Improved lawn quality: Decaying grass clippings release valuable nutrients, which improve soil and feed grass plants. This helps you enjoy a greener, healthier lawn.
• Save time and money: A recent study found that homeowners who quit bagging grass saved an average of seven hours of yard work at the end of six months. These same homeowners saved money as a result of not having to purchase as many garbage bags.
• Clippings don’t cause thatch: Thatch is caused by the build up of roots, stolons and other plant material. It has been found that leaving clippings on the lawn contributes less than one sixteenth of an inch to the thatch layer each year.
• All mowers can grass cycle: No special equipment is needed. Check with your mower dealer for advice about attachments that improve your mower’s grass cycling performance.
• Grass cycling is an environmentally responsible practice: Landscape waste, including grass clippings, accounts for almost 20 percent of all curbside waste. Grass cycling provides an environmentally important opportunity for you to participate in reducing landfill volume.

Right Side

Lawn Tips

REDUCE WEEDS IN YOUR LAWN

BROADLEAFS

Controlling broadleaf weeds such as dandelions, plaintain and chick weed, starts with proper lawn care.

Weeds in lawns are usually not the cause, but the result of poor grass growth. Weeds invade a lawn when
the lawn is not growing vigorously enough to keep them out.

Your first step in weed control is to determine why your lawn grass is not doing well. Does it need fertilizer? Has the soil become
compacted from heavy foot traffic? Have you been mowing the grass too short, too often or too infrequently? Correct whatever
the problem is and provide the best growing conditions possible for the grass.

Once you have improved your lawn's health, you may choose to use broadleaf weed killers. First, identify the weeds in your lawn.
Then, buy a broadleaf weed killer that will control the weed or weeds that you have and apply it early in May when weeds are
growing rapidly. Another good time for weed control is in September after a good soaking rain. For best results, the temperatures
should be in the mid-70 degree range. Never use broadleaf weed killers in the heat of July and August.

If you use a dry granular form of weed killer or a weed and feed type of fertilizer, apply it to wet grass and weeds. The weed
control material must stick to the leaves of the weed plants to be effective. If you spray a liquid, apply it only on a calm day so
material will not drift onto desirable plants.

Read the label and mix and apply according to directions. Use no more or no less. The active ingredients in broadleaf weed killers
include 2,4-D, Dicamba , or Banvel and MCPP.

Pre-mixed herbicides under trade names such as Trimec, Turflon, and Weedone D-P-C are effective against hard-to-kill weeds.

Dicamba and Banvel are absorbed through the root system of plants so can injure shallow rooted trees and shrubs. Keep weed
killers containing these products away from their roots of trees and shrubs.

Remember, broadleaf weed killers are broadleaf plant killers. They do not, for example, differentiate between dandelions and
tomato plants. Apply them only to weeds in the lawn. Be careful not to get the material onto desirable plants in your yard. Read
and follow all label directions.

GRASSES

A common use of weed killers is for crabgrass control. These must be applied in April or early May before the
blossoms fall off the forsythia bushes. These weed killers are sometimes combined with fertilizers for convenient
application. Total vegetation killers are available in squirt bottles for spot treatment or they can be applied to
larger areas.

PREVENT WEEDS IN YOUR LAWN

One of the best ways to keep a lawn weed free but easy to maintain and inexpensive, is through an effective lawn maintenance
strategy that encourages vigorous growth of turf grass. Weeds do not compete well with dense healthy turf, therefore the
maintenance of a healthy thick stand is very important in producing a weed free lawn. Practices which encourage this include
proper irrigation and/or drainage, use of fertilizers, insect and disease control, and the use of the correct type of turf grass. for
your situation.

The experts agree that the best way to reduce weeds in your lawn is to follow the simple steps outlined below:

(1) CORRECT MOWING encourages growth by stimulating bud development and tillering (growth from the base), which
produces a thick dense sod. Common grasses such as the fescue's, bluegrasses, and turf- type perennial rye grasses should be
cut at a height of 4-6 cm (1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inches). Cutting these grasses shorter than this may cause an invasion of weeds. Be careful
when mowing around trees and flower beds so as not to scalp the turf. As a general rule of thumb, do not remove more than 1/3
of the leaf area when mowing. Mowing, too frequently, weakens the plant by reducing its carbohydrate reserves, and making it
less able to compete with the weeds. Mowing is also beneficial because it gets rid of annual weeds and eliminates their seed
production.

(2) MOWING FREQUENCY: By mowing both often and regular, you remove the flowing seed parts of many weeds thus making
it harder for them to seed their next crop.

(3) WATERING is important during drought periods which can cause injury, kill or cause the turf to go dormant. Watering should
be done on a weekly basis with about 3 cm of water per application to help produce deep rooted turf. Frequent light sprinkling
will have an opposite effect on grass roots. Light watering causes germination and growth of shallowly rooted weed species.
Excess irrigation may lead to infestations by yellow nut sedge and annual bluegrass. Adequate drainage eliminates water logging.

(4) AERATION: Compaction of the lawn area due to excessive foot traffic will encourage the invasion of certain weed species.
Aeration will help the soil but it's best to try and modify the area to reduce the amount of traffic.

(5) THE BEST TURF: Fescue's are the best for shady areas, whereas turf-type perennial ryegrass varieties, which require full sun,
establish themselves quickly in newly seeded areas and will crowd out germinating weeds. Kentucky bluegrass establishes more
slowly, but once it is established it is very competitive.