Spring Notes

About Pre-Emergents on Your Lawn

We are currently applying our Step 1 Weed-Control Treatment.  This consists of Barricade pre-emergent, Trimec post-emergent, plus a small amount of Nitrogen fertilizer mainly for cool-season lawns.  Children and pets need to stay off this all liquid application until dry—usually about an hour.

The pre-emergent needs to be watered into the soil within about 5 days if we do not receive rainfall during that time.  About ½’ of moisture is fine.  If the Barricade pre-emergent is not watered in for several weeks, some of the product will be broken down by sunlight, causing less effective weed control later in the season. 

Now is the time to apply dormant oil treatments on certain shrubs and trees to help prevent insect problems later in the season.  We also include Merit systemic insecticide with this treatment at LawnAmerica for even better control of insects such as scale, lacebugs on Azaleas, aphids, and others. 

To Scalp or Not to Scalp?

Many homeowners are temped to scalp your bermudagrass or zoysia lawn as it warms up into February and March.  We recommend NOT to do this until the danger of a killing freeze is past—about mid-April.  If you take off the thick insulating layer of dormant turf, you’ll be exposing the crown of the turf plant to freezing temperatures, which could harm the turf.  By waiting until mid-April during spring green-up, the danger of winterkill is past, plus you’ll then open up the turf allowing the sunlight to warm up the soil faster, leading to quicker spring green-up.  We really don’t want bermudagrass to turn green until mid-April. 

Flower Beds

Now is a great time to add mulch to your shrub and flower beds.  We all know there is plenty of that available now in Tulsa for free, so add about a 3-4” layer now to help with weed-control, soil moisture retention, and for aesthetics.