Why Fall is the best time to take care of your lawn
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” ― Albert Camus
The importance of a Fall program in your seasonal lawn care schedule is often overlooked, but Fall is the optimal time to get your lawn in the shape-for-success next year.
You may not have irrigated your lawn during the Summer and it went dormant (yellow/brown). But, when the Fall rains come back your lawn will come back to life. With limited nutrients in the soil it will struggle to fill in and weeds will try to take over. This is the perfect time to get your lawn back into shape.
Hendrikus has the Organic fertilizer, seed and soil amendments to make your lawn healthy for the long Fall and Winter ahead.
Our Recommended Fall Lawn Care Programs
Here are our two recommended custom Fall renovation programs for bringing life to your soil and lawn so that it carries through the Winter and has nutrients ready for when it reawakens next Spring.
Program 1: Increasing Fertility with Minor Lawn Renovation
Aerate lawn with power or foot aerator to break up thatch layer and allow nutrients to get to the roots easier.
Remove largest patches of weeds with garden trowel, rake, or shovel.
Over-seed bare areas in existing lawn with Hendrikus Turf Seed, making sure seed makes contact with the soil.
Fertilize lawn with Seasons 8-0-4™ or Nitrogen Plus™ 10-0-2 at 10# per 1000 square feet.
Apply AxisDE™ (diatomaceous earth) to wettest areas in non-irrigated lawns, and to both wettest and driest areas in irrigated lawns.
Spray HuMagic® Liquid on lawn with a tank sprayer at 6oz to 8oz per 1000 square feet.
Apply a light top dressing of mulch on bare areas in lawn to help hold in moisture for seed germination.
Lightly water lawn to dampen mulch and seed. Keep seed moist with light afternoon watering for the first 7-10 days to promote germination. Dry seed will not germinate.
Apply Calpril™ lime to raise pH 3 weeks after fertilization at 20# – 40# per 1000 square feet.
Program 2: Increasing Fertility with Full Lawn Renovation
Aerate lawn with power aerator to break up thatch layer and allow nutrients to get to the roots easier.
Remove any excess grass & thatch with rake or power rake (dethatcher).
Remove all existing weeds with garden trowel, rake, or shovel.
Over-seed with Hendrikus Turf Seed at 8#’s per 1000 square feet. Make sure seed makes contact with the soil.
Fertilize lawn with Seasons™ 8-0-4 or Nitrogen Plus™ 10-0-2 at 10# per 1000 square feet.
Apply AxisDE™ (diatomaceous earth) to entire lawn at 100# – 150# per 1000 square feet with a fertilizer spreader and rake or stiff broom into the soil.
Spray HuMagic® Liquid on lawn with a tank sprayer at 6oz to 8oz per 1000 square feet.
Apply a light top dressing of mulch on bare/thin areas in lawn to help hold in moisture for seed germination.
Lightly water lawn to dampen mulch and seed bed. Keep seed moist with light afternoon watering for the first 7-10 days to promote germination. Dry seed will not germinate.
Apply Calpril™ lime to raise pH 3 weeks after fertilization at 20# – 40# per 1000 square feet.