June lawn care

Bermuda— Measure your lawn’s square footage. In June fertilize with 33-0-0 and four to six weeks afterwards apply 16-4-8 fertilizer from Farmers Supply. When Bermuda is growing, the lawn needs 1 to 2 inches of water each week. A bluish-gray appearance or wilted, folded, or curled leaves may indicate that it is time to water. Apply Post-Emergent herbicide from Farmers Supply as needed for control of summer annual and perennial broadleaf weeds like white clover, knotweed, spurge, and lespedeza. Two or three applications 7 to 10 days apart are required to control crabgrass and goosegrass. Do not apply herbicides during a drought or when grass and weeds are not actively growing. If thatch is thicker than 1⁄2 inch, remove it using a vertical mower—thatch can be removed monthly if the lawn has sufficient time to recover.  Check for and control any white grubs with an appropriate insecticide from Farmers Supply.

Carpetgrass— Measure your lawn’s square footage. Make sure your lawn gets 1 to 2 inches of water each week. Mow grass to 11⁄2 inches with a rotary mower every 10 to 14 days. Unless your soil sample suggests otherwise, do not make a broadcast application of herbicide. By mid-June, fertilize with 5-10-10 from Farmers Supply. A second application in mid-August may enhance your lawn if you live along the coast. Manage weeds by hand pulling and mowing. Check for white grubs, mole crickets, armyworms, sod webworms, and control with an appropriate insecticide from Farmers Supply. If brown patch disease shows up (circular patches of brown grass up to several feet in diameter), come see us to remedy.

Centipede— Measure your lawn’s square footage. Your lawn needs 1-2 inches of water every week. If grass has a yellow appearance, spray iron (ferrous) sulfate (2 ounces in water per 1,000 square feet) or a chelated iron source as needed. By mid-June, fertilize with a high potassium fertilizer from Farmers Supply, such as 5-0-15. At the coast, a second fertilization in August may help. Yellow appearance may indicate an iron deficiency. At the coast, a second fertilization in August can be helpful. Control any white grubs with an appropriate insecticide from Farmers Supply.   

St Augustine— Measure your lawn’s square footage. If you didn’t do so in May, apply a fertilizer with a 3-1-2 or 4-1-2 ratio (like 16-4-8) from Farmers Supply. Spray iron sulfate or a chelated iron source to enhance color as needed. Actively growing St. Augustine requires about 1 inch of water per week, all at once if possible. Sandy soils often require more frequent watering (1⁄2 inch every third day). Control broadleaf weeds as necessary with Post-Emergent herbicide following label directions and with caution. Control any white grubs with an appropriate insecticide from Farmers Supply. If drought symptoms or yellow spots occur in a sunny location, check for chinch bug activity. Push a coffee can (with both top and bottom removed) into the ground and fill it with water. Any chinch bugs present will float. Treat for chinch bugs if you have 20 or more chinch bugs per 1,000 square feet. Check for gray leaf spot and brown (large) patch disease.

Zoysia— Measure your yard’s square footage. Apply fertilizer with a 3-1-2 or 4-1-2 ratio (like 16-4-8) and repeat in mid-August. Zoysia needs 1 to 11⁄4 inches of water a week. Apply Post-Emergent herbicide as needed to control summer annual and perennial broadleaf weeds. Apply postemergence herbicides as needed to control summer annual and perennial broadleaf weeds. Do not apply postemergence herbicides unless weeds are present, grass is actively growing, and the lawn is not suffering from drought. Crabgrass species, goosegrass, dallisgrass, purple and yellow nutsedge, annual sedges, and sandbur can be controlled with two to three applications of a Post-Emergent herbicide from Farmers Supply. Zoysia is sensitive to these compounds, so please follow the directions of our staff carefully when they help you in the store.