March

Products used this month #

Required #

• Liquid Aerating Soil Loosener- Aerator Soil Conditioner- No Mechanical or Core Aeration- Simple Lawn Solutions- Any Grass Type, All Season- Great for Compact Soils, Standing Water, Poor Drainage
  
  
  OR
  
  SOFTSOIL Liquid Soil Aerator & Lawn Treatment to fix compacted soils, Improve Drainage and Root Growth with Non-Mechanical Liquid Application
  

• The Andersons PGF Complete 16-4-8 Fertilizer with Humic DG 10,000 sq.ft.
  

• Dimension 2EW Dithiopyr Pre-Emergent Herbicide – 1/2 Gal
  

Only If Needed #

• The Andersons HumiChar Organic Soil Builder with Humic Acid and Biochar, 40 lbs. (up to 40,000 sq. ft.)
  

• Sun Joe AJ801E 13 in. 12 Amp Electric Scarifier + Lawn Dethatcher w/Collection Bag, Green
  

• ACE Supply Marking Flags – 4 x 5-Inch Flag on 15-Inch Steel Wire – Fluorescent Orange, 100-Pack – Markers for Lawn Sprinklers, Irrigation, Property Line, Yard & Garden, Survey Stakes, Invisible Fence
  

Schedule #

March 1 #

• Scalp the lawn when you mow or have it moved. You need to see at least 50% green on grass to or it’s too early. As long as not dormant and not stressed, scalp the grass to almost dirt at this point (both frontyard and backyard). It will look ugly but you have to do it to get the green back quickly. Everything you are cutting off is dead grass.

• Dethatch the lawn immediately after if you need to, do not aerate at this time. If you scrape the dirt with your finger and there’s only a thin layer of dead grass then there is no need to dethatch. If it is thicker and you can hardly get at the dirt then you must dethatch. Use a Sun Joe electric lawn dethatcher and scarifier. It’s electric so you don’t have to mess with gas and maintenance plus it folds down easily in your garage. Make sure you flag where your sprinklers are using lawn marking flags to avoid damage to your sprinkler heads.
  
  
• Now the lawn is ready to aerate. You can do a physical core aeration of the lawn using a rental aerator from Home Depot. The benefit is it puts very long holes from the removed cores in the soil which can reduce compaction and allow fertilizer, water, soil amendment, and other things you are going to put down reach the root zone of your grass faster. Most lawns probably don’t need a full physical core aeration and it also may be a hassle for you to go get a rental core aerator. I recommend at least doing a chemical-based liquid aeration using Simple Lawn Solutions Liquid Soil Loosener or SOFTSOIL Liquid Soil Aerator & Lawn Treatment as a first step to ensure your soil is ready to take down what you are putting down effectively and you get the most for your money all season this year. Lidquid aeration is not a replacement core aeration but will give you some of the benefits of core aeration without the cost or hassle. If you then decide you really need to do a physical core aeration one season, then you can make that call to get a rental unit or hire someone to do it for you.

• Only buy a fertilizer that has a 4-1-2 ratio of NPK for Bermuda grass. Put down 1st light coat PGF Complete 16-4-8 fertilizer which is a 4-1-2 ratio fertilizer. One 18 lb bag can do 5,000 sq ft and you are putting down a light spread of it so it should last for an average size 4,500 sq. ft. lawn for a while. You can also buy the bigger 40 lb bag if you have a cool dry place to store it because you will be doing multiple light coats of it within the next few months.

• Only if you need it, do your 1st light treatment of HumiChar organic soil builder treatment to improve your soil. All the stuff you are putting down is for the soil which then feeds the grass. You are trying to improve the soil with this one and this is a combination of Humic Acid and Biochar (carbon). Without doing soil treatment you are at the mercy of whatever dirt your home builder put down before they laid down your grass sod. This looks expensive at first glance but one 40 lb bag can cover 40,000 sq ft! It will not do anything noticeable to your grass like greening it, only fertilizer does that. This is to improve the soil you can use less fertilizer and water over time saving you a lot of money. Added bonus, the Biochar (carbon) portion of this that you put down is permanent! Your soil will always have the benefit of having this so you will be putting down several light treatments of HumiChar every year which will just compound the carbon in the root layer of the soil giving you better and better grass each year. There are some cautions you need to be aware of when using HumiChar, especially around activating it, so please read the “The Andersons HumiChar Organic Soil Builder” in the Soil Amendment section.

• Do 1st light pre-emergent spray with Dimension 2EW Dithiopyr pre-emergent herbicide solution. Yes, it is extremely expensive at first glance but it is in concentrate form. You dilute it in water and use a sprayer to spread it on your lawn. This will last for so long and you will have no weeds come up if you buy this and apply it right now with a light coat. The bottle will last all year and possibly more. As a cheaper alternative, you can use Quali-Pro Prodiamine 65 WDG pre-emergent but it does not have any post-emergent weed control capability like Dimension does