Tulsa Lawn Care - All Stage Weed Control

Every gardener knows just how fast weeds can take over a lawn, stealing water, nutrients, and sunlight from the surrounding grass. So it makes good sense to have an effective Tulsa weed control treatment in place for every stage and season of a weed’s life. With just a few weed control applications throughout the year, your lawn can be healthy and look beautiful and effervescent.

In the early spring, you’ll want to start by controlling broadleaf weeds like dandelions and ragweed as well as annual grassy weeds like crabgrass (all of which will grow rapidly in Oklahoma) by using a pre-emergent weed control herbicide. Use one that is toxic to both types of weeds, broadleaf and grassy weeds. Apply this using a broadcast spreader after you have mowed the lawn a couple times at the beginning of the season. Apply the herbicide also along sidewalks where crabgrass often tends to grow more. This weed control treatment will help to abate these weeds before they even develop and overtake your lawn.

Later in the season, you might still see a few dandelions or crabgrass weeds that don’t want to go. Most of these can quickly be dealt with using a spot-treatment post-emergent weed control herbicide. Concentrated herbicides that you mix with water yourself are commonly a better value. These can be used with a handheld sprayer to spot-treat any weeds or crabgrass. You can find a spot-treatment herbicide that kills both broadleaf weeds and grassy weeds, but you may have to use different weed control spot-treatments for broadleaf and grassy weeds as well. Follow the directions on the package for prepping and when to apply the weed control treatment, usually when temperatures are below 85 degrees F. for a few days.

Interestingly, one of the best ways to keep weeds away doesn’t involve weed control herbicides. Keeping your lawn well-maintained with proper lawn fertilization, irrigation, and mowing will help to crowd out pesky weeds and stop them from overtaking the lawn. Healthy lawns can better defend against weeds so having a good lawn care and maintenance schedule is really key to preventing weeds.

If weeds have already overtaken your lawn late in the season, you may need to spray the entire weedy area with a post-emergent weed control herbicide using a sprayer attached to a hose, getting the weeds wet. You may need to apply a different herbicide for broadleaf and grassy weeds. Again a concentrated post-emergent herbicide that you mix yourself will be a better value. Apply the herbicide on calm days so that the herbicide is not inadvertently carried to other plants and flowers that it could also harm.

If you would rather not have the hassle of applying weed control treatments, the Tulsa weed control experts at Oklahoma Landscape can take care of all your lawn care needs. We offer a custom 6-step Tulsa weed control and fertilization program for your lawn that will keep it lush, vibrant, and weed-free all year. Call us today for more details!

Getting Kids to Help with Lawn Care

It's easy to see yard work as a bit laborious, but children can often get excited about helping out with lawn care. Having them help with the yard work is a good activity to do as a family, and helps kids get more exercise, gets them away from electronics, and can help teach them responsibility. So how can you get your children involved with your residential lawn care?

Idealhomegarden.com listed ways to help encourage kids to join you in caring for the lawn. Getting children involved with yard work at an early age (even if they can’t do much) could help them to want to do it as they grow up. Young children especially, as the article said, always want to help their parents, so simply spending time with you while you do yard work can help you draw closer as a family. And as the children grow older, yard work will be associated with good times as family.

Even though young children can’t use lawn care equipment yet, giving children little chores that make them feel needed can go a long way to helping them enjoy lawn care when they get older. Children could possibly be put on weed control, helping to pull weeds in the garden, picking up sticks or any trash in the yard, or even planting or broadcasting seeds. As children get to be around school age, they may be able to help with raking and bagging leaves.

As children get older they can begin to help more with mowing the law and even trimming shrubs, under supervision. Teenagers who are eagerly waiting for their license may be especially excited to get behind the wheel of a riding lawnmower. This can give them some initial training and practice at driving and shifting gears.

Seeing your positive attitude about yard work as parents, as the article noted, can greatly affect how children think of yard work as they grow up. If you have several children, making lawn care into a simple game or contest can help them enjoy it more (and possibly get things done faster).
And while teaching children to get involved with yard work and manage chores is essential, they will also need some playtime, and of course, they need to stay well-hydrated.

“It’s important that any fun that goes on also includes Mom or Dad. You need to have some fun just as much as the children do, and the kids will love every minute of it,” the article noted.
So when you go outside to take care of your Tulsa residential lawn care chores, take your kids along too. The whole family can have an enjoyable time doing yard work together.

Tulsa Lawn Care Calendar for Commercial and Residential Lawns

Many Tulsa homeowners anticipate spring and enjoying their outdoor living spaces more. But how do you keep your Tulsa lawn looking great? There are a few simple things you can do during the year to have a healthy and beautiful lawn. Whether for your residential or commercial property, here are some basic Tulsa lawn care tips to keep in mind.

Early Spring

Good preparation will make the lawn mowing and lawn maintenance season much easier. Get organized and ready for spring now by sharpening your mower blade to make sure the mower neatly and cleanly cuts the grass blades to prevent tears in the grass which can harm the turf. Also, give your mower a tune-up service and put fresh gas in the tank, houselogic.com noted.

Rake your lawn to eliminate leaves, debris, and matted grass.

Spring

Get your soil’s pH tested to find out what nutrients the soil in your yard might be lacking.

Aerate your lawn by getting rid of small core patches of soil and dead grass, or thatch, when the soil is somewhat damp. Core aeration permits better drainage and allows more room for oxygen, water, and nutrients to reach deeper into the soil. This, in turn, will aid the roots in growing deeper and fuller in the soil.

Overseed your Tulsa lawn with new cool season varieties that have been known to flourish in our environment to fill in bare or thin spots and help your lawn grow denser. The new grass seed assortments planted will have a higher resistance to disease than those previously in the lawn, creating a vibrant and lush lawn that is more resistant to disease and weeds.

This is a nice time to fertilize your Tulsa lawn and apply a good pre-emergent weed control treatment.

When mowing, cut the grass about 3” high, or cutting no more than 1/3 of the grass blade at a time. Mowing the grass at a taller height will help your lawn stay healthier by keeping the soil cooler, prevent weeds from getting sunlight to grow, and prevent scalping of the lawn, which can add significant stress on the grass.

Summer

As grub worms appear and feed on your lawn’s root system, you may need to treat for these and other outdoor pests with beneficial nematodes before they create brown patches all over the lawn.

It’s also suggested to fertilize your lawn again six to eight weeks after the first lawn fertilizer application. Your lawn may also need a post-emergent weed control application.

Enough water is also vital for your lawn. You will need to irrigate your Tulsa lawn if rainfall is below 1 inch a week, which in Oklahoma can be very likely during summer months. Irrigate your lawn with deep and infrequent watering techniques to promote better root growth.

Clean underneath your mower at least once a month to prevent the spread of lawn disease, houselogic.com also noted.

Fall
As the weather gets cooler, it’s again good to aerate, overseed, and fertilize your Tulsa lawn to patch thin spots and help your lawn stay healthy.

Keep your Tulsa lawn free of leaves and debris.

Fertilizing your grass again before winter arrives will help the lawn have nutrients to store over the winter so that it will be healthy and ready for spring.

By following just these few tips, you can have a healthier and more vibrant lawn this summer. The commercial and residential Tulsa lawn care specialists at Oklahoma Landscape can take care of all your lawn maintenance needs as well as lawn fertilization, weed control, aeration, and overseeding.

Lawn Fertilization Schedule for a Healthy Tulsa Lawn

Every homeowner wants his or her lawn to be lush and vibrant all year. Like an exercise or diet plan, maintaining a good Tulsa lawn care schedule is important to a lawn’s success. A good Tulsa lawn fertilization schedule is crucial in your endeavor for a lawn that’s the envy of your neighborhood. But what is a good lawn fertilization schedule for Tulsa lawns? First, we have to think about what your grass needs and why.

Like us, grass needs nourishment to grow. So especially when grass starts growing in early spring after a long winter, it needs adequate nutrition including nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to build strong roots and turf. Experts recommend that when soil temperatures start to reach 60 degrees is a good time to feed your lawn, depending on the type of grass you have.

First, however, you should aerate your lawn. Aerating helps to remove thatch, or dead grass, in the lawn and break-up compacted soil so that your lawn can effectively use the fertilizer.

As grass grows, though, weeds grow also, so pre-emergent weed control will be needed to avert the spread of weeds like crabgrass. There are combination weed control and fertilizers that can feed your grass while stopping weed growth. An organic pre-emergent weed control agent like corn gluten meal, is also a good source of slow-release nitrogen, World of Lawn Care noted, so this type of weed control may also serve as a good lawn fertilizer as well.

In late spring, lawn fertilization is also important before the stress of Tulsa’s summer heat in arrives. Providing adequate lawn fertilization during this time, when the grass is still growing, will help to thicken the grass blades and help fortify the root system. Combination weed control and lawn fertilization programs are great for this time of year when both grass and weeds flourish.

Summer heat can be ruthless on lawns, along with the accompanying drought, insects, and increased outdoor activity to wear on the lawn. Once again, your lawn will need a suitable lawn fertilization application for the summer season to protect the grass and soil from these stresses, depending on if it’s a cool season or warm season grass.

Many say fall is the best time to apply a lawn fertilizer treatment. The cooler weather and increased rain, along with a good fertilizer, will help your lawn recover from the stress of summer. Applying a fertilizer just before winter comes will help ensure grass and roots get to store up the nutrients they need for the long winter. This nutrient storage will help grass recover faster and be more vibrant the following spring.

The Tulsa lawn fertilization and weed control experts at Oklahoma Landscape can help you get the right fertilizer and weed control treatments for your particular lawn to ensure it remains vibrant this summer.

Winter is the Best Time to Prune Many Trees in Tulsa

You may be thinking that there’s not a lot of landscaping to try to do for your Tulsa property in the winter, but actually this season is truly a great time for pruning several species of trees and shrubs.

Trees and shrubs that are pruned and well-maintained often produce more flowers and are typically healthier. Once the diseased, dead, or overgrown branches are removed, the tree can grow stronger and healthier and often is more resistant to disease and insects. Trees pruned in the winter will be able to grow quicker and more lush in the spring. Thus, practical pruning efforts really helps to promote the long-term strength and health of the tree.

Why is late winter a great time for pruning trees in Tulsa?

Many deciduous trees are dormant throughout the winter, which may reduce the damage done to the tree. This dormancy stops the trees from bleeding sticky sap when they are cut. These winter cuts won’t expose the dormant tree to as much chance of disease or insect damage because these are also dormant throughout the winter.

On a sensible note, with the leaves gone, you’ll be able to see the structure of the tree more. This could enable you to more clearly see where there are broken or dead branches that need to be removed.

When should you begin pruning trees and shrubs?

Late winter or once the coldest part of winter has passed is generally said to be the most effective time to prune most trees. There are some species, though, that should not be cropped during winter. Talk with the horticulturists at Oklahoma Landscape to find out specifically when your landscape’s trees should be pruned.

“A good rule to follow is to prune the latest blooming trees first and therefore the earliest blooming last,” North Carolina Cooperative Extension noted.

Prune trees on a dry, mild day to prevent the spread of disease by water. Branches rubbing together can cause wounds that increase the chances of disease and insect damage. Removing one of the rubbing or crossing branches to help the tree remain strong. Cut off dead, damaged, or diseased branches with sharp pruning tools. When there are diseased limbs, cut well below the diseased part of the branch.

Pruning trees and shrubs in Tulsa during the winter months not only helps them to look better but can do much to keep them healthy and prepared for spring.

Lawn Care Tulsa - Top 5 Lawn Pests and Diseases

You’ve seen them take over your Tulsa lawn, or you’ve seen what they have left of your lawn and garden. These are the little lawn pests; the culprits that leave your lawn looking tired and battered. What are some of the more common lawn pests and diseases?

Top 5 Lawn Pests in Tulsa:

1. Moles: Of course, these guys will burrow through your lawn’s soil, wreaking havoc on roots and grass, as well as leaving tunnels and holes. The soil they pile up on top of the lawn is not only unsightly, but also makes it very difficult to mow.  They feed on the next culprit, so where there’s one, there might be another.
2. Grubs: These little, white immature beetles, shaped like a “C,” will eat away at your grass roots, creating large sections of brown, dead grass that is easily pulled up.
3. Chinch Bugs: These bugs will cause injury to your grass making patches of yellow or copper-colored turf that may look like the injury was the result of drought or heat.
4. Snow Mold: This fungal disease causes patches of yellow or brown grass that may clump together and have a white, cobweb-like layer.
5. Red Thread: We may begin to see this lawn disease creep up in Tulsa after the wet summer we’ve had. This disease causes patches of reddish-brown grass strings and is often related to a nitrogen deficiency.
   

Keeping your lawn healthy throughout the year will lessen the chances of an attack by these pests and diseases. Regular mowing helps the grass stay strong, as does aerating the soil, overseeding the lawn, and fertilizing it to help give the lawn the nutrients it needs.

Revive Stressed Tulsa Lawns with Fertilization and Weed Control

People associate lawn care in Tulsa with spring and summer, but the fall is actually the optimal time to take steps toward a healthy, greener lawn. Fall gives homeowners time to repair the damage caused by intense summer heat and help prepare the lawn for winter. Lawn fertilization and weed control in the fall can help Tulsa lawns be healthy and green in the spring.

Rout the Drought
This summer’s drought has left many lawns in Tulsa straw-colored and dormant. Fall lawn care can help your lawn recover. During a drought, you should continue to fertilize your lawn every eight weeks with a slow-release fertilizer. A lawn that has the proper nutrients grows dense, deep roots and recovers from drought faster. A regularly fed lawn will also be healthier and thicker than an unfed lawn. Couple feedings with infrequent, deep watering to promote deeper roots, which provide a larger reservoir of water to draw from.

After the drought passes, keeping this feeding schedule up through the fall should help your lawn green up quickly. If brown patches remain, fall is the time to consider raking those spots out and reseeding to get your lawn healthy for the following spring.

Feed the Need
Even lawns not stricken by drought need nourishment in the fall – and autumn feeding can make a big difference. Fall feeding can bring a dramatic improvement as the lawn recovers from summer damage. Lawn fertilization in Tulsa can help store vital nutrients your soil so that underground root development can continue until the ground freezes to ready the lawn for fuller growth in the spring. Two feedings — timed around Labor Day and Halloween — are recommended for Northern lawns, while Southern lawns are best-fed four-to-six weeks before the first frost occurs in your specific region.

Let It Breathe
In order to grow, a lawn needs air. As a rule of thumb, if you can’t see the grass due to leaf coverage, then it’s time to remove the lawn debris from the yard. Clearing leaves and clippings in the fall will help by removing clutter that keeps air and sun from reaching the growing grass. Heed caution if mulching leaves, as a thick layer spread onto the lawn actually does more harm than good.

One great way to let your lawn breathe is through core aeration in Tulsa, which promotes deep root growth. Aeration removes cores of dirt, thatch and grass and reduces soil compacting that can keep grass from developing roots deep enough to absorb rainwater. For best results, choose an aerator that removes plugs of soil, with the remaining holes at least 3/4″ in diameter, 3″ deep and no more than 3″ apart.

Overseed
Once the lawn is aerated, look for weak spots in it. Drought, thatch, insects, disease or seeding too lightly at first planting can make lawns thin or patchy. Overseeding — the spreading of grass seed directly onto soil within an existing lawn — can improve a lawn’s appearance dramatically and eliminate the need for a total lawn renovation.

Fall is the prime time to overseed because the warm soil promotes rapid seed growth and typically, fewer weed problems emerge at this time of the year. If the thatch layer of dead roots and stems below the green blades is more than 1/2″ thick, you should de-thatch the lawn before overseeding. If the presence of tree roots has resulted in an inadequate topsoil layer, spread a layer of topsoil no more than 1/4″ over the lawn.

The day before you overseed, mow the lawn slightly lower than normal. Be sure to use fertilizer when you seed. For the next several weeks after overseeding, keep the top inch of soil moist to permit growth.

Performing these simple Tulsa lawn care steps in the fall will help you have a beautiful lawn in the spring. For more information on fall lawn care and tips on preparing your lawn for winter, visit http://www.oklahomalandscape.com or call 918.299-LAWN.

Courtesy of ARA Content.

Weed Control in Tulsa - What is the Best Defense?

Lawn Care Tulsa

Weed Control…Tulsa homeowners know that to have a beautiful, healthy lawn you have to keep weeds in their place…virtually nonexistent, right? But what does that involve? Consistent lawn care all year round is the best defense against weeds. With a thick, healthy lawn, there’s less of a chance of weeds taking over.

For broadleaf weeds, you can start by using a weed herbicide to kill the weeds; and then after they turn brown, you can remove the thatch. But removing the weeds is only the beginning of consistent lawn care and a subsequently healthier lawn.

Aerating your lawn in the fall (for cool-season grasses) and in the spring or early summer (for warm-season grasses) can greatly improve the health of your lawn. Core aeration, as it’s sometimes called, breaks up compacted soil that over time can harden, keeping the roots from growing and preventing rainfall, fertilizer, and other nutrients from penetrating the soil. Aeration is done by making small holes in the grass and soil or by removing small core patches of soil and dead grass, or thatch. These small holes allow oxygen, water, and nutrients to reach the soil and grass roots. Oxygen helps prevent diseases and increases growth, and with enough room in the soil, roots can continue to grow and flourish. Thus, this simple procedure can greatly increase the health of your lawn, giving it the strength and thickness it needs to choke weeds out.



Weed Control

Fertilizing your lawn in the fall, just after aerating, will allow the nutrients to reach the soil and roots. And with temperatures cooling, there will be better conditions for the soil and grass to repair and rebuild itself.

Overseeding your Tulsa lawn with cool-season grass varieties in the fall will help to fill in any bare patches of grass and strengthen your lawn with new grass seeds. This will help grass stay healthy and more resistant to diseases and weeds. Again, a healthy, vibrant lawn is the best defense against those pesky weeds.

While herbicides can help keep weeds at bay, truly healthy lawns require a regular maintenance program of aerating, fertilizing, and overseeding to have effective weed control.

For more information visit, Weed Control Tulsa.