While you might be trying to do everything right to keep your Louisville lawn looking its best, it can feel confusing when there is conflicting information online or amongst fellow homeowners. In fact, over the years, we’ve heard a number of lawn care myths in Louisville that are just outright incorrect.
Because we want you to have the best information when making decisions for your property, we’ve set out to start debunking lawn care myths.
We’ll cover some of the lawn myths and facts in Louisville that you ought to know. Understanding some of these lawn maintenance misconceptions in Louisville can help set you up for success by avoiding mistakes.
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Of the lawn care myths in Louisville, the idea that cutting your lawn short will mean less frequent mowing is just flat out wrong. The truth is actually just the opposite. Mowing the lawn short can make it grow faster!
That’s because mowing stimulates new growth.
But even worse, mowing the lawn too short can actually be highly detrimental to your lawn’s health. Improper mowing is one of the more common lawn care mistakes that we tend to see.
We know that people love a well-manicured, short lawn. But when you cut the lawn shorter than it was meant to be cut, you put a tremendous amount of stress on it. There is an optimal mowing grass height for different grass types.
For turf type tall fescues in our region, we generally recommend setting your mower to the highest level of four inches.
We know that this is taller than people sometimes want but that will promote a healthy lawn with deep roots. The trouble with cutting grass much shorter than that is that the root system grows shallow. To have healthy grass, you really want to encourage deeper roots that grow further down into the soil.
Taller grass also happens to be greener grass. That’s because taller grass has more leaf tissue, which is where the process of photosynthesis is taking place. In other words, when cutting grass short, you actually affect the ability of your grass plants to produce food and grow green and healthy.
This is a key reason why short lawns tend to turn yellow.
Cutting the lawn too short can also promote weed growth. A taller-cut lawn will have better moisture retention and start to crowd out opportunistic weeds that are trying to creep in.
Another misunderstanding about lawn care has to do with the frequency of services. Fertilizing just once a year is not going to give you the results you desire. In fact, fertilizer has different purposes during different seasons. You want to make sure that you are receiving the benefits all year round.
At Limbwalker, we have six strategically timed visits at different times of the year and we’re fertilizing at each of those visits. We’re focused on having a balanced program that gets us on your property at key times. But we also know that regular fertilization can help promote a thick, healthy, green lawn.
Spring is commonly thought of as the main season to fertilize and it’s certainly important during this time. This is when the grass is actively growing and will really need those extra nutrients to thrive.
But if you are limiting your fertilizing to one or two times in the spring, you are selling your lawn short.
The late fall fertilization treatment that we perform (sometimes referred to as “winterizer”) is arguably one of the most important as it is this round that sets your lawn up for success once spring rolls around again. Late fall fertilization is a key reason behind early spring “green up.”
Winterizer also provides your lawn with vital nutrients that it will need to survive the sometimes-harsh winter weather conditions.
On the other side of the coin, you also want to avoid over-fertilizing. While fertilizer is great for your lawn, too much of a good thing can still be bad! It’s critical that your lawn care provider is applying the proper amount of fertilization without over-fertilizing, which can lead to turf burn.
You can read about more lawn fertilizing myths here. It’s important to understand that not all fertilization treatments are created equally!
Here’s another common lawn myth debunked: Your lawn does not need to be watered every single day.
Yes, water is a wonderful thing for your lawn and all lawns absolutely require ample water to survive and thrive. But watering deeply, less often is best for your lawn. When people water daily, they tend to just water a little bit. Watering shallowly (not allowing that water to percolate deep down to the root zone), can encourage shallow root growth.
This is NOT good for your lawn.
The fact to keep in mind is that lawns need around 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week.
You can see if this is being achieved with rainfall by buying a simple device called a “rain gauge" to measure daily rain amounts.
If it is not a rainy week, typically, watering each zone for around a half hour twice a week should help you meet your goal.
Obviously, the rate at which the water comes out is a factor to consider (and will differ depending on what you’re using). You can use your rain gauge to also get a sense of how much water is being applied during your watering sessions to make sure you’re on target.
It’s also a common misconception that the time of day you water doesn’t matter. It is best to water your lawn in the morning. But even more importantly, it is best to avoid watering at night.
Watering at night can actually be problematic because it increases the likelihood of fungal growth. When water is left to sit on the lawn overnight it can create just the right conditions for fungus spores to begin to grow (and spread!).
Because spring is the growing season, people sometimes mistakenly think it’s the best time to seed the lawn. You’re probably spending more time outside and noticing bare spots that you want to fill in.
The big seed companies also don’t help matters. They start pushing their products on radio and television ads in the spring. Seeding the lawn is likely to be on your mind because the big seed companies are pushing it!
But there are reasons why spring is not the optimal time for seeding.
If you seed in the spring, you’ll likely have no trouble getting the lawn to initially germinate. Grass needs ample moisture and a soil temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit to grow…and the early springtime will provide that.
The trouble is, hot dry weather is just around the corner. While your new grass will likely sprout and even look good for a bit, the undeveloped root system is going to really struggle with the hot dry climate of summer.
The other significant problem with seeding grass in spring is that it impacts your efforts to control crabgrass in your lawn. The best way to control crabgrass is with pre-emergent products that stop germination from happening. But these products will also stop grass from growing.
All of these are reasons why the fall is truly the best time of the year to seed your lawn.
While it’s not exactly a lawn care myth that you can seed in spring (you can)...you really shouldn’t. You very easily could end up wasting your time and money on grass that doesn’t survive. Then, you’ll just find yourself seeding in the fall anyway.
Finally, as we wrap up our efforts to debunk lawn care myths, we want to mention that the idea that you have to do everything on your own is also a misconception!
Lawn care can be complicated and understanding how to do everything on your own can be overwhelming.
That’s why it makes sense to hire professional lawn care services in Louisville.
If you want to get the most possible value out of lawn care, it just makes sense to partner with a pro. A pro will know exactly what your lawn needs (and when it needs it), so that none of the burdens fall on you in figuring it all out.
In the end, that should give you peace of mind. Instead of worrying about falling for lawn care myths, you can simply get back to enjoying your lawn.
With the right approach to lawn care, you’ll be on a much better path to enjoying more time outside and truly loving your lawn to the fullest!
Are you ready to have a thick and healthy lawn at your Louisville, KY home? Get in touch with us to get a quote for our lawn care programs, which include three lawn care pricing options.