With the first day of spring approaching, warmer weather signals plants to come out of dormancy and start flourishing again. The time for spring lawn care tips is right around the corner! Even if your lawn never went fully dormant, you can still expect your home landscape to begin thriving with warmer temperatures.
Pretty soon, your lawn will be full of color and activity again! If you have a warm season lawn, your turfgrass will come out of dormancy and if you have a cool season lawn, snow in your area will start to melt and you’ll enjoy a greener environment.
Lawn Care by Grass Types
For detailed spring lawn care tips on specific grass types, visit our individual blogs on spring maintenance for your zoysia, St. Augustine, bermuda grass, centipede grass and bluegrass or fescue lawn.
Spring Lawn Care Tips
1. Proper Spring Mowing
Timing:
Begin mowing when your turfgrass shows signs of growth, which varies by region. For instance, grass in South Florida might never stop growing, whereas turf in colder regions waits until the thaw.
Height Adjustment:
Adjust your mower height to cut no more than a third of the grass blade at any time. This prevents shock and maintains health.
Equipment Care:
Sharpen mower blades to ensure clean cuts that prevent disease. View our Lawn Mowing Guide for detailed settings per grass type.
2. Choosing the Best Lawn Fertilizer for Spring
Timing is Key:
Wait until after the last frost to apply spring lawn fertilizer. This timing helps avoid re-dormancy from unexpected cold snaps.
Product Recommendations:
We suggest the Lawnifi Spring Fertilizer Box as the best lawn fertilizer for spring, which provides tailored nutrition to help your grass recover from winter and thrive in spring. Each application covers 5,000 sq. ft. and is designed for easy use with a hose-end sprayer.
3. Setting Up Your Spring Irrigation Schedule
Water Requirements:
Gradually increase watering as your grass resumes active growth. Aim for about 1 inch per week, considering rainfall.
Efficiency Tips:
Conduct an irrigation audit to ensure even water distribution and prevent wastage. Learn how to perform an irrigation audit.
4. Fixing Bare or Damaged Spots
Using Plugs or Seeds:
For bare spots, consider using grass plugs or seeding the lawn in the spring. Choose a grass type that matches your existing lawn for a seamless repair.
Soil Preparation:
Before planting, prepare the soil by loosening it and adding a light layer of compost to provide nutrients. Do a soil test to make proper amendments to your soil to set it up for success this season.
5. Aerate Your Lawn
Why Aerate?
Aeration helps relieve soil compaction, allowing roots to breathe and absorb nutrients more effectively.
Best Practices:
Aerating is best done during your lawn’s peak growing season. For cool-season grasses, early spring or fall is ideal, while warm-season grasses benefit most from late spring aeration.
Spring Lawn Treatment
6. Weed Control Strategies
Preventive Care:
Apply a pre-emergent herbicide when soil temperatures consistently reach about 55 degrees Fahrenheit to stop weed seeds from germinating. Learn more here.
Active Management:
Use post-emergent herbicides to tackle visible weeds like dandelions and crabgrass. Ensure selective herbicide use, as non-selectives will kill any and all vegetation it comes into contact with
Apply post-emergent weed contrl throughout the spring as needed to control summer annual and perennial broadleaf weeds like:
- Crabgrass
- Goosegrass
- Sandspur
- Dallisgrass
- Dandelion
- Chickweed
- White Clover
- Knotweed
- Spurge
- Dollarweed
- Doveweed
- Lespedeze
Post-emergent products containing multiple broadleaf active ingredients like SpeedZone Broadleaf Herbicide for Turf are the best spring lawn treatments as they're more effective in controlling broadleaf weeds.
If you start to notice grassy weeds such as crabgrass or goosegrass, post-emergents like Mesotrione 4 SC Select will treat them, however, this product shouldn't be used on zoysia lawns. Be sure to follow product labels for any control product appropriately during application.
If you notice weeds and you aren't sure which type of weed it is, check out our Identifying Common Lawn Weeds blog.
Note: St. Augustine and centipede lawns are sensitive to active ingredients like 2,4-D, MSMA or Mecroprop. Apply an Atrazine-based weed control product like Hi-Yield Atrazine to control weeds. Atrazine products serve as both pre- and post-emergent herbicides.
7. Spring Lawn Pest Management
To protect your lawn from recurring insect damage, consider applying a broad-spectrum insect control product, especially if you've experienced issues during this season in the past. Make sure granular insecticides are watered into the soil, while liquid types should be applied using a garden hose or tank mixer.
Common springtime pests include:
- White Grub Worms
- Chinch Bugs
- Sod Webworms
- Billbugs
For active grub worm infestations, products like Dylox 6.2 are effective, while Imidacloprid-based products like Imidacloprid 0.5 G can prevent early-season outbreaks.
Bifen L/P is suitable for treating billbug infestations, and bifenthrin products can manage both chinch bug and sod webworm issues.
For more detailed information, refer to our Insect Identification blog and always follow label instructions carefully.
Pictured above from left to right: White grub worms, a hunting billbug, Southern chinch bugs and a sod webworm.
8. Prevent Disease as Temperatures Begin to Warm Up
As your warm-season lawn emerges from dormancy, watch for circular brown or yellow spots known as spring dead spot, along with potential large patch and gray leaf spot diseases.
To manage these, apply a systemic disease control product like Heritage G or Propiconazole, ideally as a preventive measure, especially if you've experienced similar issues before.
It's crucial to treat with fungicide before using spring fertilizers, as the nitrogen in fertilizers can exacerbate fungal growth. Apply the disease control and delay fertilization by a few weeks to prevent disease spread.
Read product labels thoroughly.
Pictured above: Spring dead spot.
What Should I Do for My Lawn This Spring? - Answered
Spring is crucial for lawn care. Here's a streamlined approach to ensure your lawn thrives:
- Mowing: Start when grass resumes growth. Set your mower to avoid cutting more than a third of the blade. Keep blades sharp.
- Fertilization: Apply a suitable fertilizer, like Lawnifi Spring Fertilizer Box, after the last frost.
- Watering: Gradually increase to about an inch per week, including rain, and conduct an irrigation audit for efficiency.
- Repairing Bare Spots: Use appropriate seeds or plugs and enrich the soil with compost.
- Aeration: Aerate to reduce soil compaction and enhance root growth.
- Weed and Pest Control: Apply pre-emergent weed control for weeds and treat pests with specific insect control.
- Disease Prevention: Monitor for diseases like spring dead spot and use disease control preemptively.
Following these steps will keep your lawn healthy and attractive throughout the season.
