The lawn care calendar below provides a detailed breakdown of the lawn care methods that work best in the Kansas City area. We have provided month-by-month fertilization instructions for you to follow at home, either on your own or with the help of professionals like us! Follow these instructions, and subsequent tips for each season, and you will have the perfect Kansas City lawn!
January - February March - April May - June July - August September - October November - December January - February
If necessary, clean any new leaves (leaves that accumulated since the fall cleanup) that collect in corners, fence lines, low spots, etc. If leaves pile up and remain in one area for too long, they will smother the grass and kill it. This is when turf damage can happen that often goes unnoticed. Failing to clean up the leaves can prevent you from achieving a great lawn.
Apply a “full-rate” concentration of granular Prodiamine crabgrass pre-emergent. This concentration of herbicide is designed to provide crabgrass protection in a single annual treatment. The pre-emergent treatment is often mixed with a high-quality fertilizer. Unfortunately, if you’re applying your own fertilizer, you’ll be limited to a relatively small amount of choices. You will want to find something with a medium nitrogen content that has a blend of slow release, quick release, and micronutrients, if possible.
Applying the pre-emergent at this stage will give the herbicide time to disperse into the soil and protect against many spring weeds, in addition to crabgrass.
March - April
Blanket spray for broadleaf weeds. Use a three-way or similar herbicide (Trimec). Mix and dilute per the instructions. Many cold-season weeds and dandelions appear in early spring, so this is a good time to get ahead of them.
Before the lawn begins growing, mow it at 3 inches. This will clean up the lawn and stimulate its growth to get an early green appearance. This is not something our mowing crews do automatically. We find that most of our clients would prefer to save the money and wait until the grass begins to grow. If you’d like us to cut it short early, just let us know.
Second spring blanket spray for broadleaf weeds. New weeds will appear since the first treatment, and a second treatment will be necessary. Apply a “split application” or “half-rate” treatment of Dimension pre-emergent. This treatment will extend the crabgrass protection into late summer.
May - June
Apply a 3-month, 100% slow release fertilizer. This type of fertilizer is included in our program and is very difficult for a homeowner to locate. In fact, only one other (highly respected) company offers it in the Kansas City area. It’s expensive, but it will efficiently feed the lawn throughout the summer. Our supplier does not sell to the public, so it’s unlikely that you’ll find this fertilizer. Instead, you can apply a low- to mid-rate fertilizer with the highest slow release percentage you can find. If the fertilizer is only a 5-6 week release, you’ll probably need to reapply in August.
Blanket spray for nutsedge weeds, if necessary. If you’re doing this yourself, you may be able to achieve acceptable results by spot spraying if weeds are scarce. There are two common herbicides used for spraying nutsedge. The less expensive option will contain Sulfentrazone, but this chemical is easily overapplied and frequently kills turf. Even our trained technicians do not use it. Instead, look for a product called Sedgehammer. It can be expensive, but it’s better than killing your lawn!
Spot spray for broadleaf weeds in turf areas, and apply grub control before July.
July - August
Apply a slow release fertilizer. This type of fertilizer is included in our program and is very difficult for a homeowner to locate. In fact, only one other (highly respected) company offers it in the Kansas City area. It’s expensive, but it will efficiently feed the lawn throughout the summer. Our supplier does not sell to the public, so it’s unlikely that you’ll find this fertilizer. Instead, you can apply a low- to mid-rate fertilizer with the highest slow release percentage you can find.
Spot spray for broadleaf and nutsedge weeds, if necessary. If you’re doing this yourself, you may be able to achieve acceptable results by spot spraying if weeds are scarce. There are two common herbicides used for spraying nutsedge. The less expensive option will contain Sulfentrazone, but this chemical is easily overapplied and frequently kills turf. Even our trained technicians do not use it. Instead, look for a product called Sedgehammer. It can be expensive, but it’s better than killing your lawn!
September - October
Aerate and seed. Verticut, if necessary, to fill in any bare spots. Laying seed while you aerate maintains soil quality and keeps the lawn thick. Many factors create a beautiful lawn, but annual seeding probably has the single biggest impact on creating a lawn that wows your neighbors. Thick lawns also help prevent weeds. If you have thin or bare areas, something will grow there, and it usually isn’t turfgrass. You just can’t beat the appearance of a thick lawn that doesn’t have thin areas or bare spots. Apply starter fertilizer that also contains a root stimulator.
Blanket spray for broadleaf weeds. Many weeds, including dandelions, germinate in fall. Spraying for them now will help eliminate them and reduce the number of weeds that grow during the following spring. If you have previously used a 2, 4-D formulation twice in the season, you will need to use a different broadleaf product for this treatment. State regulations prohibit using 2, 4-D as a blanket spray more than twice per year. Alternatively, you can spot spray as many times as you’d like, but the results may not be as good.
November - December
Apply a high nitrogen winterizer fertilizer. This can be done even if there are leaves on the ground because the vast majority of granules will fall right through the leaves. Any granules that stay on top of the leaves will fall once the leaves are disturbed by wind, a mower, a rake, or rinsed off by rain. The leaves will not reduce the effectiveness of the treatment.
Now is the time to cut back any deciduous shrubs that have outgrown their space. Drastic cutting can be done at this point. You want to cut them back before they sprout leaves, but it is also important to minimize the time that the cut wounds remain open. Your healthy shrubs will soon begin to regrow and heal themselves, and you can focus on the lawn.
Spot spray for landscape weeds. Prune Mugo pines and Alberta spruce. Only trim the candles of the pines and the soft new growth of the spruce. Use hand shears, and be careful not to damage old growth. To shape, use hand pruners to remove branches at the base. Plant annuals around mid-May.
Once the spring rains have ended and the heat increases, water the lawn twice a week for 45 minutes per zone (25 minutes for zones that have fan sprayer nozzles). This frequency allows the water to seep deeper into the ground and the surface to dry out between watering cycles, minimizing the chances of turf disease. This method will allow the turf to go dormant but keeps it healthy.
If you require a dark green color all season, you’ll need to water much more frequently, but you may experience problems with disease. For best water efficiency, water in the early morning hours before the sun comes up.
If you’ve seeded your lawn, follow the instructions for watering after overseeding, which can be found in this link. If you did not seed your lawn, use the summer watering instructions, but reduce the watering frequency by up to 50% depending on rainfall and current daytime temperatures.
Spot spray weeds only if needed and weather permits. A special blend of fertilizer is used for root development going into the winter, which stabilizes the turf for winter dormancy and assists in early spring green-up next season. The type of grass you have will also influence how fast the lawn greens up the following spring. Fescue and bluegrass develop at different soil temperatures in the springtime.
Touch up your lawn with Heartland Turf & Landscape