Mar 10, 2023 | Florida Lawn Care
South Florida Lawn Care: Keeping Your Lawn Healthy Year-Round
Now is the best time to start preparing your lawn to be the greenest on the block! During the spring and summer months, Florida lawns can experience high traffic, excessive rain, hot temperatures, and more. Putting a lawn care plan together beforehand can help minimize the effects these factors have on your grass. Check out our top lawn care tips for South Florida residents to utilize to maintain a healthy turf year-round.
Water Your Lawn Regularly
In our hot and humid climate, watering your lawn regularly is essential. Look to water your grass at least once a week, avoiding shallow watering as it can promote the growth of shallow roots. Consider watering your yard early in the morning or late in the evening to avoid evaporation during the hottest parts of the day.
Fertilize Your Lawn
Regular fertilization will help your lawn grow lush and healthy. The type of turf you have will determine the appropriate fertilizer to utilize. Whichever fertilizer you choose, look to apply it in the early spring and fall when your grass is actively growing. It’s recommended to consult with your lawn care professional on a fertilizer schedule and the type of fertilizer to use for a healthy lawn.
Mow Your Lawn Properly
Not only does mowing your lawn keep it tidy, but it’s also a health benefit to your grass. When you mow your lawn, set your mower at a high setting, ensuring that you don’t cut off more than a third of the grass blade. Utilizing this setting helps to promote deep roots and reduces the chance of damage and disease. Always keep your mower blades sharp for a clean cut. As for a mowing schedule, it’s best to base it on when you fertilize, current weather patterns, and the grass type, but you should always look to mow year-round.
Aerate Your Lawn
The aeration of your lawn will help relieve soil compaction, allowing air, water, and nutrients to reach the grassroots. Yearly aerating will help distribute nutrients from thatch, ensuring a healthy turf. Look to aerate in the spring or fall when the grass is actively growing.
Address Pests and Diseases
There are several insects and diseases that will quickly damage your lawn if not addressed promptly. Always look for signs of damage, including yellowing or browning of the grass. If you notice these spots, act as soon as possible with appropriate treatment. Likewise, lawn pests can be extremely damaging, ruining your grass’s health and overall look. Common lawn pests include ants, chinch bugs, mole crickets, sod webworms, and more! If you notice these pests are taking over your yard, consider reaching out to your lawn care professional.
While these steps will help you keep a healthy lawn, sometimes it’s best to contact your local lawn care company for help. These lawn professionals will provide you with a green lawn care analysis and a comprehensive treatment plan, customized to fit your lawn care needs.
Mar 8, 2023 | Florida Lawn Care
South Florida Lawn Care: Protection From Overwatering
We all know that lawns need water to survive, and rainstorms can often help us when our grass needs it the most. We know South Florida weather can bring plenty of rainstorms, sometimes too much. Unfortunately, if there’s been an excessive amount of rain, it can cause severe damage to our turf, making lawn care during this time essential. Check out the top 3 issues excessive watering or rainstorms can do to our lawn and how you can fix it.
Fungi Issues
Lawn fungus can cause our lawn to go from lush green to brown. Fungus development is common during the rainy summer months, especially if it’s paired with warmer temperatures. Once a fungal disease emerges, it can be difficult to get rid of it. Common fungus signs include discoloring patches, discolored, frayed, or distorted grass blades, spots on grass blades, or slimy or greasy-looking grass.
Loss of Nutrients
When there is excessive rainfall or overwatering that takes place, it can wash away any nutrients that the lawn could have absorbed. Likewise, if nutrients are washed away, they cannot absorb in the root system, causing the grass to become weak, dull, and disease-ridden. While your grass is losing nutrients, the excess water allows weeds to thrive, causing further lawn issues.
Lawn Pests
Wet weather can bring an influx of pests, especially if a lawn has not been well-maintained or treated for pests. Lawn pests, like grubs, thrive in rainy conditions, and once they infest it can be difficult to control and eliminate them. If your lawn has already seen a pest infestation, you will often notice discoloration from them chewing on grass roots.
Fixing Lawn Damage
There are simple, easy ways that every homeowner can ensure their lawn stays healthy and lush green after a couple of rainstorms. Check out our lawn care tips:
- Don’t mow while your lawn is wet; wait until your grass has dried out to avoid compaction and ruts.
- Try to keep off wet grass as much as possible; walking on it can cause damage to grass blades.
- Consider aerating your lawn if it floods, either manually or with a power aerator.
- After a flood, remove any silt, debris, or moss by raking it or washing it away with a hose.
- Replenish lawn nutrients by fertilizing your lawn, even after it has recovered.
- Reach out to your local South Florida lawn care company which will provide you with a lawn care analysis and a lawn maintenance plan to avoid damage after rainstorms.
Mar 1, 2023 | Florida Lawn Care
South Florida Pest Control: Fleas and Ticks
Fleas and ticks can harm our family and pets, latching on to us for a blood meal. While these pests are small, they can come with big health risks through transmitting diseases. As we continue the warmer weather outside, these pests will do the same, thriving in South Florida’s climate. Fleas and ticks can often get confused with one another, so it’s best to understand their differences so you can keep your family protected.
Fleas
Fleas are wingless with a reddish-brown, flattened body. Adult fleas will range up to 1/6 of an inch in length. These creatures have mouthparts that are adapted for sucking blood from a host. What is unique about fleas is that they have long back legs that are strong, allowing them to jump repeatedly from one host to another. A common indication that your pet has fleas is noticing them repeatedly scratch and groom themselves. Likewise, for humans, fleas will leave behind itchy bite marks on the skin. Another sign is spotting flea feces, or flea dirt, throughout your home. Flea dirt looks like coarse ground black pepper and is typically found in areas where a pet rests.
Ticks
Depending on their species, ticks can be a variety of sizes and colors. There are two groups of ticks to look out for: the hard ticks and the soft ticks. The most common species in North America include the deer tick, lone star tick, brown dog tick, and the American dog tick. While these ticks may look different, they are all seeking a blood meal and a humid place to inhabit. They are often found in wooded or vegetated areas. When they find a host, they will typically latch onto the face, legs, armpits, belly, and even in-between toes!
Preventing Fleas & Ticks
Taking precautions before you leave the home with your family or pet can help reduce the chances of a flea or tick infestation. Here are a couple of preventative measures you can take to prevent these pests from biting you, your family, and your pets:
- Wear light-colored clothing and long pants, long sleeves, and closed-toed shoes before exploring wooded or grassy areas
- Utilize insect repellent containing DEET before you leave the house
- Utilize flea or repellent treatment for your pets; make sure to consult your veterinarian on the right product for your pet
- After returning from the outdoors, check both yourself, your family, and your pets for any ticks and fleas
- Vacuum your home frequently, especially in hard-to-reach spots such as baseboards, under furniture, under cushions, and where your pets sleep or rest
- Keep your lawn grass cut short to help reduce tick and flea populations on your property
- Contact your local South Florida pest control company to inspect, provide a treatment plan, and recommend prevention for the future.
Feb 1, 2023 | Florida Lawn Care
South Florida Lawn Care: Staying Healthy in the Cold
While Florida City doesn’t typically experience freezing temperatures in the fall and winter seasons, we will still see our temperatures drop as the fall and winter months approach. During this time, lawn care is still important, as is maintenance to prepare your lawn for winter and have a healthy turf year-round. Check out our lawn care tips for the fall.
Continue to Fertilize and Control Weeds
Warmer temperatures will often extract needed nutrients from your lawn which, in return, makes it look dull. The fall season is the perfect time to replenish these nutrients to help prevent them from going brown. Fertilizing replaces the nutrients lost over the summer and allows the roots to grow deeper. When fertilizing, keep space between your fertilizer and any water sources.
Weeds tend to thrive in the fall as they are looking to absorb as many nutrients as possible for spring. Look to treat them with a pre-emergent during the fall season. The pre-emergent allows weeds to fully absorb the treatment throughout the fall and winter, avoiding their return in the springtime.
Don’t Forget to Water and Mow
During the fall, grass will continue to grow, making it essential that you continue to water as usual. Look to ensure your lawn gets around 1 inch of water per week. Utilize sprinklers or irrigation systems where needed. Likewise, continue to mow, utilizing the lowest blade settings to mow your lawn during the last two months of the year. This will allow the sun to reach the crown of the grass, causing fewer brown leaves in the winter.
Remove Leaves and Debris
Raking and removing leaves and debris is essential to keeping your lawn healthy year-round! As soon as leaves start to fall off the trees, it’s best to remove and discard them immediately. Waiting too long to remove debris and leaves will cause them to mat together, making them difficult to remove. Leftover matted leaves can suffocate your turf, leading to fungus.
Dealing with lawn care can seem daunting to many, especially during the holiday season. If you’re looking for extra support for your lawn, consider reaching out to your local South Florida lawn care company! These professionals can give you a free lawn care analysis and the best comprehensive treatment plan customized to your needs.
Aug 24, 2022 | Florida Lawn Care
Fort Myers Lawn Care: Maintaining A Healthy Lawn
The goal for most homeowners is producing and maintaining a lush, green lawn to show off! Unfortunately, Florida weather sometimes has other things in mind that can impact our lawns, such as droughts, heavy rains, and unbearably hot temperatures. Maintaining your Fort Myers lawn can take some work, but it is possible to obtain. Check out our lawn care tips and tricks to get you started on your lawn goals.
Utilize Grass Seed
To produce new grass over your existing turf, consider reseeding! Grass seeds are a great, easy option to help your lawn grow even more. Purchase grass seeds and utilize a spreader to disperse seeds throughout. For the best reseeding result, prep your lawn beforehand, including removing thatch buildup by aerating the soil. Water regularly to allow the seeds to sprout the new grass.
Remove Lawn Pests
Chinch bugs, ants, millipedes, and other lawn pests can cause major damage. These pests cause dead patches, discoloration, and dirt mounds throughout your lawn. It’s important to eliminate turf pests in the soil and around your plants. While insecticides can be used to remove pests, it’s not always the best option if you’re looking for an environmentally friendly option. A local lawn care company will be able to inspect your lawn, identify the pests, and provide the best treatment plan to remove them.
Establish a Lawn Maintenance Routine
For a healthy lawn year-round, it’s important to establish a routine lawn care maintenance plan. Without a maintenance schedule, your lawn could suffer during every season. Dedicate at least 30 minutes on the weekend to removing debris, weed control, and watering. Consider investing in a sprinkler system to help prevent dry grass. If the problem becomes bigger than you can handle, contact your local Fort Myers lawn care company to provide a free lawn analysis and determine the best maintenance plan for your lawn.
Aug 12, 2022 | Florida Lawn Care, Florida Pest Control
Ft. Lauderdale Pest Control: Preventing Common Lawn Pests
Your lawn should look lush and green year-round! Unfortunately, there are a few lawn pests that like to take the green out and replace it with brown. Check out our top three lawn pests to look out for in your Ft. Lauderdale lawn.
Armyworms
Armyworms have green, brown, and yellow stripes running the length of their body. These insects can range from 1/16 inches as an instar larva to 1-1/3 inches as mature larvae. Armyworms feed on grass, plants, vegetables, and even grains. In the southern states, they cause significant damage to lawns, occasionally feeding on our turfgrass. If these pests infest your lawn, they can quickly multiply, causing more damage and making them difficult to eliminate.
Chinch Bug
Chinch bugs have black bodies with white triangle patterns on their wings. These creatures will often progress in color from red to brown before becoming winged adults. They range from 1/8 to 1/6 of an inch in length. Chinch bugs prefer hot, dry, and sunny areas on lawns. If they’ve infested, they create large, irregular, yellowish, and wilted grass throughout. They do this by eating the sap from grass blades which, in return, injures the grass and causes it to die.
Grub Worm
Grub worms range from ¾ inch to almost 2 inches in length and have brown heads and cream bodies. These insects are voracious feeders, feeding on organic matter, including the roots of plants. If they’ve infested, their damage appears as drought stress which can turn your lawn a gray-green color. If they continue to feed, they can cause the turf to die in large irregular patches.
To prevent lawn pests from invading, consider these lawn care tips:
- Apply insecticide to your lawn
- Mow and rake out excess thatch regularly
- Frequently water your lawn and plants around your property
- Consider reaching out to your local Ft. Lauderdale lawn care company to identify the lawn pest and provide a proper treatment and prevention plan.
Aug 11, 2022 | Florida Lawn Care
Miami Gardens Lawn Care: Protecting After The Rain
South Florida’s summers are known for their rainy, unpredictable weather. On average, the Miami Gardens area receives 60 inches of precipitation from May to September, usually from random storms that only last a few minutes. The impact humidity can have on grass causes erratic growth and unseen harm, making summer lawn care a demanding chore. Here are some lawn care tips to keep your yard looking great after big rainstorms.
Pick Up After a Storm
Heavy rain can lead to debris accumulating throughout the property. Areas of low elevation collect waste that can prevent sunlight from reaching the roots, which can ultimately harm the grass. Leaves, fallen branches, forgotten produce from fruit trees, and other random items will build up if not properly addressed.
How Often Should I Mow?
The simple answer to this is only when it’s dry enough. Cutting wet grass is terrible for lawns. The weight of the mower can affect the oxygen pockets in the soil, which are necessary for roots to flourish. Mowing wet grass can also strain future growth, as the blades can carve small trenches into the soil, causing it to fill up with water and overhydrate.
Stay Off the Grass
Stepping on wet grass can also affect the health of your lawn. If the lawn is too wet when you step on it, it can cause soil compaction. Soil compaction will remove nutrients the lawn needs while leaving behind other nutrients that can over-indulge roots and cause turf harm.
If you believe your lawn lacks the nutrients needed, reach out to your local Miami Gardens lawn care company to receive an inspection and lawn care plan that is right for your property.
Jul 29, 2022 | Florida Lawn Care
South Florida Lawn Care
Have you ever stepped outside and seen that your lawn has developed brown spots? Droughts, hot temperatures, and increased traffic are a few reasons why your grass is less than healthy. To ensure your grass is lush green over these hot South Florida months, homeowners should understand what these brown patches are and how you can prevent them.
Brown patch fungus is also referred to as a large patch. This fungal disease is commonly seen in South Florida when rainfall, high humidity, or excessive irrigation leaves the turf damp for more than 48 hours. These patches are often 1 ft. in diameter, and if they go untreated, they can grow and spread throughout the lawn. These patches emerge for several reasons, including lawn pests, diseases, nutritional deficiencies, improper fertilizers or irrigation, and inconsistent mowing heights.
To remove these brown patches from your lawn, consider adding these tips to your lawn care routine:
- Water your lawn as needed, at least 4-6 inches in depth
- Mow your lawn at the recommended height
- Prevent thatch buildup by removing grass clippings
- Consider designing a landscape to provide the proper amount of sunlight throughout your lawn
- Contact your local South Florida lawn control company for a free lawn analysis and an ongoing lawn maintenance plan
Jun 26, 2022 | Florida Lawn Care, Florida Pest Control, Mosquito, Pest Control
South Florida Pest Control
Florida is home to several tourist attractions, beautiful beaches, and a host of pests! There are several factors to why various insects and creatures call Florida their home. We list the top reasons why pests love Florida weather and how you can prevent them from being a nuisance this summer!
Weather & Humidity
The most obvious and biggest factor to why pests are active year-round in Florida is the weather! Florida provides a variety of weather conditions, bringing moderate temperatures to allow pest colonies to grow without freezing temperatures halting them. While our warmer temperatures allow them to continue expanding and growing strength.
Termites, ants, mosquitoes, and cockroaches are just a few pests that thrive off humid weather. The humidity can cause damp wood, making it easier for pests to gain access into homes.
Travel & Tourists
Florida is a popular travel destination and even a perfect location for those ready to live in a warmer climate. With plenty of people traveling in and out of our state, to locations such as Miami, Naples, Fort Lauderdale, and more, pests are bound to follow. As we know, people produce substantial amounts of trash, an ideal situation for cockroaches, ants, rodents, and more. Rodents, such as Norway rats, will dig through trash cans for a food source, leading them to our property and inside our homes.
Vegetation & Landscaping
With a wide variety of naturally grown vegetation throughout Florida, most homeowners plant, maintain, and craft a beautiful lawn. Keeping your yard healthy takes a lot of work but it does help in preventing pests being attracted to the vegetation we grow. Pests such as mealy bugs, aphids, whiteflies, and more will easily destroy all the hard work of keeping a yard maintained and healthy. If lawn care is not maintained, pests such as mosquitoes will utilize your yard – creating breeding sites, multiplying, and infesting your property.
If you have noticed more pests on your property than usual, reach out to your local South Florida pest control company for a Free Pest Control Quote.
