How to Aerate & Seed Fescue Lawns – Atlanta Landscape from sagacious1 on Vimeo.

We have been aerating and seeding fescue lawns in Atlanta, Georgia for the last 20 years. We do a thorough job of aerating the lawn which is the soil cultivation practice just prior to putting the seed down.

What Does Aeration Do?

The aeration helps to break up the compaction of the soil and provide air and nutrients to the root systems of the existing grass. It also provides an ideal seed to soil contact for the new seed to germinate in. If the aeration is not done correctly the results of the seeding will be greatly diminished.

How Much Fescue Seed To Put Down?

Applying the correct amount of seed is a vital part of a successful aeration and seeding. Too much seed can over- populate the turf, increasing the chances of disease and overcrowding of the turf grass. Too little seed will leave the areas thin and next year a further decline in your lawn will occur.

Preparing the lawn prior to the seeding is an important part of achieving good results from the aeration and seeding. Watering and cutting the lawn to a low mowing height prior to the seeding will soften the soil and improve the results of the aeration and allow the seed a better chance of soil contact.

Why Is It Important To Seed My Lawn In the Fall?

This is an important year for aeration and seeding of your fescue lawns.  This summer was one of the hottest on records and the fescues to a beating.  This is the best time to replenish or in many cases replant your lawn.  It is crucial that you get the seeding done in the fall.  If you wait until springtime the seed does not have an opportunity to mature before the summer heat hits and then the new seedlings die and your lawn declines even faster.

It has been a very difficult period of time for the fescue lawns in the southeast over the past 3 years.  The good news is it is not that expensive to replace the entire lawn and once replanted it looks awesome for about 9 months out of the year.  Compare that to the bermuda and zoysia lawns that shut down and in November and stay dormant until May.

If you would like a free estimate, fill out our estimate form online, here on this site or call or email us. We look forward to serving you .

The Arbor & Turf Team.

Are you happy with the results?

The fact is most of the time you never see your lawn care service perform the treatment and then you are left with an invoice with some lawn care jargon that makes no sense to you. 

We do things different at Arbor & Turf.  We are an Atlanta lawn care service that will spend the time with you to explain what we are doing and why we are doing it.  This site is full of videos and information about our service treatments and the accessibility to our staff is unmatched. 

For a Free Estimate Please fill out our lead sheet and we will be in touch with you within 24 hours for a consultation.

I used an insecticide that works very well on these little soldiers but I will be back on this lawn in about 15 days to retreat and make sure we have them under control.

Here are some facts about these little soldiers:

Identification: Armyworms, which attain a length of 1/2 inches, are also caterpillars of moths. Their bodies are greenish when small but become brown when fully grown. Several stripes are usually apparent, extending from the head to the rear. The adult is a mottled brownish-gray moth with a wingspan of nearly l l/2 inches.

Life Cycle and Diagnosis: Moths lay clusters of eggs on grass blades, lawn furniture, white or light colored walls and other objects near lawns. Caterpillars hatch and begin to feed on the turf. Damaged turf appears ragged with individual blades showing signs of chewing damage. When numerous, they may devour the grass down to the ground. Caterpillars pupate in the soil. The moths emerge within a couple of weeks. They are active mainly at night. There are three to six generations a year. As with sod webworms, time insecticide applications to control armyworms during the early evening when caterpillars are feeding on the surface of the turf.

If you have army worms – call us or fill out our information form and we will get on your property immediately.  We will treat your lawn 2 times for $75 each treatment.  This is up to 8,000 square feet of lawn.  $10.00 for each 1000 square feet over 8,000 square feet.

Today is June 23, 2010.  The temperatures have been in the mid 90’s for about 2 weeks and it has been raining in the afternoon around the city with the hit or miss thunderstorms that are typical in this region in early summer.  In May it was in the mid 80’s with even more rain.  It is hot and humid, a very typical southern summer.  Last year and the year before, we were in a level 4 and level 5 drought in Atlanta, Georgia.  This year, thankfully, the drought is over.

The Brown Patch Fungus Is Always Present

I give you these details to help explain why the fescue lawns, in Atlanta this year, are suffering from brown patch fungus.  The conditions are ideal right now for brown patch fungus in tall fescue lawns.  When we were in a drought the fescue lawns went into a semi-dormant state.  There was less moisture in the air to allow the disease to spread.  The fungus that causes brown patch is constantly present in the lawn.  It can not be eliminated.  When conditions are right and your turf is weak the fungus takes off. 

Why Does The Brown Patch Show Up Now?

Your fescue is weak during the summer.  Why?  Because it is a cool season grass and when it is in the 80’s and 90’s it is stressed from the heat.   The best thing you can do is not water during the evening and mow at the highest setting.  Actually when it is this hot out, it is best to limit watering to one or two times a week for about 15 minutes each at 5a.m. – 6a.m.   This is just to try to keep some water on the lawn so it does not dry out entirely but if the weather persists and gets to a drought type pattern it is best to just shut down watering all together.  We are still in some watering restrictions and probably always will be and watering is not going to produce good results anyway so save your money. 

Can It Be Treated 

Walter Reeves talks about Brown Patch

Walter Reeves is a well known expert in lawn and shrub care for the Southeast.  He has a very detailed article about the specifics of brown patch fungus in Tall Fescue.

Fungicide treatments can be effective on minimizing Brown Patch Fungus but they need to be applied at an interval of about 2 week periods.  This can be costly.  The fungicides can cost about $20 per 1000 square feet.  For a typical lawn size of 5000 square feet that is about $100 every 2 weeks. 

We actually use a product that costs a bit less then the numbers that Walter Reeves was quoting.  It is very effective at controlling brown patch but it does need to be applied every 2 weeks when conditions are favorable for the disease. 

You can purchase this product here.

Cultural Practices To Minimize Brown Patch Fungus In Tall Fescue

Cultural practices play a big role on the development of brown patch.  Nitrogen fertilization, irrigation, and mowing are the most important factors to consider. For best results, tall fescue should be mowed at heights between 2.5 and 3.5 inches. Brown patch activity can be encouraged when mowing heights are either too low or too high. Mowing heights below 2.5" increase brown patch development by reducing the tall fescue plant’s ability to produce energy.  Mowing heights higher than 3.5" create a turf canopy that is dense, matted, and holds moisture for extended periods of time

How Our Service Handles Brown Patch Fungus

Obviously brown patch is a difficult problem to deal with in the southern heat on fescue lawns.  When conditions are right, everyone gets it at the same time.  

We do treat with a fungicide that will minimize the fungus for about 2 weeks.  Just as Walter Reeves has discussed.  We will charge an extra application fee for this treatment.  So whatever your application fee is for your lawn will be the charge of the fungicide treatment.  You tell us how many you would like to have and we will put you into our special fungicide route for treatments.  This fee will usually be much less then Walter Reeves has suggested as a treatment pricing for fungicide treatments. 

The good news is the brown patch is only active during high humid periods when temperatures are in the high 80’s – low 90’s.  Once temps get up into the high 90’s the fescue actually goes into a more dormant state. 

Fall seeding is a must to replenish what fescue is lost during the summer heat stress.  Call the office to get put on the fall seeding schedule now so you don’t have to worry about it later.

We Do Things Differently

- We Utilize Special Products To Handle Weeds Effectively & Keep Them Under Control.

- Our technicians are paid a salary so they are not pressured to get on and off your lawn

so they can hit their quota for the day.  They take their time and do the job right.

- We are “hands on” owners and continuously monitor the operations of our business

- We have a proven track record for producing results in our customers lawns.

- Our Motto is “Kill Em With Service” – Which is exactly what we aim to do.

- We take a soil sample during our first application to test the pH level in the soil.

- Our fertilizers are organically based and we utilize reclaimed water in our spray tanks

We fully guarantee our work.  If for any reason we need to retreat or if you are not happy we will service your property until we take care of the problem at no extra cost.

Remember the special price mentioned above. If this is your first correspondence with our company

Fill out our free online estimate form and become a customer

We will also very competitive with our pricing and can meet or beat any price you currently have – within reason of course.  We have been doing this for a long time and all companies are within a few dollars of each other – unless someone miss measures your lawn.

We Want Your Business – Give Us A Shot.

In some cases it is necessary to add an additional zone to make the irrigation system more efficient or capping off a zone that is no longer needed.  All of these and more irrigation system repair service techniques will be covered in a mini series I will be developing over the next few months, so stay tuned.

One of the biggest areas I will be covering is how to install a drip line irrigation system.  In fact you will watch me install my very own irrigation system throughout my back yard.

In the meantime, if you need any assistance and you live in the Atlanta area, please fill out the form to the right of the screen or call our office. 

If you live outside of the Atlanta area and have some questions please leave a comment and I will be glad to help you in any way I can.   

We have 2 positions open at present.  Both require a valid Georgia Drivers License and good driving record.  

This year is going to start off with weed issues much more intense then the typical problems of spring weed groups of this region.  They will be bigger and more of them.  This was evident last fall when there were more winter weeds emerging then ever before. 

With this in mind it is vital to get your pre-emergence down and start to control the post emerged weeds as soon as possible.  The problem is we have remained in the low temperatures.  Weed control is not very effective when the plants are shut down because it is too cold out.  Our program this year is starting off with a good application of pre-emergence to make sure we have a good barrier in place for any weeds that will start to germinate in the early spring.  As soon as the temperatures reach a good consistent reading we will be hammering the post emerged weeds as fast as we can. 

The one weed that will be difficult this year will be the same one as always at this time of the year -  you guessed it – Poa Annua.  The one thing it has going for it is its not that ugly of a weed.  The real problem is you have to use some pretty aggressive weed control to get it under control once it is emerged.  We would suggest leaving it to run its course and not spend a bunch of time and weed control trying to control something that will die off in the early summer anyway.   The reason is, due to the heavy rains we have had this winter the pre-emergence from the fall is compromised and when you attack the Poa Annua with the post emerged weed control you run the risk of damaging the grass. 

Trust us, it is better to keep the grass healthy and ready to ride whatever mother nature gives us this year then to worry about cleaning up a Poa Annua patch in the midst of transitioning Bermuda or Zoysia.  The roots are going to be in need of repair after drought and excessive rains so you don’t want to compromise their health this spring. 

We are an owner operated full service lawn care company based in Alpharetta, Georgia. Our service area spans from Conyers to West Cobb and from Atlanta to Dawsonville.

Our Service

Our lawn care service consists of a basic service of 8 treatments per year and we also offer a 10 treatment program as a service to provide monthly treatments throughout the growing season on properties that might require more frequent visits.

The Focus

The focus of our service is to bring quality products in a timely manner with outstanding professional service. Our program is 50% organic. The reason it is not 100% is due to the fact it is impossible to maintain weed control in this region without the use of preemergents and postemergent weed controls. Our fertilizers are organically based and we use reclaimed water for our liquid treatments.

Our Experience

In the 20 years of doing business in Georgia we have gained invaluable experience in the treatment of your lawns. Our service is designed to be flexible enough to meet your properties specific needs as in many cases micro environments occur in the yard and need special attention to maintain a consistent green lawn throughout the entire property. Our service professionals are equipped to handle the different needs your property will have throughout the seasons.

What it Means To You

As you know your lawn and landscape add value to your home and we understand the importance of maintaining consistent results on a property. We treat our customers lawns as if they were our own and if there is a problem we want to solve it.  Our program is constantly tweaked to bring you the best products and results possible.  We have worked hard to find solutions to the more difficult problems in lawn care in this area like difficult to control weeds and fungus problems.  We try to incorporate the solutions into our regular service and have found the best system for bringing consistent results is to be on your property every 5 – 6 weeks.

If you are looking for a company that does things a bit different than some of the larger companies in this industry give us a call at 404.806.6263 or email us at arborandturf@juno.com or fill out our free estimate form on this site and give us a shot at your business. We look forward to meeting you.

Figure 1: Leaf lesions caused by Rhizoctonia sp. (provided by Dr. Eric B. Nelson, Cornell University)

Figure 2: Microscopic view of Rhizoctonia sp. mycelium. (provided by Dr. Eric B. Nelson, Cornell University)

Symptoms

The pattern of symptoms depends largely on cool vs. warm season grasses, mowing practices, and moisture levels. On cool season grasses the symptoms produced by a Rhizoctonia sp. infection may vary depending on the maintenance practices. Under close mowing conditions, cool season grasses that are kept very wet produce small to 50 cm blighted patches that appear quickly during optimum conditions. The patches may contain the diagnostic feature of a purplish-gray border that is referred to as a "smoke-ring". The smoke-ring is commonly missing from the symptomatic region but if present is most often observed during hot-humid weather and is most easily seen when a dew is present. Cool season grasses that are cut higher produce small light brown patches up to 15 cm in diameter that may or may not contain that diagnostic smoke-ring symptom. Cool season grasses that are cut high and kept dry may produce patches up to 30 cm in diameter. These patches may produce a symptomatic patch known as a "frogeye". Frogeye patches have apparently healthy green grass surrounded by a ring of necrotic grass that appears very flat and sunken into the ground.

Individual leaf lesions may be small, round to irregularly shaped, and tan in color with a distinctive dark brown margin (Fig. 1). As the fungus grows, the hyphae produce a characteristic branching pattern of 90° angles that are easily recognized microscopically. The width of the hypha decreases at the junction of a branch giving it a pinched appearance (Fig. 2).

Disease Cycle
Rhizoctonia spp. produce structures referred to as "bulbils" to survive unfavorable conditions such as freezing temperatures or drought. The optimum temperature range for germination of the fungus is from 21°C to 32^°C (70°F to 90^°F). The pathogen mainly infects leaves and sheaths of the turfgrass plant.

Brown patch disease cycle.
(image from The Compendium of Turfgrass Diseases, APS Press)