Hello again from Kregel’s Landscape and Garden Center!
It is nice to see the temperature and humidity levels dropping a bit. The weather has been quite comfortable the past few days and it looks like we have much more of that on the horizon. Lawns are loving it too. After this stressful season this is great weather for our lawns.
Watering
As the weather cools, we need to back off on the watering. If we apply a fertilizer, it is good to water in a few times following the application, but once the product is watered in we recommend only watering as needed. If we continue to have rainfall 1 or 2 times per week please do not water at all unless the weather changes. Please do not winterize your system yet as many lawns may still need watering if the weather changes.
Mowing Height
At this point we would not recommend making any major changes. Please continue to mow at around 3″. In early to mid October you can begin to bring it down to 2.5″.
Disease
We have seen much more disease than normal in the past month due to the heavy rains and high humidity. We had around 7.5″ of rain in Grand Rapids in the second half of August! That took care of our drought problem but unfortunately there were 3 weeks in a row with high humidity and the lawns never had a chance to dry out. Most lawns were ok but a few here and there were hit pretty hard. If you have disease in the lawn please make sure to water fewer times and deeper if you have to water at all. Currently we should be able to avoid watering completely. We have already seen lawns improving and the disease is beginning to heal up with the improving conditions.
Seeding
If your lawn has dead areas from drought stress or insect damage this summer you will need to address them soon. The middle of September is the best time to seed. Please do not wait to seed until Spring. Make sure to adequately prepare the damaged areas by raking out the dead grass or adding fresh topsoil before seeding. Watering several times per day for short periods to keep the soil damp will greatly increase your germination rate. We recommend seeding and then adding 1/2″ of compost over the top of the seed to help retain moisture. If you are seeding areas be sure to let us know by emailing fertilizer@kregels.com.
Please include the seeding date and location so we can make the proper adjustments to our program.
Garden Center
Our garden center is open Monday through Friday from noon to 5pm and on Saturday from 9am to 2pm. Beginning Monday, September 19 all trees are 35% for the rest of the Season. Fall is a great time to finalize your planting needs!
Landscape Work
Here is a sampling of a few planting installations from this past month. Feel free to contact us is you have a project in mind you would like to discuss.
As always, let us know if you have any questions.
Thank you!
