Page 50 - Robeson Living Spring 2022

Timely Turf Tips

By Mack Johnson, Extension Horticultural Agent

Living in the Sandhills, I imagine most of us have warm-season and container boxes for the sample. We can also help interpret
turfs in our landscape, and they are brown and look pretty drab. the report if you have any questions.
Luckily the time to plan for a lush, healthy lawn is now. Every-
one loves the feel of cool, soft grass under their bare feet, but Our Coastal Plains soils are naturally acidic but many of our
it will take a little planning to achieve a better lawn. We have turfs prefer a soil with a neutral or more alkaline pH. All our
several warm-season turfs that grow in our area but the most warm-season soils like a pH of 6.5 - 7.0, except for centipede,
commonly grown seems to be centipede, by far. We also have which likes it a little more acidic, with a pH around 5.5. This
Zoysia, Bermuda hybrids, common Bermuda, Carpetgrass, St. can be easily adjusted with the correct amount of lime broad-
Augustine, and even Bahia. All of these can offer a picturesque cast over your lawn. The lime application can happen anytime
landscape when the correct cultural requirements are provided. of the year, but should only be applied as a top dress to an es-
tablished lawn. The sooner the better though.
The single most important step you can take to make your lawn
healthy and happy is to submit a soil sample to the North Caro- Fertilization is probably the most misguided and unintention-
lina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. They ally abused aspect of lawn maintenance. In general, most of
operate a soil lab in Raleigh that will test your soil sample and our warm-season turfs require nominal amounts of fertilizer.
provide a report on the nutrient levels present in the sample. Secondly, each turf variety prefers fertilizer at different times
More importantly, the report will include the pH of your soil. of the growing season. One maintenance calendar does NOT fit
The soil’s pH is important because the soil can be absolutely all the different turfs. For instance, I hear so many folks rush
loaded with a certain nutrient, but if the pH is out of the pre- to put out weed and feed to their centipede in March or early
ferred range, the plant cannot take up that particular nutrient. April. Since this particular blend contains a pre-emergent, it
Soil samples can be submitted for free April 1 until Thanksgiv- is beneficial to get that part out early, but fertilizer applied on
ing; it is $4 per sample other times of the year. If you decide to centipede this early in the year can actually harm the crown
take a soil sample, please call your local North Carolina Coop- and vigor of the grass for much of the growing season. Cen-
erative Extension center for soil collecting instructions, forms, tipede responds more favorably when the fertilizer is applied

Page Page 50 Robeson Living ~ Spring 2022