With any lawn care topic, there will be those that argue the other side of the coin. With that said, these statements are based on our owner – Jason’s 18 years of personal experience within the New Jersey, Pennsylvania Lawn care industry.

Here’s Jason’s Top 5 DIY Spring Lawn Care Mistakes:

  1. Do Not Roll Your Lawn – this is one of the oldest tall tales in the book. Often you’ll here some  DIY television show promote rolling your lawn. However, the truth of the matter is that it causes more harm than actual good. For instance, if you’re on your lawn too early in the spring, you risk rutting the lawn. Also, by rolling the lawn in the early spring, you can break the “crown” of the turf blade, causing dead spots throughout your lawn.
  2. Do Not De-Thatch Your Lawn – as the season progresses along, you often get a build up of dead grass blades in your lawn from mowing, or just the natural life cycle. Often, homeowners get the idea that it’s best to remove this “thatch” so the lawn looks better. However, de-thatching the lawn can cause damage to the crown of the plant, causing irreversible damage to the turfblade. 
  3. Do Not Apply Pre-Emergent Crabgrass Preventer & Seed at the Same Time – this spring you’ll want to spot seed any areas of your lawn that may be bare. However, you’ll also want to apply a crabgrass pre-emergent application to protect your lawn from the out-break of crabgrass later this spring. However, be careful; applying crabgrass pre-emergent and seeding at the same time will actually prevent the grass seed from germinating. 
  4. Do Not Mow The Lawn Too Short – I think the natural thing people do when emerging out of a long winter is to mow the lawn back to reduce the amount of “ugly” grass blades visible in the lawn. Well, mowing the lawn too short can actually cause more harm than good. No matter what time of year it is, you should keep the lawn at a proper height.
  5. Do Not Put Pre-Emergent Down Too Early – thoughts of spring and a lawn full of crabgrass can often encourage people to apply crabgrass pre-emergent at the wrong time of the year. Crabgrass pre-emergent, such as Dimension, has a time period of protection. Crabgrass germination does not follow a calendar, and only happens when soil temperatures are right. So if you put down crabgrass pre-emergent down too early, you may not have protection when it’s finally warm enough for the weed to germinate.

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