With all the recent rainfall, it is quite reasonable to assume home-

owners have gotten behind on lawn mowing. Our lawns have become overgrown and the soil below that turf is extremely soft. Even though we may feel the need to ‘get caught up’ on lawn chores at the first sight of sunshine, we really need to be cautious about yard management while we have these environmental conditions.

Wet soil is much more prone to compaction, so take care not to put equipment such as heavy riding lawnmowers on our clay soils until there has been adequate time for drainage and drying. The grass will be much taller than normal, so to prevent scalping or to comply with the one-third rule of not removing more than one-third of the total leaf area at a single mowing, raise the mowing height slightly for the first mowing following this wet spell. Wait a couple of days after this first mowing and then mow again at the normal mower blade setting.  

Normally I suggest leaving the clippings on the lawn to replenish nutrients, but if the clippings are too excessive this would be the exception when it would certainly be best to collect and compost those clippings.

Keep in mind that we only have a few more weekends to get our warm season lawn species in shape before shorter days, lower light intensity and cooler temperatures reduce the potential for our lawns to recover from poor growth or pest injuries. Over the next couple of weeks, you may want to focus your lawn care chores on winter weed control, winterizing fertilizers and fall disease control.

Now is the time if you haven’t already put out a pre-emerge herbicide to prevent winter weeds like annual bluegrass, lawn bur weed or sticker weed, chickweed, and henbit.

It seems I get numerous calls about winterizing products around this time of year. Appling 2 pounds of Muriate of Potash fertilizer per 1,000 square feet will help reduce turf stress problems including diseases, insect damage or low temperatures this winter. Using a weed and feed fertilizer in the fall is not a problem if the nitrogen source is a slow release type.

Centipede and St. Augustine lawns are very susceptible to large patch (aka brown patch) disease in the fall. If this disease is not managed, the lawn will be unattractive through the fall, winter, and into next spring. To help minimize this disease, avoid excess nitrogen fertilizer, water early in the day and apply protective fungicides.

For those of you who hire commercial lawn services to mow and manage your lawn, please help me encourage them to attend the MSU Turf Research Field Day and Equipment Expo Sept. 12 on the campus’ North Farm Turf Complex, beginning at 8:30 a.m. A registration fee of $20 includes the research tour, turf management discussions, lunch, a cap and the equipment and lawn care products expo.

John C. Coccaro is county Extension director. Write to him at 1100-C Grove St., Vicksburg, MS 39180 or call 601-636-5442. E-mail him at jcoccaro@ext.msstate.edu