Best Lawn Treatments

If you want healthy grass, you have to apply the best lawn treatments. From fertilization to leaf removal, dethatching, regular mowing, and pest and weed control, these lawn care tasks can transform your average lawn into the best-looking lawn on the block.

Best treatments for your lawn

Beyond mowing and watering, proper lawn care includes practices you may not know. We’ve gathered them all in one place.

Test the soil

To grow a healthy lawn, you must have healthy soil. To check your soil’s condition, conduct a soil test. You can acquire a testing kit from a garden store or contact your agricultural extension office for professional testing services. A lab soil test is typically more accurate than a testing kit. 

If you’re sending the soil out for testing:

• Collect soil samples from random spots in your entire lawn.
• Remove any visible debris.
• Spread the samples on some newspaper to dry.
• Break up clumps.
• Place the samples in airtight containers and label them clearly with information such as location and depth.
• Store the containers in a dry, cool area until they’re ready to be sent to the lab.

The soil test results will include your soil’s pH and nutrient levels. 

• pH levels: Soil pH indicates how acidic or alkaline your soil is. Optimal pH levels for most grass types range from 6.0 to 7.0. If your soil’s pH falls outside this range, add lime to increase pH for acidic soil or sulfur to decrease pH for alkaline soil.
• Nutrient levels: A soil test also will show nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels (N-P-K). These macronutrients are crucial for healthy grass: nitrogen encourages leafy, green growth, phosphorus supports roots and flowers, and potassium improves resistance to disease and stress.

Use the test results to apply the right fertilizers or soil amendments.

Remove leaves

Remove leaves from your lawn to maintain its vigor. Why? 

• Leaves harbor pests and diseases in winter, causing turf problems in spring.
• Leaves block sunlight, which is essential for healthy growth.
• Leaves retain moisture and cause mold and mildew.
• Leaves make your lawn look unkempt.
• Leaves block proper airflow.
• Leaves promote weed growth.
• Leaves can smother grass, preventing its access to nutrients and water.
• Leaves make it harder to mow, fertilize, and perform other necessary lawn care tasks.

Spread compost

Add compost to your lawn once or twice a year to provide a nutrient boost. Evenly spread about ¼ to ½ inches of compost across the lawn. For every 25 square feet of lawn, add one cubic foot of compost. Composting breaks down organic matter and promotes healthy plants and grass.

Compost anything from vegetables, food scraps, and coffee grounds to paper, cardboard, and grass clippings to:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and landfill waste.
• Improve soil structure (texture and water retention capabilities).
• Encourage beneficial organism activity.
• Naturally fertilize your soil and grass and reduce the cost associated with store-bought fertilizers.
• Support sustainable gardening.

Avoid composting meat, bones, fish, dairy products, and pet waste because they take longer to break down, attract rodents, and produce ammonia and liquids that harm the environment.

Mow regularly

Mowing your lawn keeps your grass tidy and makes it less inviting to pests and diseases. 

• Keep your lawn mower blades sharp. Dull mower blades will rip your grass rather than cut it cleanly. 
• Match the cutting height to your grass type, even if it looks different from your neighbor’s. This guide can help:
  

Grass name	Grass type	Recommended mowing height
Bahiagrass	Warm season	2-3 inches
Bermudagrass	Warm season	0.5-1.5 inches
Buffalograss	Warm season	1.5-3 inches
Centipedegrass	Warm season	1-2 inches
St. Augustinegrass	Warm season	2.5-4 inches
Zoysiagrass	Warm season	0.5-2 inches
Fine fescue	Cool season	1.5-2.5 inches
Tall fescue	Cool season	2-3.5 inches
Kentucky bluegrass	Cool season	1.5-2.5 inches
Perennial ryegrass	Cool season	1.5-2.5 inches

• Follow the rule of thirds: Never cut more than one-third of the blade’s length. For example, if the grass is 3 inches tall, don’t cut more than 1 inch. Mowing taller promotes strong roots and helps shade out weeds. Mowing too low (scalping) stresses the lawn and blocks photosynthesis (the process plants use to create energy).

Leave grass clippings on the lawn

Grass clippings act as organic mulch. Leave them on the lawn to:

• Minimize evaporation
• Smother weeds
• Feed the soil with nutrients
• Reduce landfill waste
• Improve soil health
• Prevent thatch
• Reduce the costs of purchasing various soil amendments

Follow these rules when leaving grass clippings on the lawn:

• Mow your lawn regularly so you have small clippings that decompose quickly. 
• Mow in different directions each time you mow to prevent compacted soil and maintain healthy grass.
• Use a mulching lawn mower to cut the clippings into fine pieces for faster breakdown and distribute them evenly throughout the lawn.
• Mow your lawn when it’s dry to prevent clumping and smothering.
• Monitor your grass for thatch buildup. Rake and aerate the soil as needed to promote proper grass clipping decomposition.

Dethatch

Occasionally, your lawn needs thatch removed. Thatch is the layer of dead and living organic matter that accumulates between the soil’s surface and your grass blades. 

A thatch layer under half an inch can mulch the grass and improve your lawn. Anything thicker will: 

• Encourage poor drainage
• Attract pests and disease
• Prevent herbicides, fertilizers, and insecticides from working effectively
• Block nutrients, water, and oxygen from reaching the root system

Dethatch your lawn using a power rake, verticutter, or dethatcher during your lawn’s active growing season to improve its recovery rate. Dethatch a cool-season yard in the fall and a warm-season yard in late spring through early summer.

Aerate the soil

Harsh weather, foot traffic, and other activities compact the soil, making it hard for roots to access water, air, and nutrients. Try lawn aeration to fix this.

There are three primary types of aeration:

1. Core aeration: With this method, you remove small plugs of soil from the ground and spread them on your lawn to decompose. This promotes root growth by allowing nutrients, water, and air to penetrate the soil.
2. Spike aeration: You use a spike to create holes in your lawn and loosen the soil for fertilization or overseeding. This method works best on loamy or sandy soils with minor compaction, but it’s a temporary solution because compaction can still occur around the holes.
3. Liquid aeration: Here, you use a special liquid solution to aerate the lawn. Mix it with water to stimulate soil microbes and break down dense soil.

Aerate cool-season turf in the fall, and warm-season grass in the spring. 

When it comes to soil types, some need to be aerated more often:

• Clay soil: Every fall
• Sandy and loamy soils: Every one to three years
• Lawns with lots of foot traffic: Every six to 12 months

Control weeds

Left unchecked, weeds can overtake your yard and crowd out your turfgrass. 

There are four ways to control weeds in your lawn: 

• Post-emergent chemical treatments: Target emerging weeds, disrupting growth and spread.
• Pre-emergent chemical treatments: Kill weeds before germination, preventing establishment.
• Natural remedies: Organic or homemade treatments you can make with household items. These include white (5% acetic acid) or horticultural vinegar (20% or 30% acetic acid), salt, corn gluten meal, soap solution, lemon juice, and essential oils.
• Hand pulling: Do this weekly or bi-weekly, removing young weeds before they bloom or grow deep roots. Use a screwdriver or dandelion fork to remove the entire weed, including the roots. 

If you’re not seeing results with hand pulling, try chemical or natural remedies. And do it sooner than later.

Control pests

If you diligently water, aerate, and fertilize your lawn, but your grass still looks sparse and patchy, pests might be feeding on your turf’s roots.

Since these insects can leave similar damage, you can easily miscategorize them. To help, we’ve compiled a list of common lawn pests.

• Billbugs are a major issue; the adults chew grass blades and lay eggs, and the hatched larvae attack the roots, killing the grass. As larvae, they’re creamy white with a brown head and a curved, C-shaped body. As adults, they’re gray or black with a cylindrical body, six legs, and a distinctive snout that extends above the head.
• Sod webworms are lawn-damaging caterpillars that cling to grass blades. They’re small and white or tan with snout-like projections on their heads. If you see moths flying as you mow, it’s an infestation. The grass will also appear brown and short in places.
• Chinch bugs are difficult to spot due to their size. They’re red when young but turn black as they mature. They also have a white spot on their back in the shape of an ‘X.’ They love St. Augustinegrass and usually live in the thatch layer.
• Grubs have a white or brown body that curls into a C shape if bothered. They eat your grass and damage the roots, stopping it from getting nutrients and water, which eventually kills it. If you notice beetles flying around, you likely have a grub infestation.
• Cutworms damage many plants. They have a shiny or dull, somewhat hairy body and grow up to two inches long. Their color ranges from brown and tan to pink, green, gray, or black. Cutworms curl around grass blades or plant stems and feed on them. They’re active at night and hide in debris during the day.

To eliminate and prevent pests, follow these practices:

• Identify the pest(s) correctly.
• Use natural pest predators, such as lacewings and ladybugs. You can purchase them online or at local garden centers.
• If that fails, use a chemical pesticide formulated for your pest type. Handle chemicals responsibly; follow the label instructions to prevent harm to your plants, pollinators, and the environment. 
• Plant herbs and flowers that keep bugs away in the yard, use Diatomaceous earth, or make your own pest-repellent mixture with vinegar, essential oils, vegetable oil, or liquid soap.
• Maintain a healthy lawn and landscape: keep your soil healthy, fertilize right, irrigate as needed, prune, and monitor.

Overseed if needed

To maintain a dense, carpeted lawn, you should know how to overseed your lawn. When you overseed, you spread new grass seed over your existing lawn, replacing dwindling grass with new growth.

Overseed your cool-season grass in early fall, at least 45 days before the first frost. Overseed your warm-season lawn in the spring through early summer. 

Aerate the soil and remove thatch before overseeding to help your grass take root better. 

Choosing the right grass is also crucial whether you’re starting a new lawn or fixing a bare spot. 

In the North, choose cool-season grass that grows well at 60-75°F. In the South, pick warm-season grass that thrives in 80-95°F heat. In the Transition Zone of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, blend cool- and warm-season grasses to adapt to the shifting weather.

• Cool-season grasses: Kentucky bluegrass, fine fescue, tall fescue, bentgrass, perennial ryegrass
• Warm-season grasses: Bermudagrass, Zoysiagrass, St. Augustinegrass, centipedegrass, bahiagrass, buffalograss
• Transition Zone grasses: Fine fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, buffalograss, Zoysiagrass, bermudagrass

Fertilize the grass

To green up your lawn, follow the recommended lawn fertilizer regime on your soil test report. Fertilize your turfgrass during its active growing season.

Choose between slow-release and quick-release fertilizers:

Fertilizer type	Pros	Cons
Slow-release	✓ No toxic buildup on the soil ✓ Helps with water movement and soil structure ✓ Introduces beneficial soil microbes ✓ Safer to use around children and pets	✗ Lower concentrations of nutrients ✗ Takes longer to absorb ✗ Costs more
Quick-release	✓ Lower cost ✓ Highly concentrated ✓ Acts faster ✓ Higher nutrient ratio	✗ Can cause more toxic buildup ✗ Made from synthetic materials ✗ Can pollute groundwater

Likewise, choose between organic and synthetic fertilizers:

Fertilizer type	Pros	Cons
Organic	✓ Doesn’t burn lawns ✓ Slow and steady nutrient release ✓ Contains many trace minerals and balanced nutrition for your grass ✓ Improves soil health	✗ Less nutrient release in cooler temperatures ✗ Costs more ✗ Dependent on microorganisms in the soil ✗ Can cause harmful runoff
Synthetic	✓ More commonly available ✓ Formulas made for exact lawn needs ✓ Acts quickly ✓ Costs less	✗ Shorter lifespan ✗ Can deteriorate soil ✗ Can burn lawn ✗ May cause chemical runoff

Your choices will depend on your personal lawn care goals, soil health, and environmental considerations. 

Based on your grass type, fertilize as follows:

Grass category	Grass name	Recommended fertilization schedule
Cool season	● Tall fescue ● Fine fescue ● Kentucky bluegrass ● Perennial ryegrass	-1st round: Early April-2nd round: Early September-3rd round: Late October
Warm season	● Zoysiagrass ● Centipedegrass ● St. Augustinegrass ● Bermudagrass ● Carpetgrass ● Bahiagrass	-1st round: Early April-2nd round: June-3rd round: September

Remember, not enough fertilizer causes poor root development, while excess amounts can kill your lawn by overloading it with nutrients.

Pro tip: Water your lawn lightly after fertilizing to help the nutrients penetrate the soil and reach the root zone. 

Water correctly

If you want a healthy lawn, water it at the right time of day for the right amount of time. 

Water your lawn between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. to avoid evaporation and wind. Don’t water in the evening, as the moist environment that remains overnight can attract pests and diseases. If you have to water later in the day, do so at around 6 p.m. and use a drip irrigation system. It targets the grassroots directly without touching the foliage.

To promote deep roots, water less often but for longer. Frequent short watering creates shallow, weak roots. Most grass cultivars need 1 to 1 ½ inches of water per week. Depending on the weather, aim for three 20- to 30-minute watering sessions weekly. 

Benefits of a healthy lawn

A healthy lawn benefits both your health and the environment. Here’s how:

• Boosts air quality: The healthier your lawn, the better you and your family can breathe in your backyard.
• Controls erosion: A healthy lawn’s strong root system minimizes erosion on minor slopes.
• Buffers heat: Thanks to evapotranspiration, a healthy green lawn has a low surface temperature and can act as a built-in air conditioner.
• Absorbs noise: A thick, dense lawn can absorb sound well and buffer noise from the street. 
• Provides a cushioned surface: A soft, cushioned lawn increases the safety of those backyard sports games. 
• Boosts curb appeal: Want to sell your home or invite the new neighbors over? Then you’ll want to make an excellent first impression with a well-kept lawn. 

FAQ about the best lawn treatments

How do I know which fertilizer is best for my grass?

Consider several factors when choosing fertilizer for your grass:

• The condition of your soil. Conduct a soil test to determine pH and nutrient levels. This will help you determine which fertilizer can address your soil’s needs.
• Your grass type. Different grasses have varying nutrient requirements, and this is something you should know.
• Fertilizer labels. You must understand the three numbers on the label, representing the percentage of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Nitrogen promotes leaf and stem growth as well as vibrant color, phosphorus supports root development, and potassium maintains overall grass health.
• Fertilizer types. Slow-release and quick-release fertilizers differ in their effectiveness. Slow-release fertilizers release nutrients over a longer period and reduce grass burn risk. Quick-release fertilizers provide an instant nutrient boost but may require more frequent applications.
• Fertilizer application method. Choose a fertilizer that fits your preferred application approach, whether it’s granules or liquid.
• Do your research. Read reviews of different fertilizer brands and types or ask for recommendations from friends, family, neighbors, a local garden center, or your local cooperative extension.

How do I keep my lawn green during a drought?

While a challenging task, keeping your lawn green during a drought is doable. Just follow these tips:

• Water deeply and infrequently, ideally using a timer to provide 1 to 1 ½ inches of water. Make sure the water is soaking into the soil. Check for runoff.
• Mow taller to shade the soil, reduce evaporation, and promote deeper roots that can handle drought. Use sharp mower blades to make clean cuts and reduce unnecessary stress on the grass.
• Aerate your lawn to improve water absorption and prevent compacted soil. 
• Leave grass clippings on the lawn as mulch to help with moisture retention and extra nutrients for your parched grass.
• Plant drought-tolerant grass species suited to your region. These may include tall fescue, bermudagrass, bahiagrass, and buffalograss.
• Avoid heavy fertilization during a drought to prevent stress on the grass. Use a balanced, slow-release fertilizer moderately.
• Minimize grass competition by controlling weeds. Either pull them out by hand or spot-treat with herbicides, but monitor your lawn closely.
• Reduce lawn traffic to prevent damage to already vulnerable grass.
• If necessary, allow your grass to go dormant until the drought passes. This will allow it to survive the extreme conditions.

How important is access to sunlight for the health of my lawn?

Sunlight is essential to growing a thick lawn and keeping it that way. This is because:

• Sunlight helps grass undergo photosynthesis, the process by which it gets energy for growth.
• Sunlight helps grass access water and nutrients through a healthy root system.
• Sunlight dries the grass blades and soil surface, lowering the risk of fungal diseases and pest attacks.
• Sunlight helps the grass grow thick and strong, shades the soil, and prevents weeds.

Hire a pro for the ultimate lawn treatment

Your lawn deserves five-star treatment. But lawn care is no picnic; maintaining a pristine lawn takes time, effort, and patience.

You could always DIY. Another way is to let Lawn Love connect you to a local lawn care company handle the landscaping, weed control, and soil amendments so you can unwind and do what matters most.

Main Photo Credit: Unsplash