Lawn Care Tips

Gordon’s Home Lawn and Garden products are made by PBI/Gordon Corporation, one of the nation’s leaders in professional turf care products. Our Lawn and Garden product line brings you these same high-quality lawn care products, but formulated for the needs of the do-it-yourself homeowner.

Lawn maintenance can be intimidating if you’re not familiar with all the steps. These easy tips are provided so that you can be the envy of the neighborhood in no time!

Watering the lawn . . .

Grass can suffer if it is watered too much or too little. Improper watering can contribute to grass stress and injury due to shallow root development.

Your goal should be to provide sufficient water to assure steady growth during peak growing seasons. As a general rule, the lawn should be watered to a soil depth of four to six inches, just before it begins to wilt.

• In clay soils, one inch of water will generally penetrate to a depth of about five inches
• Loamy soil will absorb water to a greater depth and will only require about ¾ of an inch of water
• Sandy soil requires even less - about ½ inch of water will reach the top four to six inches of soil

As a general rule, the best time to water is in the early morning — between 5:00-9:00 a.m. This allows the grass blades to dry before evening and helps deter fungus.

General mowing guidelines . . .

Proper mowing enhances root development which is vital to a healthy lawn. Mowing can actually help your grass get thicker.

If the grass is allowed to grow too high and more than 1/3 of the leaf blades are cut during a single mowing, the plant is forced to use its stored food to achieve new growth. So try to mow more frequently in peak season (spring and fall) so you don’t remove more than 1/3 of the grass blade each time.

Mowing directions or patterns should also be changed with each mowing to avoid causing the grass blades to lean in one direction. This results in your yard having a rough, uneven appearance.

Always mow with a sharp blade. Dull mower blades tear instead of cut the leaf blade, and can allow diseases to gain entry into the plant and cause grass tips to turn brown and die.

A weed free lawn . . .

The best defense against weeds is a dense, healthy lawn. Once the grass is thick and uniform, it is difficult for weeds to take hold and grow. Grass that is weak or thin allows weeds to establish and compete for available sunlight, water and nutrients.

Here’s a few easy tips that will help you get started:

• The best weed control is obtained when weeds are young and actively growing.
• The ideal time to apply a weed control product is on a warm but not too hot day after a few days of rainfall or watering, and when there is little wind to cause spray to drift onto flowers or other plants. It should also be at least two days after your last mowing.
• With any herbicide, be sure to allow the spray to dry before allowing pets or people back in the yard.
• Finally, wait at least two days before mowing again so your yard can benefit fully from the application.

Fall is the perfect time to get a jump on next year’s weeds: SpeedZone® Lawn Weed Killer is one of the only products available that can be used in weather as cool as 40 degrees. It also visibly damages many weeds in just hours, with total weed death in about half the time of most herbicides. For spot weeding, SpeedZone® also comes in a ready-to-use formula. SpeedZone® products are recommended by many lawn care show hosts around the country as the herbicide of choice, especially for hard-to-control weeds like clover and Creeping Charlie.

For economical, reliable weed control every time try Trimec® Lawn Weed Killer. Trimec® treats over 30 different broadleaf weeds and has been recommended by professional groundskeepers for over 3 decades. Trimec® Ready Spray is a convenient way to spray your whole lawn quickly: just hook up your hose and go. One container will treat 15,000 square feet.

If a dense, healthy lawn is already established and you only need to spot-treat, congratulations! SpeedZone RTU is designed for spot weed treatment applications that won’t harm your lawn.

But what about grassy weeds? Yellow nutsedge, crabgrass, dallisgrass? Trimec® Plus was created for control of both grassy weeds and broadleaf weeds, which means in one application you can knock out dandelions, crabgrass, plantains and more.

Finally, to eliminate all weeds and grasses along fence rows, driveways, sidewalks and patios, try Gordon’s Liquid Edger or Vegetation Killer. Both completely kill all weed and grass growth. Be sure you do NOT use on lawns, flower beds or around desirable plant growth.

Most Gordon’s product are designed to kill just the weeds, not the lawn. But sometimes you do just want to kill it all and start all over again. If you want to kill all the weeds and grass and do a complete lawn renovation, Pronto® products are perfect for this purpose. The ingredient in Pronto® is the same active ingredient found in Roundup®: two weeks after spraying you can turn your lawn and reseed.

Feeding the grass . . .

Most soils do not contain levels of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) sufficient to provide optimum grass growth. Lawn fertilizers can supply these elements. The numbers on the liquid fertilizer bottles indicate the percentages of N, P and K provided. A soil test can be performed to determine the precise nutritional requirements for your lawn.

Over fertilization, results in too much growth and can cause grass to be susceptible to insects and diseases. High rates of nitrogen can cause top growth at the expense of root development or plant food storage. Be sure you understand what your soil requirements are and if you have questions, contact your local county extension or a lawn & garden center for help.Where soils are highly acidic or alkaline, iron or magnesium may also be required.

Gordon's offers several easy-to-use liquid fertilizers for both lawn and pastures.

Lawn insect control . . .

Any yard will have a wide variety of insect populations at any given time. Some insects, like sod webworms or white grubs, can cause damage to lawns. Others, such as fleas and ticks, are bothersome to people and pets. Insects can also attract other pests, such as moles, so it’s best to have an insect control program in place before this becomes a problem.

Insect damage can be difficult to spot. It can appear similar to disease problems, chemical burn or drought. Insects can live above the soil level in the plants or thatch layer or below the soil level in the roots. If you already have damage, a garden center or county extension may be able to help you identify the culprit.

To prevent lawn insects from invading your yard, use Bug-No-More products, either the concentrate, hose-end or lawn granule, whichever is most appropriate for your needs.