Fall Lawn Care Schedule For PPLM Lawns
As we mentioned in one of our recent aeration and seeding videos, it has become less and less practical in the lawn care and landscape maintenance world to force a set calendar schedule for the seasonal flow of services and fertilizer applications. We saw more than ever this year the unpredictable and extreme impact a changing climate and its weather can have on Virginia lawns. This November, Picture Perfect Lawn Maintenance changes gears with both our fertilization and mowing divisions, getting lawns settled in for fall and prepared for winter with our Fall Lawn Care Schedule.
For Picture Perfect Lawn Maintenance’s Fall Lawn Care Schedule and fertilization crew, the first week of November has us wrapping up the last couple of aeration and seeding services before shutting the aerators down until next year. While some larger companies will continue providing aeration and seeding services through Thanksgiving and even into December, PPLM always tries to complete most aeration and seeding work by the end of October and discontinue the service entirely before mid-November. By this point in the season, temperatures are too unpredictable, and the first true frosts of the end of fall will occur before any seed laid down has a chance to germinate and develop enough to withstand such extreme cold.
Coming off of aeration and seeding, Picture Perfect Lawn Maintenance’s fertilization crew will be turning our attention toward our Fall Lawn Care Schedule which will be round five of our fertilization program. This program is designed with nutritional balance in mind, combining seven unique applications into a year-round program that provides an array of organically based nutrients to your lawn at times of the year when they’re most needed. Round five, also known as our rejuvenator application, utilizes a strong amount of compost to hold water and build soils into the ground that are rich in minerals and nutrients. Building a strong lawn now will help fortify it against extreme winter temperatures, help it stay resistant to disease, maximize its ability to absorb nutrients, and set it up for great success in the spring.
One of the key ingredients in this round of fertilizer is nitrogen, which has a quick, positive effect on the color and health of your lawn’s grass blades. Nitrogen helps the new grass from your recent seeding grow properly and lets the whole lawn repair any damage it sustained from summer stress or the high rates of fungus and disease we experienced this year. In addition, nitrogen has a direct impact on how green your lawn is. After round five from Picture Perfect Lawn Maintenance, your lawn should be visibly greener during the nicest part of fall. However, too much nitrogen can increase the risk of disease in your lawn. PPLM always balances nitrogen conservatively in our fertilization program and uses it in moderation to preserve the health of the lawns that we maintain.
Missing from the rejuvenator application in Picture Perfect Lawn Maintenance’s fertilization program is weed control. Unless this round is being applied to a property that did not have any kind of seeding done this fall, PPLM refrains from applying weed control due to the higher risk of unintentional damage it can do to fragile baby grass. It is PPLM’s focus to build a revitalized lawn this time of year. Most lawns are experiencing a degree of late season weed breakthrough after the aeration service disturbed so much soil and brought dormant weed seeds to the surface. Even though PPLM uses a completely weed-free fescue seed for our aeration and seeding services, preexisting weed seeds in the soil will always be a factor in an open environment like all Virginia lawns. Generally, PPLM recommends a lawn be mowed 3-4 times post seeding before being exposed to weed control products. By the end of November, Picture Perfect Lawn Maintenance generally tries to have round five of our Fall Lawn Care Schedule fertilization program completed and be moving on to round six, which is our winterizer application and the soonest that we begin building weed control back into our fertilization program.
lawn with a fresh design that will have your
neighbors turning their heads! We take pride in our services, and as a family owned business, we treat our customers like family.
Working alongside PPLM’s fertilization crew is our maintenance division. In November, this team oversees the completion of mowing services as more and more lawns begin to go dormant for the winter and cease growing above the surface. Every lawn is different, so usually the end to the mowing season is staggered, with some lawns already going dormant and others needing to be cut again into mid-November. Picture Perfect Lawn Maintenance works to see to each lawn’s individual needs, training our crews to be able to monitor the extent of new growth and make educated decisions for the care of the lawns they maintain. Excessive cutting without a real need can create stress for your turf, especially the baby grass coming up from seeding, which is why we halt mowing for the season as soon as we’re able.
As these mow services wrap up, the PPLM maintenance crew transitions into various “off season” services for our full service clients. Leaf services, fall mulch installations, and end of the year special clean up projects are all covered within our high level programs. Leaf removal takes place for the rest of the year and is vital to keep the turf from being smothered by excess leaves. Stay posted for one of our upcoming blog posts that will discuss how to best keep a lawn free of leaves in the fall.
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While aeration and seeding season is definitely the busiest part of the year for Picture Perfect Lawn Maintenance, we don’t lose the momentum once it’s over. November is a very busy month as well as both divisions of PPLM change gears to keep the Fall Lawn Care Schedule services we provide for our clients beneficial and appropriate to the weather and seasonal needs. Stay posted here for continued monthly updates on the operations of PPLM, and check out the video below that discusses what’s next for Virginia lawns this November:
lawn with a fresh design that will have your
neighbors turning their heads! We take pride in our services, and as a family owned business, we treat our customers like family.
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