Late Spring Establishment of An Organic Lawn.

Regulations are being created to emphasize low input lawn care and environmentally sound maintenance of turfgrass.  Methods for managing turfgrass under reduced maintenance, as well as how to establish a stand of turfgrass in the fall, are well documented.  However, spring establishment is not recommended mainly because of weed competition. The objective of this experiment was to find an acceptable method for spring turfgrasss establishment without pesticide intervention.  36 treatments consisting of three soil amendments, three turf species, and four topdressings were considered.   Nutrient deficient sub soil, sub soil amended with topsoil, and sub soil amended with leaf compost were used as growing mediums.  Tall fescue (Schedonorus phoenix ‘Firenza’), an 80/20 mix of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis ‘Nu Destiny’) and perennial ryegrass  (Lolium perenne ‘Nexus XD’) respectively, and hard fescue (Festuca trachyphylla ‘Firefly’) were grown with top dressings consisting of Comtil® (averaged at 2.99-2.4-.44), Comtil Plus® (averaged at 2.5-4.1-.62), 16-28-4 starter fertilizer, and a control.  The treatments were mowed at 3” approximately once a week.  Irrigation was supplied by overhead sprinkler system (2.52 cm per week).  After the first year, the most successful establishment was tall fescue grown in subsoil amended with leaf compost.  There were no significant differences in establishment or weed cover due to top dressing applications.