Fall is the ideal time of year to spend some time renovating your fescue lawn which involves a few tasks like dethatching, over-seeding, fertilization, liming, weed control, and aeration. The reason fall is the ideal time is due to the fact that a flush of growth will occur in tall fescue when cooler fall temperatures arrive. By conducting your lawn maintenance in the fall, you give the turf time to heal before cold temperatures brought on by winter cause the turf to go dormant. Continue reading to learn more about each one of these tasks and how to know it’s time to do it.

First are fertilization and liming. Fertilization is important to add nutrients that the growing turf needs to support its growth while liming is the adjustment of the pH. Fertilization is needed every year while liming may only need to be done every two or three years to adjust the pH. It’s important not to over-lime because a soil’s pH being too high will cause your turf to become nutrient stressed which in turn will allow weeds to move in! The best way to know what amount of fertilizer and lime to apply is to conduct a soil test. All of the supplies and information needed to conduct a soil test can be found at your local Cooperative Extension office. Once you have a soil test report in hand follow the fertilization and liming rates to achieve the best-looking lawn.

Another key part of maintaining a nice stand of fescue is to ensure no weeds are present. Weeds compete for nutrients, water, and sunlight and reduce the vigor of your fescue! Weeds can be classified many different ways, but the easiest way is by their appearance. Broadleaf weeds are those that have wide leaves (think dandelions, henbit, plantain) and do not resemble grasses too much while grassy weeds are those that look like grass (think crabgrass, bermudagrass). Once you’ve determined if the weeds are broadleaf or grassy type weeds next up is to determine the herbicide you’ll use. An herbicide can either be selective, meaning it only kills certain types of weeds or non-selective meaning it kills all vegetation is comes into contact with. An example of a selective herbicide is 2,4-D which is used to control broadleaf weeds in turf while an example of a non-selective herbicide is glyphosate which kills any vegetation it comes into contact with. In lawns there’s what are called “three-way sprays” which include three herbicides that kill the majority of weeds that occur in turf. These products kill the majority of weeds that occur in fescue and can be used on turf in the fall when temperatures are between 60F and 85F. As with any pesticide product be sure to read the label in its entirety and only apply the product in a manner that follows label instructions.

You may be surprised to learn that an individual tall fescue plant lives to only be three to five years old. This is why overseeding is such an important task in fescue lawn maintenance. Overseeding establishes new plants to replace the old ones that are naturally dying out. You should begin overseeding at a rate of 3-6lb per 1,000 sq.ft. around mid-September in the central part of North Carolina when summer extreme temperatures begin to wane. Timing is critical too since moisture is needed for germination and most lawns are not set up for irrigation. Try to time overseeding a day or two before rainfall is expected. If dry weather occurs after overseeding and you have the means to irrigate it is worthwhile to do so.

Lastly, there’s core aeration and dethatching. Core aeration is the physical removal of “plugs” from the soil that increase air, nutrient, and water penetration into the soil profile which alleviates compaction. Core aeration should be done at least every 2-3 years (in a residential lawn) but fescue benefits from annual core aeration, if feasible. Core aeration machines can be rented. Dethatching is the removal of excessive “thatch” which is an accumulation of dead grass stems, roots, and shoots (but NOT grass clippings, these will decompose). Some thatch is good (up to ½”) because it insulates the turf from temperature extremes and helps slow down runoff which allows for water percolation into the soil, but excessive thatch (1/2”+) can hold only excessive moisture and insects that damage turf. The vigor of turf usually dictates how frequently dethatching is needed, but every 3-5 years is normal. A dethatching machine uses a raking motion to remove thatch from the turf. The Randolph County Cooperative Extension office has a BCS Tractor with a dethatching attachment available for rental.