Pee Dee landscapers weigh in on spring lawn care tips

FLORENCE, S.C. Spring weather has people itching to get out and start fertilizing their lawns, but landscapers say hold on, its not quite time.

We get a nice day and people go out, buy fertilizer and put it down, said Brandon Granger, horticulturalist and owner of Florence-based Granger Landscapes. The bad part is, if we have a late freeze, the fertilizer will kill the grass. You need to wait until the grass is all green before fertilizing.

Granger said it is a busy time of year for his company because people are starting to come outside after being cooped up all winter.

Most folks want us to do a spring cleanup and pick up debris and put out pine straw, he said. Flowers and seasonal color we wont start planting till the end of April.

When it comes to lawn care, Clemson Extension agent Tony Melton said, its too late to use weed killer. He said dont do any fertilizing till May.

If you do it too early the nutrients will wash away, Melton said. Its best to just mow down the weeds because its too late to control them. These are cold-weather weeds, so theyll die when it warms up anyway. The best weed control is green grass.

He said its important to apply fertilizer to your lawn when its dry, then water it in or let the rain do it. If it is put on wet grass, fertilizer will cause the grass to burn. Both Melton and Granger agreed that spring fertilizer application will do the trick.

Karen Hatchell-Crawford, who runs Hatchells Landscape with her brother Westin, said if the grass has died it likely wont grow back and you should re-sod those areas. She said its important to get fresh sod, otherwise you dont know how long its been lying around on a pallet.

We get all of our sod fresh, Crawford said. We know when our sod was cut, and it is cut for when we need it.

With people thinking about sprucing up their property, Hatchell Landscape office assistant Chris Williams said she fields many calls from people wanting to get palm trees.

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Pee Dee landscapers weigh in on spring lawn care tips