Florida Lawn Care

Your lawn is the pride of your property’s outdoor landscape. Maintenance of it can be critical to your curb appeal, and how visitors feel when viewing your home. Because Florida is a unique place for plants and grass due to its excessive heat and humid weather conditions, lawn care can definitely be a challenge. Maintaining a lush green lawn year round in Florida surely needs planning and professional care. Here are some useful tips for achieving a lush green lawn in Florida.

Making the Right Choice for Grass

Heat tolerant grasses are the way to go for Florida lawns. There are a variety of grasses that can grow well in Florida such as Bermuda grass, Bahia grass and Zoysia grass. However, St. Augustine grass is the standard for most residential and commercial properties. St. Augustine  can easily tolerate the humidity in Florida and flourish without an exorbitant amount of maintenance.

Mowing

Though it may seem like the bane of your existence during the summer months, mowing is actually one of the most important home lawn management practices. It’s important to keep up a regular mowing schedule during the summer to maintain your turf’s maximum health.

You don’t want to cut off too much grass at one time. It’s best not to cut more than one-third of the blade’s length at one time. Otherwise this may damage the lawn. For example, grass that is 6 inches tall should have no more than 2 inches cut in one mowing. Since the grass blades process sunlight, if you were to cut off too much it would be as if you cut their energy source in half.

Fertilization (St. Augustine)

These popular grasses should be fed every two months during spring and summer. A good schedule is to feed St. Augustine lawns in March, May, July and September. The fertilizer should be used at the rate of 6 lbs. for every 1,000 square feet of lawn. As with all lawns, attention to color rather than aggressive growth will help prevent too-frequent mowing. A height of 3 to 4 inches is recommended for this grass.

Pest Control

Pests are another concern when it comes to lawn care in South Florida. Lawns here are vastly affected by Chinch Bugs which cause yellowing, browning and even dead spots in the grasses. To control this repeated application of pesticides is a must.

Irrigation

If your lawn is green and beautiful, then you have probably already mastered the tricky techniques of proper irrigation. On the other hand, if you struggle to find the perfect balance (avoiding over or under-watering), then you’re not alone. Most Florida homeowners will struggle to find the right amount. When you do get your lawn looking like a fresh, green carpet, then you know you’ve done it right.

Remember, new lawns and landscaping will need extra water to get established. You may also need to vary your irrigation schedule if the amount of rainfall is different from seasonal averages, or if you have special considerations like extremely sandy soil or heavy tree cover.

Alexander’s Property Maintenance is a full-service commercial landscape company serving commercial properties in West Central Florida. We focus on quality, consistency, and reliability for all our clients. We do it right the first time. Check out our website to see what we have to offer or to contact us for an estimate. Give us a call at the number listed on our website most relevant to your location.