By William “Bill” Swantner, Bexar County Master Gardener
March 2024
It’s March! Winter is south Texas is unofficially over-although there’s always a chance for a late, light freeze. The average last freeze date is February 23. Those who enjoy a good, lush lawn can’t wait to “green the lawn up’- but it’s not quite time yet.
If the lawn hasn’t been mowed yet, March is a good time to start. You can still aerate your lawn and lay down a thin layer of compost. It’s been a wet winter so there’s no need to water the lawn.
Some people “scalp” their lawn and there’s no reason to do that. “Scalping” a lawn means to put the mower on its lowest setting and cut the lawn as low as possible. The purpose for scalping a lawn to remove thatch basically built-up organic material. Thatch is not an issue for south Texas and mowing as low as possible can actually damage St. Augustine grass.
If you are using organic or “natural” fertilizer, it can be applied in March because organic fertilizer is manure based and it takes 4-5 weeks for the microbes in the soil to break the organic fertilizer down so that it can be used by the turfgrass. Read and follow the label directions on the package.
It is too early for synthetic, or traditional, fertilizers. Synthetic fertilizers are absorbed by the turfgrass – which is just coming out of dormancy.
“Weed and Feed” products are not recommended for a couple of reasons. One is that it’s too late to kill weeds and it’s too early to feed the turfgrass. Another reason to avoid weed and feed products is because they include the chemical, Atrazine. Atrazine burns the feeder roots of trees.
Turfgrass is like people. We’re slowly coming out of our winter hibernation, and we need to pace ourselves because it’s going to be a long summer.
This Lawn Care Calendar for San Antonio and surrounding counties will help keep you on track.