Thanks for the advice everyone. We tend to have wet Springs around here so chances are good that the weeds will get what they are wishing for. :) Therefore I think a pre-emergent is a good idea, at least for the first year as CDUB suggested. The other factor is the fact that I have no idea what the turf will look like once all the this snow melts. It might be thinned out or in other worrying shape. I left it at 3" for the Winter and I applied Urea in late November after top growth stopped so hopefully it should get going well once the weather starts warming up. Should I cut it short for the first cut of the year? I read somewhere that it's a good idea to cut off all the dead top growth from the Winter. What do you recommend for pre-emergent? Thanks. Regards, Robert

The "rule of thumb" around the Internet forums is to wait to apply preem until the forsythia are in full bloom. I'm not convinced that is the perfect time for everyone, but it is the unanimous time you'll read. We don't have forsythia so it's still a guessing game in the deeper/dryer south. We got some early spring rains in late January (early spring for us) that sprouted every seed on the ground. Who would have thought?? So I would tend to go with a rule like, "apply when the rains come if they come after a certain date." Maybe just when the snow turns to rain???

Uh, yeah. I won't see daytime highs in the 80s until late October or November. I'll thank you in the future to not rub my face in it! ;-) What do you think you've learned about preventing crabgrass for next year? I'm curious to see what sinks in and what doesn't. Your lawn needs a lot of work. What do you want it to look like? Do you want it to be the yard of the month or is 'just green' good enough? If you want it to be the yard of the month, get a professional soil test from Logan Labs. If just green is fine, you can skip the soil test. There is a chemical post emergent for crabgrass. I'm an organic guy and don't know what it is. Look around for crabgrass and post emergent. Your lawn is in poor shape. You can start fertilizing now with organic fertilizer. Organics is the fast track to success in the summer. Try this with chemicals and you'll have a dead lawn in a week or two. The fertilizer of choice for this year is alfalfa pellets. Cost and performance wise, this is the one. Apply the first time at 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet. That is sort of an announcement to your soil that you are going to be applying more. If you overdose at first, the soil will not be ready for it and you'll get a little stink going on. You don't want that for a couple reasons. So start slow. Then after a month goes by, you can apply more at 20 pounds per 1,000. And after another month you can apply at 30 pounds or more depending on your wallet. 20 pounds is generally plenty but some people get really excited when they see the results and want MORE!!! Once you awaken the microbes in the soil, you cannot over apply. When you apply alfalfa pellets (rabbit food), you should moisten them immediately. The reason is so the birds cannot come in and carry them away. Moistening them makes them swell and burst open. It doesn't take much water. Over seed early in late summer or early fall. When the evening high temps start to fall, then it is time. If you don't have any Kentucky bluegrass in the lawn, that makes a good grass to fill in when you get weak spots in the fescue. KBG must have full sun, and it will go dormant in the winter cold. Other than that, it is a great turf grass. Here is a picture of the effect of alfalfa pellets. This is a zoysia lawn fertilized in May 2011 with a few handfuls of alfalfa. The photo was taken in June. Note the improved density, color, and growing height. This is what we're looking for in your lawn.

I was able to put down the pre-emergent but however messed up over a small section where I was supposed to apply 1/2 lb but applied 1.5 lb:(. Will it burn the grass? I had the numbers written for fertilization as well and applied that instead. Anyway here is a picture of what it looks inside. This is my first time applying pre-emergent but is it normal to look like this? It almost felt here and there like small sharp stones. I am just concerned whether I got a bad bag.