At the end of May give your lawn a light fertilise with a slow-release granular fertiliser before ground temps drop below 4 degrees. This is the most important fertilise of the year as the healthier your lawn goes into winter, the healthier it will come out. It is this vital nutrition that is required to sustain your lawn throughout winter.
If you have a smart irrigation controller in place, you will notice that you are irrigating less and less due to precipitation and the evaporation replacement rate dropping. Irrigation should occur at 50% of evaporation replacement, so as temperatures drop, evaporation rates drop too. If you have a manual irrigation system, it is time to manually irrigate now only when necessary. This will save water for when you need it most, in the hottest months. (Please refer to the recommended rates from the Irrigation Australia Ltd WA chart above.)
Broadleaf weeds may start to be a problem, therefore assess the scale of the problem, identify the types of weed and use the correct herbicide or preferably in a domestic situation, remove these weeds by hand or using an appropriate tool.
Guildford Grass can also start to show up at this time of the year. Guildford Grass is also known as Onion Grass. It is a thin wiry weed that is very difficult to control due to it having a corm that can survive underground in hot, dry temperatures. As it is not a broad-leafed weed it cannot be controlled with your normal broad leaf weed killers. This tough stringy grass cannot be mown with a cylinder mower, it really must be addressed chemically to achieve control. To eradicate this weed you need to use products with Met Sulfuron – Methyl, noting that the plant cannot be treated until at least six weeks after emerging or it will not die.
Fungal problems are likely to occur, treat turf if fungus is an issue.
