TurfFiles – Turfgrass Information for North Carolina

Time to fertilize your tall fescue lawn. Do not fertilize warm-season grasses such as bermudagrass, centipedegrass, St. Augustinegrass, or zoysiagrass, but do get a soil test if you havent in the past three years. Apply preemergence herbicides to control crabgrass, goosegrass, and foxtails from late February to mid-March. If tall fescue was seeded the previous fall, make sure the new seedlings are extensively tillered and the new turf has been mowed at least twice before utilizing a preemergence herbicide. Refer to the turf specific maintenance calendars for detailed information.

Maintenance calendars provide suggested management practices to assist you in seasonal care of home lawns and athletic fields grown in North Carolina. Location, terrain, soil type and condition, age of turf, previous management, and other factors affect turf performance. For these reasons, the management practices and dates found in the following maintenance calendars should be adjusted to suit your particular turf conditions.

Both warm and cool season turfgrasses are grown in North Carolina. Knowing turfgrass growth characteristics and use recommendations is important for maintaining a healthy turfgrass system and minimizing management requirements. Following is a list of turfgrasses commonly grown in North Carolina.

There are over 100 diseases that affect North Carolina turfgrasses. Fortunately, there are only about 18 tufgrass diseases that develop year after year. Following is a list of the most common diseases that affect North Carolina turfgrasses.

Many insects live in or on turf. Some damage turfgrasses by feeding on roots, leaves and stems while others disturb roots by making burrows. Below is a list of the major insects which damage turfgrasses in North Carolina.

Pests that are not insects, diseases, or weeds are included in the catch-all category of "Other Pests" on TurfFiles.

Weeds by definition are any plant(s) that grow where not intended. Whereas some grass species are classified as both turfgrasses and weeds, all broadleaves and sedges are considered weeds within any successful turfgrass program. Following is a list of common weeds found in North Carolina turfgrassess.

In recent discussions with North Carolina sod growers it was apparent that there will be a significant shortage of bermudagrass sod this winter and spring.

This year is proving to be the worst year on record for fall armyworms.

Fall armyworms may soon become a problem.

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TurfFiles - Turfgrass Information for North Carolina