Autumn lawn care tips

Instructions

Feeding the lawn

Autumn is an important time to feed established lawns. This helps get them into top condition before the cold weather arrives; a well-fed lawn will also be greener, thicker and healthier. Yates Dynamic Lifter Organic Lawn Food, which combines composted chicken manure , blood & bone, fish and seaweed is ideal to enrich the structure of the soil. It does this by adding organic content that encourages earthworms and beneficial soil micro-organisms, that in turn help to improve the soils porosity (drainage) and air movement. This all makes it easier for your lawn to grow and root deeper into the soil. Having happy microbes is the secret to a good lawn, because the microbes break down fertiliser into a form that lawn grass can absorb.

The development of high-performing slow release lawn foods has made it easier to navigate the lawn's transition to winter. Your lawn grass and microbial soil community underneath it are in sync with the seasons - if the grass becomes dormant, the microbes are also snoozing. Because the nitrogen in slow-release fertilisers is 'unlocked' for grass by microbial action, this means the nutrition is only supplied at the rate grass can use it - as soil temperature falls and everything begins to slow down, grass nutrition also slows.

Slow release fertilisers perform well in autumn because they supply nutrients in time with the grass as it becomes drowsy; in comparison, a big surge of nitrogen in cold conditions won't be completely absorbed - the excess can remain in the soil and will eventually leach into groundwater. To mitigate this, we have recently updated our lawn fertiliser range to focus on slow-release options.

Slow release Yates Lawn Fertiliser Quarterly gently feeds for 12 weeks after application, so it's an excellent choice for autumn.

Or if you want to make your fertilising really count, Yates Lawn Fertiliser Twice A Year feeds for a full 6 months.

Lawn weed control

Broadleaf weeds like Capeweed, Dandelion, Catsear and Plantain (Lamb's Tongue) are a different shape and colour to grass, so they really stand out and ruin the look of a lawn. Luckily, it doesn't need to be complicated or time consuming to create a weed-free lawn, you can easily control them with a selective herbicide. This is the type of weedkiller that removes weedy invaders without harming the lawn grass. Yates Turfix Lawn Weed Spray is our go-to choice to cull these weeds, and it's compatible with common NZ lawn types like Fescue, Browntop, and Ryegrass.

Alternatively, if you'd prefer to take care of weeds and feed at the same time, choose Yates Weed'n'Feed. It has added surfactant to aid spray coverage and weed penetration, plus it contains nutrients to give the lawn a quick green up. It's available in a convenient hose-on pack, or as a dry granular formulation. Job done!

If your lawn's weed free and you only need to feed, Yates Lawn Fertiliser Quarterly Hose-on is a super easy option. It contains humates to stimulate lawn microbes and seaweed to boost lawn recovery from stress, without the distinctive smell of organic fertiliser. It will deliver a thicker, greener and healthier lawn, feeding for up to 12 weeks.

If you had prickles in your lawn this summer, make sure you get Onehunga Weed under control before it has a chance to flower and set seed in early spring...basically, you need to kill it before it flowers to stop the prickles from forming. An application of our Yates Prickle Weedkiller any time before early spring will prevent prickles for next summer - autumn is a great time to begin.

There are a few tricky and invasive lawn weeds that you'll need to call in the big guns for - native hydrocotyle and creeping oxalis are examples. To get on top of persistent weeds, choose Yates Hydrocotyle Killer for the job.

Seeding a lawn

When starting a lawn from seed you’ll always get better results by sowing when conditions are gentle and the moisture you apply stays in the soil – that's why autumn is ideal.

The varieties in our Yates premium lawn seed range germinate readily in autumn and, because they prefer cool conditions, they’ll continue growing through the winter months and into next spring. This means they’ll be well established before they’re forced to cope with the stresses of their first summer. Yates premium lawn seed range includes Yates Sun & Shade Lawn Seed, Yates Sow Anytime Lawn Seed and Yates Tuffgrass Lawn Seed. These can be used to grow an entire new lawn, or to oversow or patch an existing one.

For smaller areas of patching or repairing dog pee patches there's Yates Seed'n'Feed. Be sure to cover the seed by raking it into the freshly cultivated soil. Maintaining a consistent moisture level is critical for success when growing grasses from seed. Don’t let the soil dry out at all, until the seedlings have emerged. Once germinated, water more deeply but less often, and the grass will be gradually be trained into developing a deeper, more drought-resistant root system.

Laying turf 

The quickest way to get a new lawn is by laying turf. Turf’s the term for ready-grown grass rolls that come with a thin layer of soil protecting the roots. For the lawn to establish well, the roots of the grass must be encouraged to grow from the turf down into the soil. It’s obvious that this happens far more easily if the soil is well-prepared beforehand. Remove weeds and straggling grass before you start by spraying with Yates Zero Triple Strike Weedkiller. When everything has died off, cultivate to a depth of about 10-15 cm, just like you would if sowing a new lawn from seed, then mix in some Dynamic Lifter Organic Lawn Food prior to levelling. This encourages the new turf to push new roots quickly and deeply into the freshly cultivated soil beneath. When the new turf is in place, water well.