The Ultimate Guide to Lawn Care in North Mississippi

Dreaming of a lush, green lawn that turns heads in your North Mississippi neighborhood?

Achieving an ideal lawn involves more than just mowing and occasional watering. It requires understanding the science of proper lawn care, particularly in the Mid-South, where the climate features humid conditions, long, hot summers, mild winters, and year-round rainfall.

Table of Contents

• Getting Started with Lawn Care: Why Working with a Professional Beats DIY
• North Mississippi Lawn Weed Control: Identifying & Controlling Common Lawn Weeds
• Lawn Pest Control: Get the Upper Hand on Common Lawn Pests
• How to Identify, Control & Prevent the Worst Lawn Diseases in North MS
• Lawn Care Timelines, or How Soon You Should See Results
• Extra-Mile Lawn Services: Making the Most of Your New Albany Backyard
• How Homeowners Can Help: Extra Steps to Bolster Your Lawn Care Services
• Trusting Your Lawn Care to Experienced Professionals

With the right lawn care schedule and attention, you can grow a lawn that’s the envy of the block.

This ultimate guide to lawn care services in Tupelo, Oxford & New Albany, MS, covers everything you need to know, from understanding DIY vs. professional lawn care to the essential practices that keep your grass healthy year-round.

Getting Started with Lawn Care: Why Working with a Professional Beats DIY

A great lawn may seem easy to come by. As you drive through your neighborhood, it may seem simple to achieve that perfect look.

But that appearance doesn’t just happen by chance. It takes a professional lawn care schedule to get that gold-standard-looking grass.

You might not know everything you need to do to get that desirable, thick, green lawn. You know you want your lawn to look healthy. You might think you can just stop at the local home improvement store and purchase some DIY lawn care products – maybe a fertilizer and possibly a weed control product – and you’ll be good to go.

Not so fast. While you may not know exactly what your lawn needs, you don’t want to guess at it and risk poor results. You want to feel confident you’re doing the right thing and making the right choices for your lawn.

Let’s look at some of the differences between DIY lawn care and professional lawn care in North Mississippi.

Lawn Fertilization

What’s included in professional lawn care? Lawn fertilization, and there are some key reasons why.

Like plants, lawns need water, sunlight, and nutrients to grow. As time goes on, lawns filter nutrients from the soil through sunlight and water that enters. This process leaves your lawn nutrient-deficient.

On top of that, lawns are usually planted on built-up lands or landscapes at new housing developments. This soil has been churned up so much that it lacks the nutrients needed for healthy growth. Unfortunately, lawns that don’t receive regular nutrients become less resistant to weed and disease infestations.

This is why these lawns could use regular, properly applied fertilizer, whether through DIY lawn care or professional lawn care.

However, doing this on your own can be pretty tricky. Why? Well, fertilizers include nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, and the amounts of each are listed on the product label. There are different fertilizers with different mixes. So, you must first know which mix might be best for your lawn.

Then, when it comes time to apply a granular lawn fertilization product, you must buy a lawn care spreader that you must calibrate before every fertilizer application. During application, you must use proper techniques, such as maintaining a consistent, steady walking speed and passing evenly across the lawn. These steps ensure you don’t overapply products or do so unevenly. With fertilizer, more is never better.

Learning all the nuances of DIY lawn care is not easy. It takes lawn care technicians years to master the skills and obtain the necessary licensing and certifications.

Understanding Mississippi state laws regarding proper lawn care applications is also crucial to the process. A professional will always be on a proper lawn care schedule for fertilization, never missing a beat with properly timed and applied nutrients.

Lawn Weed Control

If you want to control weeds on your lawn, you need to make another application along with lawn fertilization as part of your DIY lawn care.

Weed control can be tricky since it comes in granular or liquid products. And you have to identify the weed you’re fighting first to eliminate it properly with the right tools.

You must also apply weed control products at the right time to ensure control. Some weeds are best battled preemergently – or before they emerge from the ground – and others are ideally controlled postemergently or when you can already see them in the lawn.

These are facts a professional will have immediate knowledge of, along with the proper commercial-grade products to treat the issue, without you having to lift a finger.

DIY Lawn Care Misconceptions

So now that you understand the two basic services and how DIY lawn care differs from professional lawn care in a few ways.

Yes, with DIY lawn care, you get outside and enjoy the fresh air. As you walk across your lawn, inspecting it for weeds, bare spots, and other blemishes, you’ll get a good outdoor warm-up, followed by a nice workout during your applications.

Since you’ll be doing this in the North Mississippi heat, you may be tempted to wear a t-shirt and shorts, but it’s much more appropriate to wear long sleeves, long pants, and gloves.

However, this outdoor time could be spent doing other things, like playing fetch with your dog, catching up with your children, or even just taking a hike or enjoying the sunshine.

Also, you may think that DIY lawn care is less expensive than professional lawn care. Unfortunately, the costs do add up.

First, you must purchase the proper equipment and products to do the job. Then you have to store them correctly so you don’t waste products you just paid good money for. Then, if you have to reapply products you didn’t apply correctly the first time, you will have to spend more money on new products. You must also spend money on maintenance to ensure your equipment operates smoothly each time.

Finally, your time shouldn’t be taken for granted, since it’s a significant part of your total costs. What would you pay yourself per hour? Your time performing DIY lawn care might be better spent at work, on a hobby, or enjoying family time.

Now that you understand the advantages and disadvantages of DIY lawn care compared to professional lawn care services, you are primed to make a more confident choice—one that is best for you.

Embracing professional lawn care means you are all in on a proactive approach that elevates your home's curb appeal. This way, you also avoid any problems or stresses when you have to remember your lawn’s needs in addition to those of your family and your home.

North Mississippi Lawn Weed Control: Identifying & Controlling Common Lawn Weeds

Weeds are not fun.

They have horrible, unappealing shapes, sticking out everywhere like a bad haircut. It makes them obvious in your nice, thick, green lawn. And it can make you look like a neglectful homeowner.

It’s just not cool.

Weeds are also very cunning. They sneak in wherever they can, embracing every opportunity to take over.

While most people think of weeds as one big bad guy, there are quite a few common lawn weeds in this area.

Let’s look at the biggest, baddest weeds plaguing lawns in Tupelo, Oxford & New Albany, MS, so you can understand their differences and what lawn weed control options work best – whether these weeds are small or mature in size.

Crabgrass

This nasty weed begins germinating in the soil in spring, and if left unchecked, it usually really kicks into high gear in June and July.

Crabgrass loves thin lawn areas, and once crabgrass gets thick and strong, it can continue bullying out your lawn. It leaves bare areas in its path that you have to fix later, or else they are continually vulnerable to crabgrass.

Because this weed is so strong, the best way to control crabgrass is with properly timed preemergent weed control applications, followed by post-emergent herbicide applications for any weeds that break through afterward.

This two-pronged lawn treatment attack is the best way to stop this opportunistic weed from strong-arming its way into your lawn.

Dallisgrass

This warm-season perennial is a clumping grass that comes back every year. This coarse weed is a distinct greenish-gray color that may have some sparse hairs on its upright leaf blades.

Dallisgrass can spread easily with its extensive fibrous root system. Preemergent herbicides applied at the correct time and rate are critical for controlling dallisgrass, as are post-emergent control and proper lawn care cultural practices to keep your lawn thick and healthy and more resistant to this weed.

Nutgrass

As a grass-like weed, nutgrass – or nutsedge – is known to grow faster than your regular grass, meaning it’ll usually stand taller than your lawn.

You may notice this a couple of days after mowing. As a perennial weed with a massive reproduction system, nutsedge will return year after year if you don’t get a handle on it.

Like other weeds, they are naturally persistent and aggressive, stealing water and nutrients from your lawn whenever they can. Controlling nutsedge involves a multi-pronged approach, including proper identification, lawn care, and lawn weed control strategies.

Buttonweed

As you’re looking through your lawn, you might see weeds with small, white flowers that each have four star-shaped petals.

Its leaves will be slightly thick, with slightly rough margins, green on top and light green underneath. And its stems may look hairy. This is buttonweed, a deep-rooted perennial that spreads by rhizomes —underground stems.

This vigorous grower tolerates close mowing well. And if you leave the broken pieces of the weed where they were cut, they go back into the ground and reroot, continuing to spread.

When left uncontrolled, this weed can smother out your regular grass. Applying preemergent herbicides at the correct time and rate can help battle buttonweed.

Annual Bluegrass

Poa annua, or annual bluegrass, is an annual grass that spreads easily and infests lawns and landscapes.

With a lighter, brighter green color, a softer texture, and blades that curl toward their centers, they can make your lawn look patchy.

In Tupelo, Oxford & New Albany, MS lawns, this clumping weed can quickly become out of place. Unfortunately, it grows just as fast, so by the time you notice it, this grassy weed has developed into a pretty big patch.

A prolific seed producer, annual bluegrass can germinate 12 months of the year, with most germination happening in the fall. A preemergent herbicide lawn application in the late summer/early fall can target this weed before it’s too late, and it reaches maximum germination.

Spurge

This weed has red and purple dots on dark green, circular leaves that branch from a central point on red, hairy stems.

While spurge germinates in mid-spring, it thrives in summer’s heat. Flowers will bloom on this weed from June through September.

If you have weaker, thinner lawn areas, spurge can take over, forming thick matted areas that can reach 3 feet across. To battle this problematic weed, your lawn care professional will use precisely timed broadleaf weed control when plants are young.

This means early detection of the weed is important.

Lespedeza

Lespedeza, also known as Japanese clover, has three smooth, oblong leaves similar to those of clover, with small pink to purple flowers.

As this weed matures, its stems harden and become more persistent. Postemergent lawn weed control can help to knock this common weed back. It requires a targeted approach during different points in the growing season.

Clover

This seemingly innocent little white-flowered weed will choke out your lawn if given the chance. It also attracts bees, which becomes an additional nuisance.

Thick, properly fertilized lawns can crowd out clover. Clover also likes to grow in lawns with a low soil pH or compacted soils. Correcting soil pH and aeration can improve overall lawn health and reduce the likelihood of clover.

Using pre-emergent weed control can also help prevent this weed from taking over.

Dandelion

As a broadleaf perennial weed, dandelion is well-known for its bright yellow flowers. It likes moist soil and sunlight, but can thrive in a range of conditions, making it pretty hardy.

Dandelion seeds travel well on the wind, spreading far — sometimes even miles away. And since it’s a perennial, it can come back even after it dies on the surface.

Using a preemergent herbicide at the right time can help prevent dandelions. Using a selective broadleaf lawn weed control product at the right time can help control the dandelions that break through.

Bermudagrass

We grow bermudagrass lawns here in Tupelo, Oxford & New Albany, MS, but it is considered a weed when it appears in zoysia, centipede, St. Augustine, or fescue lawns.

This is because bermudagrass stands out as unsightly in these lawns. Bermudagrass has thin, soft blades, while other grasses like St. Augustine have tall, thick blades.

This common weed requires a targeted approach at specific points in the growing season.

Lawn Pest Control: Get the Upper Hand on Common Lawn Pests

Common lawn pests can wreak havoc on your lawn.

Many do their dirty work underground, where you can’t see them. Your grass can look fine on the surface, but pests can eat away at the lawn's roots. This can make your lawn look bad by cutting off the pathways of water and nutrients it needs to thrive.

Since lawn pests can devastate your lawn in Tupelo, Oxford & New Albany, MS, let’s look at two of the worst lawn invaders and some strategies you can use to battle these bugs and get your green lawn back to good health.

Lawn Grubs

You know what white grubs are if you have heard of Japanese beetles, the northern masked chafer, or June bugs. These fat, C-shaped, white common lawn pests are the larvae of these adult beetles.

Seeing Japanese beetles crawling around your plants could be a sign that they are laying eggs nearby in your grass. And those eggs turn into the white grubs that feed on your lawn all summer and fall.

As temperatures get cooler before winter, they burrow deeper into your soil. In spring, they awaken and resume their feeding on your lawn until they emerge as adult beetles in late spring.

There are a few things you can look for that can signal you have a grub problem. First, is your lawn underperforming? If it’s not growing strongly in May or you see yellow or brown spots or dead patches, this could be a sign that you need lawn grub control.

A lawn that is infested with grubs can also feel loose, like it’s not connected to the ground. This shows the roots may not be connected to the soil. If you walk on your lawn when it has grubs, it may also feel spongy.

The other problem with lawn grubs is that they are juicy protein stacks for animals like birds, raccoons, moles, and skunks. So you might see these animals digging up your lawn to reach the “treats.”

In North Mississippi, unfortunately, nearly everyone has some grubs in their lawn and may need lawn grub control. The key to controlling them is to battle them at their early stages, or even before they hatch, so they don’t have a chance to cause severe damage to your lawn.

This means prevention is your best bet, which is best done with a preventative lawn treatment.

Armyworms

There could be troops invading your lawn in Tupelo, Oxford & New Albany, MS, but you might not see or hear them. You might notice the damage they cause to your home lawn before you see them.

Armyworms get their name from how they move across your lawn in an army-like fashion – leaving dead grass in their wake. These common lawn pests usually infest lawns in southern and transition zone states, making North Mississippi an ideal location for them to attack.

What do fall armyworms look like? Their larvae are 1 to 1.5 inches long and dark greenish-brown to black, with long, white, orange, and dark brown stripes along the abdomen. The adult moths have 1-inch-long bodies with a 1.5-inch wingspan, a tan body, and a tiny white spot centered on each forewing.

Early feeding damage by fall armyworms appears as drought-stressed grass, but if many of these pests are present, it can quickly progress to complete browning. If you look closely, you might see ragged holes in your grass blades. The grass may even be eaten down to the ground.

If you’re in an area of Tupelo, Oxford or New Albany, MS suspected of having armyworms, look for sticky egg masses to appear on buildings, patio sets, decor, plants, and other outdoor surfaces.

That’s when you can get ahead of these pests. But since armyworms can have multiple generations per year, you may need multiple applications per year to keep these pests at bay.

If armyworms have come through and destroyed your lawn, you may wonder how to get your green lawn back. If armyworms feed on the upper portion of your grass blades, they might recover on their own with proper lawn care basics.

But if an infestation is severe, reseeding or resodding areas to reestablish the lawn is necessary.

How to Identify, Control & Prevent the Worst Lawn Diseases in North MS

The right conditions can cause common lawn diseases to spread, and many of them appear as patchy or oddly shaped spots.

However, these blemishes could be caused by drought or by where your dog likes to mark its territory, so how are you supposed to know if a lawn disease is causing them?

While lawn diseases are challenging to identify, a few are common in Tupelo, Oxford & New Albany, MS.

Here are some common lawn diseases in the area, along with some things you can do to help your lawn return to its thick, green self.

Rust

Lawn rust starts with yellow and orange spores or fruiting bodies that damage individual grass blades. If your lawn has rust and you walk through it, you might notice bits of these yellow-orange spores coming off on your shoes. And this is how the disease spreads.

Rust prefers more moderate temperatures – anywhere from 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit - as well as long evenings – more than 10 hours – with dew, moisture, and humidity. A healthy lawn that receives a balanced lawn fertilization program is your best defense against rust.

Dollar Spot

Dollar spot is one of the most common lawn diseases in our area. This fungus appears as small, straw-colored circles that are roughly 2 to 6 inches in diameter.

They can be very unsightly, especially as they multiply. Dollar spot usually appears in late spring and can persist through autumn, causing the most damage in June and July. This disease loves under-fertilized grass and lawns affected by drought and compaction.

Adequate fertilization, annual aeration, and overseeding can keep dollar spot from taking over.

Brown Patch

As its name implies, brown patch appears as circular, brownish-yellow patches on some cool-season and warm-season grasses.

This disease likes heat and humidity, particularly when nighttime temperatures remain consistently above 68 degrees Fahrenheit and daytime temperatures are at or above 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

To battle this lawn enemy, remember to fertilize your lawn properly. Overseeding your lawn in the fall can help thicken thin or bare areas, further protecting it.

Red Thread

This common lawn disease crops up early in the year, preferring cool, moist conditions in spring. It may look like ragged grass blades dying from the tips down, but it’s the result of fungal growth.

In addition to proper lawn care practices, you may need some extra care for full red thread lawn fungus treatment. A supplemental nitrogen application usually helps fix red thread, but you may also want to inquire about curative fungicide treatment options.

Lawn Care Timelines & How Soon You Should See Results

You want to have a great-looking lawn quickly – who doesn’t?

We understand. You want the benefits of a gorgeous lawn and instant curb appeal … and you want it fast. But your lawn isn’t like fast food. A drive-thru doesn’t turn grass from yellow to green overnight.

Let’s look at how long various lawn care programs and treatments take to work, so you can better understand the process and timing.

Lawn Fertilization Timing

Fertilizer is an essential lawn treatment year-round, delivering nutrients to the soil, roots, and grass blades.

You may get very excited when you hire a lawn care company to fertilize your lawn. You may even rush outside afterward to see if you can notice any results.

Not so fast. It can take a little time for the plant to absorb the nutrients in the fertilizer. Some factors can affect how well your grass absorbs nutrients.

Lawn fertilization can take a few days or weeks to take effect—not a few hours. Fertilizer must be absorbed into the soil and the plant through its roots. If your soil pH is off or your soil is compacted, it can limit fertilizer uptake.

You’ll know your lawn fertilizer is working if the color of your grass continues to improve, looking nice and green rather than discolored.

Another factor that will determine how long it takes for fertilizer to work is the product type: liquid or granular. Each type of fertilizer has different uses and is optimal for different purposes at other times of the year, which impacts uptake speed.

Remember, fertilizer isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Using too much fertilizer, the wrong fertilizer, or not fertilizing at the right times or regularly can all negatively impact your lawn.

Herbicide Timing

The two main ways to control weeds in a lawn care schedule are preemergent and postemergent herbicides.

These weed control products work by interfering with weed growth either by blocking photosynthesis and protein production or by inhibiting root formation.

Pre-emergents, as their name implies, are applied to the soil before weeds emerge, creating a barrier preventing germination. The timing of pre-emergent herbicides is critical to determining their effectiveness. They are invaluable on certain weeds, such as crabgrass, that are best controlled with these products.

Since weed breakthroughs can occur if the application timing is incorrect, post-emergent products can be effective afterward to target the leafy areas of actively growing weeds.

Postemergents include both selective and non-selective herbicides. Non-selective herbicides kill all vegetation they are applied to, while selective herbicides are designed to kill only certain weeds.

Since different weeds require different treatments, you’ll find that a combined approach to weed control will be the most effective, since you never have only one specific weed in your yard. There are specialty products, too, for targeting hard-to-control weeds like nutsedge.

Extra-Mile Lawn Services: Making the Most of Your North MS Backyard

Regarding lawn care services, some additional ones beyond lawn fertilization, weed control, and insect control can help.

A big one is lawn aeration. What does lawn aeration do? Let’s look at the benefits of lawn aeration so you can better understand what this service can do for your grass.

What is Aeration?

Core aeration is when you use a special machine called an aerator to pull small soil cores or plugs from your lawn. Those cores are then deposited back across the lawn as the machine works, breaking down over the next week or so and redepositing organic matter into your lawn’s soil.

This lawn care service offers several benefits.

Everything from rainfall to foot traffic to everyday activity can compact your lawn soil, restricting the flow of oxygen, water, and nutrients to your lawn’s roots. Professional lawn aeration breaks up compacted soil, allowing those three elements to continue nourishing your lawn roots. Aeration also creates room for deeper root growth.

Aeration also helps alleviate thatch buildup and, paired with overseeding, thicken up thin turf. Thatch is a layer of dead and living plant material that accumulates between the soil and the lawn grass blades. These stems, leaves, and roots don’t decompose properly and can build up when the grass produces organic debris faster than it can break down.

When to Aerate

In Tupelo, Oxford & New Albany, MS, our warm-season grasses grow most from early May to late July, during spring and early summer.

Lawn aeration in summer opens up areas for weed germination, and aeration in fall disrupts the grass as it approaches dormancy. That means the best time to aerate is in spring before weeds germinate. This is usually between early May and late July for warm-season grasses.

How Homeowners Can Help: Extra Steps to Bolster Your Lawn Care Services

We know you don’t have the time or energy to learn a new skill set, but we want you to get the best results for your lawn. A refresher course on some lawn care basics can help.

Prioritizing these elements should help you get there, so you can be confident and have a great-looking lawn in your North Mississippi neighborhood.

Proper Watering

You might think Mother Nature provides enough moisture for your lawn, but in some years, it doesn’t. Water is essential to your lawn’s overall performance and vigor. Your lawn needs water for optimum thickness and health, making this an essential lawn care basic.

If you see yellow grass blades or an overall loss of vigor, it could be due to insufficient water or even drought stress.

To water correctly, add about 2 inches of water weekly. When the weather doesn’t deliver what your lawn needs, you need to add water with an irrigation system or some other supplemental watering.

In addition to inadequate water, lawns can also receive too much water. In this case, you’ll see yellowing or spots in your lawn and assume it’s a drought when, in fact, it’s a lawn disease caused by overwatering.

Your watering should be longer and less frequent to reach your weekly water goal, encouraging deeper, stronger roots and greener, healthier grass. If you water too frequently and shallowly, your lawn’s roots will hang near the surface. Deeper roots will always make stronger grass.

Also, ideally, you want to water early before sunrise. This is because wind and sun can evaporate your water before it can soak into the soil where needed.

Mow Correctly

This is another lawn care basic to-do that is underestimated since you might think mowing is something you can’t mess up. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

The mowing mistakes you can make can add up. You can mow to the wrong height, mow at the wrong frequency, and use unmaintained mowing equipment with unsharpened mower blades.

The best lawn height is 3 inches. This height optimizes lawn health, promoting thick, green growth and keeping weeds out. Sometimes, you might be tempted to cut your lawn short to look like that of your favorite golf course. But cutting your lawn too short stresses it and could cause yellowing, browning, or weed spread.

Weekly mowing is usually adequate during the growing season. You should only cut one-third of the grass blades at a time.

Sharp mower blades and a level mowing deck can produce a fine, even cut. To help, check your mower tires for proper inflation.

Trust Your Lawn to Professional Care from Lawn & Pest Solutions

We hope this guide helps you take better care of your beloved lawn.

When caring for your lawn, you should never feel ashamed to hire a professional.

Lawn care can be a lot to take on. We completely understand. Whether you’re at your first home or your third, handling your lawn care alone can take up a lot of time you don’t have.

You might even think you can save money doing it on your own.

But, everything from application timing to weed and insect identification to lawn care knowledge is a lot to take on. And if you miss a beat – whether it’s focusing on your full-time job or taking care of your family – your lawn can suffer.

Lawn care mistakes can be costly. It’s perfectly OK to eliminate the hassles and headaches and hire a trusted professional to care for your lawn.

If you’re looking for a lawn care service provider, let Lawn & Pest Solutions help. We bring years of lawn care service experience and can help you solve your issues quickly and smoothly so you can enjoy your lawn instead of constantly thinking about how to fight weeds or battle disease.

Ready to learn why Lawn & Pest Solutions could be your choice for lawn care services in Tupelo, Oxford & New Albany, MS? We’re excited to learn more about you and help you have the best lawn on the block. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we can prepare a customized plan perfect for you and your lawn.