Friday, October 28, 2022 was the Official 100^th Birthday of the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena. At West Coast Turf, we are proud to provide them with their sod and we join them in celebrating one hundred years of being one of the most famous and beloved venues in sporting history. 

Some fast facts: The Rose Bowl has a seating capacity of 92,542, making it the 16^th largest stadium in the world, and the 11^th largest in the United States. Best known as a football stadium, it’s been home to the UCLA Bruins football team since 1982 and has hosted 5 Super Bowl games (3^rd most of any stadium). It’s also a notable soccer venue, as well as a concert venue for many of the most iconic and famous musicians – Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, U2, and Journey all played there, as well as Lilith Fair festival. 

The Rose Bowl was designated a National Historic Landmark and a California Historic Civil Engineering landmark in 1922. Since 1993, West Coast Turf has been the proud providers of their turf that so many sports and teams have played on. We know that the grass you play on is one important aspect of what makes a stadium so popular, and we are honored to provide their Bermuda sod for them year after year.

To see our full client list, click on the About Us section. 

As we move into November it’s a safe assumption that if you were going to overseed you have done it by now or plan to in the next week or two. There is still time to get a winter lawn in if you would like, but its also beneficial to let your lawn go dormant for the winter. With so many new paint and dye options it makes the decision a little easier for homeowners to let their lawn go dormant and still have a green winter lawn. Today I want to talk about the next step in the overseeding process and also what to do if you decided to forgo overseeding this year. 

Overseeded Turf

Fertilizer

Overseeded turf really benefits from front loading fertilizer during the grow in stage. You should have applied a starter fertilizer with your seed and if the lawn is 3-4 weeks along now you can give it another boost before the cooler temperatures arrive. Once you have mowed your ryegrass for the first time and feel like you have a good stand of grass, I recommend making that second application of fertilizer. While there are hundreds of choices on the market for fertilizers to use, I’m choosing to keep things simple so you’re not running all over trying to find different products. 

Calcium Nitrate (15.5-0-0 on the bag) – Calcium nitrate is a great way to give your new ryegrass a kick start and help the tillering process. This can be applied up to 1 pound of nitrogen per 1000 SF. Remember the first number on the bag is the percentage of nitrogen in the bag. Therefore, this bag is 15.5% nitrogen. To apply one pound of nitrogen you need to divide .155/1 = 6.45 pounds of product equals one pound of nitrogen. 

Ferrous Sulfate – Ferrous sulfate can help get your grass a deep green color and keep it that way when the temperatures cool off in late November. This is a water-soluble product that can be mixed in a hand sprayer with a ½ pound of product and 3-4 gallons of water. Spray this mixture over 1000 SF but keep it off walkways, concrete, paver, and anything you don’t want to get an iron stain on. I recommend having someone help you apply the product. You can have one person apply the product and another use a small piece of plywood of cardboard to block pavers, etc. I would wait until he ryegrass has been in at least four weeks before applying it. This can be applied every 14 days throughout the winter for strong color.

Balanced fertilizer – A couple other products that are readily available and will help your early season ryegrass are 15-15-15 or 21-7-14. I have seen both products at nurseries and the box stores. 

The key is to get your ryegrass in good shape and strong before we get our first frost. This is typically around Thanksgiving but areas outside of town will get it sooner. Once we get a couple hard freezes the granular fertilizers provide less benefit to the grass and foliar fertilizers should be utilized. This is normally the case from December to February. 

Watering 

Once the ryegrass is established you can really cut back the water. Keep an eye on the soil moisture and the general look of the ryegrass. You will find you can go several days without water during the winter and the ryegrass won’t be affected. When you do water make sure its deep and you can easily push a screwdriver in the ground 6” after application. The easiest way to tell if your lawn needs a drink is the blueish grey tint on the plant or if you walk on it and the grass doesn’t bounce back up quickly. Never set your water to run daily, it does nothing for the grass except injure the root system and wastes water. Keep an eye on the forecast and shut off the system if rain is expected. We all need to do our parts to save water and getting a smart irrigation clock or monitoring for moisture will make a tremendous difference.

Non overseeded Turf

This is a great option for those that want to save water and maintenance time during the winter. Not only will your lawn be happy it got a rest, you wallet will also be happy. I recommend forgoing overseed every few years to give your lawn a break and have a full growing season. 

If you still want to have a green winter lawn look at turf paints or dyes that are readily available online and through some distributors. Each product will have a different rate for application so read the label carefully and cover up any areas you don’t want to get paint on. Most of the paints are organic and safe for kids, pets, and to play on. If you have concern about a particular product, I recommend reading through their literature to find the right one for your family.

Since your lawn is not actively growing it does gives weeds a chance to come in and cause some issues. Its best to apply a pre-emergent such as Prodiamine on the entire lawn and this will give you 90+ days of control. This cannot be applied if you are still planning on overseeding this year. It MUST be done 6-8 weeks before seeding or you will not get the seed to emerge well. 

Watering 

There isn’t a particular watering schedule that must be maintained during the winter except to keep some moisture in the ground every 2-3 weeks. I leave my irrigation clock off all winter and hope there is some timely rain every few weeks. If we don’t get any rain, I will give my lawn a good drink and start the process over again. This can be done until March when the gras sis starting to green up again and the temperatures is rising. 

Fertilizer 

You don’t need to apply any fertilizer during the winter, let the lawn rest and bring it back in March. Its okay to apply some nitrogen into November to maintain some color and a little growth but the plant will shut down once it gets too cold and the fertilizer will not benefit the plant.

If you have any questions let me know. 

-Jay