Growing Pains in the Yard? Turn to the Turf Terps

The sight of your patchy, weedy, post-winter lawn might make you want to put a giant yard-waste bag over your head. Now imagine getting a 150-acre golf course to look luscious.

That’s not just a general goal, but a national competition where four University of Maryland students who call themselves the Turf Terps excelled. The team of Luke Murnane ’25 and Zachary Onderko ’24, plant science majors specializing in turf and golf course management, agricultural science and technology major Conner Todd ’25 and two-year general turfgrass management certificate recipient Joe Poulas ’24 placed second this semester at the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America Collegiate Turf Bowl in San Diego.

It challenged 76 student teams from around the country to demonstrate their knowledge of vegetation maintenance with hands-on turf, weed, insect and plant disease identification using real specimens.

The Turf Terps, advised by Institute of Applied Agriculture Senior Lecturer Geoffrey Rinehart, prepared through various courses in the turfgrass program. Under Rinehart’s leadership, the team took practice tests and workshops centered on the “field” of turfgrass management to master the topics they’d encounter at the competition.

“The team worked really hard to get there, so having our name called for second place was really cool,” Murnane said. “They even played the UMD fight song.”

Their turfgrass expertise is worth more than a silver medal for local homeowners. They shared their tips to build the best front yard on the block this spring.

Know your lawn
The Turf Terps recommend starting by seeking educational resources about your grass type and invasive species in your region. Master Gardeners sometimes have a resource booth for homeowner questions at larger farmers markets and garden-related events. Depending on your climate, precipitation and grass seed, lawns require different maintenance techniques.

“Maryland is unique because you can have warm-season grass or cool-season grass,” Murnane said. The former favors hot weather and typically grows best during the summer, while cool season grasses flourish in cooler temperatures, with optimal growth in spring and fall.

In this area, crabgrass is a particularly problematic invasive annual species. It thrives in thin or stressed lawns and spreads aggressively via seed and stem pieces. To ward off these weeds, Turf Terps recommend applying split application or pre-emergent chemicals, like prodiamine fertilizers, twice every growing season.

Mow and overseed regularly
The Turf Terps recommend mowing on a regular basis to a height of 3.5 inches, about ⅓ of each blade per mow, to keep it disease-free and weed-resistant. This also promotes stronger root growth, shades the soil and offers better moisture retention.

If patches of grass die or yellow, focus on re-seeding these sections for an even lawn.

“Make sure you have established grass, seed it well, and fix all of the bare spots early on in the spring to help get you a nice, thick, long yard for the summer,” Murnane said.

Use slow-release fertilizers
Slow-release fertilizers, such as those containing “sulfur-coated urea” or natural organics, is the best way for homeowners to provide long lasting feed for their lawn. Tall fescue lawns should be fertilized once in spring and twice in fall.

The most effective soil amendments are made of natural materials like compost. Before planting a new garden or lawn area, Rinehart recommends that homeowners till about one inch of compost into the bed at approximately a six inch depth

“Compost provides nutrients, water-holding benefits, nutrient retention and helps to provide better structure for that soil over time,” Rinehart said.

The Turf Terps also recommend leaving lawn clippings on the ground after a mow. The old clippings add nitrogen back into the soil and promote future growth.

Water and aerate for new growth
A healthy lawn requires infrequent watering, but Maryland weather does most of the work on its own.

“We’re lucky to be in an area that has enough rainfall that you usually don’t need to add any supplemental irrigation,” Murnane said. “Most of the time, it’ll make it through the summer and even if it goes dormant, it will bounce back with cooler fall weather.”

Aeration helps your lawn by loosening compacted soil, improving drainage, and encouraging root growth. Use a manual or power aerator to remove cores of soil and create pathways for air, water and nutrients to reach the grass root.

Be careful with chemicals
To avoid damaging your lawn, read and follow the fertilizer and pesticide instructions on the packaging before using them to avoid applying the wrong rate or quantity at the wrong time.

Rinehart also recommends sweeping discarded grass clippings and fertilizer off of driveways or streets and back into the lawn.

“Everyone can help protect water quality in our streams by making sure nutrients and clippings don’t get into storm drains. If fertilizer is on the lawn at the right rate, it will get taken up by the grass,” Rinehart said.