Question
I live in vineland, new jersey and the house I recently purchased has a completely brown lawn throughout the fall winter and now our 1rst spring the only thing that is green are scallions. What can I do to bring this back, do I need professional service?

Answer
In southern NJ a lawn which is brown through winter makes me think it is zoysia grass, or even bermuda. Zoysia and bermuda are warm season grasses, often grown in the south due to their excellent heat and draught tolorance.

Normally, cool season grass, like perennial ryegrass, kentucky bluegrass and fescues, are grown in NJ and typically stay green through the winter, except for during periods of heavy deep freezes when lawns temporarily may turn brown. They often green up quickly in early spring, however.

Zoysia, bermuda and other warm season grasses need warm soil to break dormancy. It is not uncommon for the warm season lawn grasses to stay brown (straw colored) through April only to break dormancy in May.

While cool season grasses are by far the most commonly grown lawn grasses in NJ, zoysia is not uncommon especially in southern New Jersey. The benefit is a highly draught tolorant, heat tolorant, lush, green lawn during the hottest dog days of july and august. the drawback is, as you experience now, a brown lawn in late fall, winter and early spring.

Typcially, bermuda will go dormant when soil temperatures fall below 65 deg F. Zoysia can stay greener longer, but november is usually the time when they turn. They green up in spring.

Unless you know the grass was killed off, I would give it a chance to green up in spring. Grass seldom juse die "all-out". If the entire lawn is brown, I suspect that you have a warm season grass. I further guess it is zoysia. We live in Middlesex county New Jersey, and here the zoysia lawns are still brown.

Now would be a good time to get out and kill the scallions (or goosegrass which it propably is). Dig the clumps out with a shovel, or use Round-Up (glypsophate) but shield the grass underneath with cardboard when spraying. Simply pinch the tall wirery grass between two pieces of heavy duty cardboard and spray the green tops so they are toroughly soaked. It helps to "damage" the goosegrass/scallions by brusing so the herbicide penetrates the leaves easily.

The dormant warm season grass should not be affected, but to be sure it is better to use it with care (glyposhate will kill all vegetation: flowers, trees, shrubs, grasses if applied to green surfaces). The herbicide is taken up through the actively growing leaves and prevent the grass from feeding. Once dry, no residuce remain in the soil and you do not have to worry about tree roots growing in the same soil space as the grass, etc. It only works through the green surfaces of the plants.

If the grass has not greened up by June 1st, I would probably start thinking of having the lawn replaced. In this case you can re-seed or re-sod. However, somehow I think you should be ok because grass don't just die outright like that on the entire lawn in one go. If by June you still do not have a green lawn, shot a message back and I will be happy to take you through the process, but I think it would be a shame to rip out the lawn, if it is only dormant for the winter.

When the lawn greens up in early summer, start by fertilizing and then repeat every 2-3 months. A warm season lawn (like zoysia) is fertilized during the active growing period of summer. Cool season lawns are mainly fertilized in spring and fall. This should not be done to a warm season lawn. fertilize bermuda and zoysia lawns in early summer and again 1-2 times in mid summer. avoid fertilizing before the lawn greens up in spring, and do not "winterize" the lawn in fall.

While it can be a bit discouraging to have a brown lawn now, you will surely be happy in summer when other lawn grasses struggle with the heat and draught and the zoysia/bermuda are the best looking lawns on the block...

Good luck.