How to Prepare Your Lawn for Winter
You’re ready for the cooler weather and the changing seasons -- but is your lawn?
While you can certainly reduce the time you spend on your lawn in the cooler months, the fall season is a critical time to prepare your lawn for winter, and even next spring. If prepped for the winter properly, your grass will return as lush and healthy as ever.
To help make that prep work all the easier and worth your while, the experts at Acre put together the following tips. If you still have questions, feel free to give us a call. We’ll be happy to help.
Applying Pre-Emergent Herbicide in the Fall
One of the most effective things you can do for your lawn in fall is apply a pre-emergent herbicide to prevent weeds. A variety of annual weeds emerge in the fall and winter, and continue to grow actively for several months. Pre-emergent herbicides will prevent those weeds from gaining a foothold.
Because a pre-emergent does not kill existing weeds, you must apply these herbicides before those weeds have time to germinate from seed. This will prevent them from overtaking your lawn and landscape during winter. It will also save you a whole lot of time and effort come spring, when you’d otherwise be killing and pulling up those mature weeds.
Are weeds already in your yard? Check out this blog for some tips on how to remove them AND keep them out!
When to Apply Pre-Emergent Herbicide
Depending on where you live, pre-emergents are typically applied between August and November for both warm- and cool-season grasses (more on these different types of grasses below). Most experts agree that the application window should be when temperatures are below 70 degrees and are expected to continue falling.
When it comes to choosing which pre-emergent herbicide to use, choices can be daunting. Look for an herbicide that works on the type of weed you’ve had trouble with and one that is compatible with the kind of grass you have. Most herbicides will mention which grasses they can and shouldn’t be used on, and which weeds they target.
We can help! Our lawn care experts can handle all your lawn’s pre-emergent needs. Contact us today!
Aerating Your Lawn in the Fall
Aerating is an essential step in lawn care, and fall is the best time for this task, because it stimulates and nourishes your yard before it settles into its winter dormancy. While lawn care professionals can aerate your lawn in no time, you can do it yourself—most home and garden stores will have core aerators for rent.
Aerate on a day when the soil is moist but not soaked. If you’re experiencing a dry spell, try watering your lawn a couple of days before you plan to aerate. This ensures that the aerator can penetrate the ground. Then, run the machine first around the perimeter of your lawn, then back and forth over the rest of your property, similar to a mowing pattern.
Fertilizing Your Lawn Before It Grows
Before you fertilize, you’ll need to know the type of grass you’re growing. Also, you’ll need a basic understanding of the grass’s growth cycle, which is heavily influenced by the climate where you live. Those two factors—the variety of grass and climate—heavily influence the type of fertilizer you’ll use and when you’ll apply it.
Broadly speaking, lawn grasses are divided into two main camps: cool- and warm-season grasses. Cool-season varieties include fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrasses, and bentgrass, and are better adapted for cooler habitats. Warm-season lawn grasses are better for warmer locales, and include Bermudagrass, St. Augustine, zoysia, and centipede.
In both cases, most fertilizers should be applied before periods of more vigorous growth. Generally speaking, that’s spring and summer for warm-season grasses; for cool-season types, fertilizers are normally applied in fall and spring.
Should You Overseed Your Lawn?
We often get questions about whether overseeding is worth the time and expense. While opinions differ on this topic, we believe overseeding can have a positive—yet, limited—impact on the health of your lawn.
Depending again on climate, you can overseed most warm-season grasses, with the exception of centipede, in the fall. Overseeding will prevent excessive loss of grass during the winter, so your lawn will be one step ahead in the spring. Do not overseed until nighttime temperatures are consistently in the 50s°F, and midday temps are below 70°F, or 2 - 4 weeks before the first frost.
Like the warm-season varieties, fall is also the best time to overseed cool-season grasses, including tall fescue and fine fescue, ryegrass, and occasionally, bluegrass. Cool season seeds germinate best when nighttime air temperatures are in the high 50s to low 60s°F and daytime temps don’t exceed 75°F.
Other Tips to Prepare Your Lawn for Winter
Once fall weather arrives, you’ll likely be mowing your lawn a lot less. For these last few mows, raise your mower blade to a half-inch above your standard summer mowing height.
When you mow your grass for the final time, however, you should lower the mower blade to a half-inch below your usual mowing height. This final short cut will not only encourage deeper root growth, but also protect your grass from damage and disease over the winter months.
Make sure you are not leaving objects out in your yard! If your kids or pets play outside frequently, anything from a frisbee to a fallen tree branch can quickly create a dead spot on your lawn.
The same goes for leaves. While the fall leaves are beautiful, they can become kryptonite to your lawn once they remain on the ground. You can rake them up or use a mulching mower to turn them into compost.
And our final tip: If you’d rather hire out preparing your lawn for winter, call the experts at Acre! We can handle all your lawn care prep to ensure your grass weathers the winter and looks beautiful all year long.
