Southern Lawn Care Tips for Winter
Prevent Frost, Ice & Cold Weather From Hurting Your Yard
Cold weather will be arriving soon enough. Your lawn is probably already slowing down now, but you’re not entirely out of the woods yet. The work that you do now, before it’s actually winter, will make a tremendous difference when your yard gets its spring refresh.
Tend to your lawn this fall and in a couple of months’ time, you’ll have healthier, greener grass. It’s as simple as that. Avoid the regular upkeep now and you’re making a patchy, failing lawn that is so much more difficult to restore later on.
Hold on tight and we’ll discuss what you need to do prior to that first frost, how you prepare for the coming cold, and all you need to know.
What’s the Best Time for Winter Lawn Prep?
South: Down south with our southern grasses, those will go dormant when that first frost sets in. So you want to have all of that buttoned up later in the fall. Something that catches people by surprise: Cut out the high-nitrogen-type fertilizers way ahead of your grass ever going dormant. It simply produces new soft growth that will be killed the moment it freezes.
North/Midwest: It’s up in the northern states where winter legitimately happens. You must start the early work by early to mid-fall at the latest. Practically speaking, you’d want to have everything big finished (aeration, fertilizing, etc.) two or three weeks before freezing weather sets in.
Transition Zones: If you happen to be in one of those transition areas, your timing is going to just be dependent upon the kind of grass that you have and when the snow or frost really happens where you live. It’s difficult because you’re essentially trying to do both cool-season and warm-season maintenance at the same time.
Possible Kinds of Lawn Damage in Winter
Snow, ice storms, and freezing over heavily don’t happen all that much here in Dallas, but it doesn’t hurt to know what could happen.
- Ice Damage: Try not to have water standing in puddles on your lawn before a freeze. Once that water freezes into a solid layer of ice, it will literally smother your grass underneath.
- Crown Hydration: This is the difficult one. This happens when you get those pesky warm snaps in the middle of winter. Your grass thinks spring is coming and it begins to wake up and drink water. Then…uh oh. The temperature drops again and that water freezes rapidly, popping the crown of the plant wide open. You can avoid this by slowing down watering late in the season so your grass goes fully dormant and stays in this condition.
- Desiccation: Winter winds actually desiccate your lawn by sucking the water out of it. People call it “burning” the grass. By watering late into autumn, the grass has a chance to soak up the water it actually needs to survive.
- Snow Mold: It’s a fungus that shows up in those circular, matted areas following melting snow. You can prevent it by mowing a little lower on your last cut of the year and having your lawn well-drained.
Checklist for Yards Before Cold Weather
1. Aerate the Lawn
Aeration breaks up your soil so that air, water, and fertilizer can reach down to the roots. If you don’t aerate your lawn, your soil compacts over time, and roots can’t get what they need to grow.
The benefit? It relieves soil compaction and improves winter lawn water and fertilizer uptake.
But when should you aerate? The best time is before the first frost, when the ground is still soft. FYI: Don’t aerate when soils are frozen. It will damage the crowns of the grass and do a lot more harm than good.
2. Fertilize with a Winterizer
Be sure to remember the season. It’s important when it comes to fertilizer since this isn’t the exact same thing as summer fertilizer. And organic winterizer fertilizer is formulated to help the roots, not blades.
Locate a blend that is more nitrogen-poor and potassium-rich. Potassium toughens the plant but also protects it from disease and cold. Top growth is what will be damaged in frost and is encouraged by too much nitrogen.
The grass will seal these nutrients into its root system, giving it a head start on spring growth.
When do you winter-fertilize your lawn? For maximum benefit, do this after aeration. And don’t fertilize if the soil is frozen. The roots can’t absorb it.
3. The Last Mow of the Season
The last mow of the season is quite important. You don’t want grass too high or too low.
For Bermuda, St. Augustine, or zoysia (warm-season grasses), keep it at 1–1.5 inches. For Kentucky bluegrass or fescue (cool-season grasses), mow at 2–2.5 inches for your final mowing. Mowing slightly shorter in colder areas reduces the chance of snow mold.
Also, always stick to the one-third rule: Never cut more than one-third of the blade of grass in one mowing. If your grass has become too long, lower the blade gradually over a series of cuts.
After your final mow, it’s a good idea to take care of your mower.
- Drain the gas or add a fuel stabilizer.
- Clear any dried-on grass.
- Sharpen the blades. (Sharpened blades make a bigger difference than you might think. They cut cleanly, which is better for the grass.)
Doing it now will have you in front of the game to start the spring season off right.
4. Add Compost / Mulched Leaves
If you’ve alread aerated, topdress a light layer of compost or mulched leaves over the yard.
Compost returns slow-release nutrients to the soil and helps the soil hold water. Mulched leaves return organic matter to the soil. Even better? It’s less work than raking! Just mow over them a few times to break them down over winter.
But make sure the leaves are well mulched. Too much of a thick layer of large leaves could destroy the grass.
More Lawn Advice for Winter Lawns
Don’t Walk on Icy Lawns
Seriously, just don’t walk on your lawn when it’s icy. Once a lawn has iced, the grass blades are brittle and easily crushed. Stomp on it too hard and you’ll be seeing the damage all spring.
Watch What You Use on Ice
If you are iceing your sidewalks using ice melt, just make sure to choose one that is safe for lawns. Regular rock salt will burn your grass and char any trees or shrubs that it gets near. Something with calcium or magnesium chloride in it is usually a better option.
Turn Off and Check Your Irrigation
If you do have a sprinkler system, it is now time to winterize it. If you are winterizing, now is also the time to upgrade to a smart controller for next year.
Pick Things Up
Clear dense leaf piles, branches, and other debris before the first snow. Leaving it all behind only invites mold and provides a nice home for pests. Take your furniture, toys, and firewood off the lawn too.
Mistakes Homeowners Make Before Cooler Temps
Sometimes, certain lawn tasks don’t get done at the right time…or at all. Sadly, that’s what you might regret later. Below is what to don’t want to do when you are readying your lawn for winter.
- Not aerating leaves your soil too packed such that winter fertilizer you apply will never penetrate as deep as it is required.
- Overseeding too late will give those new grass seeds no opportunity to actually get established before the first frost.
- Using a high-nitrogen fertilizer too late in the growing season. You’re asking for trouble.
- Leaving toys, furniture, and heavy clumps of leaves on your lawn all winter. Come spring, you’ll have ugly dead spots and probably some disease issues, too.
- Not monitoring your soil pH. Grass doesn’t like that kind of stuff and has to be within a specific range in order to survive.
Why Trust the Professionals for Eco-Friendly Lawn Care?
You can complete much of the winter maintenance on your lawn yourself, especially if your lawn is small. If you like working on this kind of yard stuff and already have the necessary equipment, then you can DIY can work.
But you should definitely hire an individual if one of the following is the case.
- You’re noticing symptoms that something’s wrong. If a lawn disease is obviously happening, you’ve got nasty dead areas, or insects are chewing it up, don’t mess around. Those issues require actual diagnosis and repair, not you guessing your way to what will make it better. A professional can determine what’s really going on and get it corrected before it becomes a really big problem.
- You have a sizeable lawn. When you’re working on a big property, the effort and time just don’t start to pile up. What might take a professional an hour may easily take you a whole day, and that’s assuming everything is ideal.
- You simply don’t have time or you’re just not physically capable. With work, family, and all the other things life has in store for you, sometimes the prudent thing to do is outsource. And if your back or knees are no longer as they once were, why risk hurting yourself for the benefit of lawn care?
- Your ground is as hard as concrete (or you’ve never aerated in your life). Heavily compacted grounds require more than going through the motions. You require the correct equipment and know-how to actually till up and make true changes.
Get Eco Winter Lawn Care From the Best
Keeping your yard well in the winter months does not need to be stressful or overwhelming. If you require help preparing your ground before the first freeze, assisting your grass to make it through the winter, or just getting a spring planning head start, we’re here to help.
Reach out to Green Queen today to learn more this winter! We proudly offer eco pest control and lawn care services to the following areas: