Tuck in your Lawn for a Good Winter Sleep
By Thomas Salaiz, Extension Horticulture Specialist
You probably know to rake your leaves in the fall, but do you know how long to keep watering your lawn, or how late to fertilize, or how about spraying for weeds? Taking a few important steps in the fall can go a long way in allowing your landscape to sleep comfortably through the long cold winter ahead.
Cleaning up leaves is more than making the lawn look nice. If left on the
ground during the winter, leaves become wet, mat down, and smother the grass
during the winter. Grass does not completely stop growing, even in the dead of
winter. As it grows, grass needs to breath and matted down leaves reduce air
flow. Leaves also cause quite a bit of shading during the fall and early winter
before snowfall when the grass is trying to store up energy. Just as chipmunks
store food underground for the winter, grass uses sunlight to make food which it
stores in its stems growing underground. If you have just a few leaves and a
mulching mower, mulching the leaves and letting them filter into the grass is OK
too, as long as they are not too thick.
Speaking of mowing, it is a good idea to mow your lawn well into October and
even into November. These late mowings will not only help chop up any leaves
you may have missed, but more importantly, will help prevent winter diseases.
You may have heard the advice to lower the mowing height a notch or two on your
last mowing. This can help alleviate disease, but be careful not to overdo it.
You are better off to leave the mowing height the same, but mow well into late
fall instead.
Fertilizing during late fall
also is a good idea since the grass, as we mentioned before, is still growing
underground, even though leaf growth as stopped. Since the underground part of
grass is what allows it to make it through the cold winter and green up in the
spring, a light late fall application is a good idea. Again, be careful not to
overdo it, no more than a pound of nitrogen (N) per 1000 ft2 is
plenty.
If
you have an automated irrigation system and have not touched the timer since the
summer months, now is the time to do so. Grass uses much less water in the fall
than it was during the heat of the summer, less than half as much. That means
you should only be irrigating your lawn about every 10 days or so and applying
about an inch of water when you do. Irrigate your lawn well into the end of
October and even into the second week of November if possible. A final deep
watering just before you blow your irrigation system out is a good idea. This
will help prevent winter desiccation damage to your lawn especially if we have a
winter without much snow cover.
What
about controlling those darned perennial weeds like dandelions and white
clover? If you have not already done so, fall is the best time to kill these
perennial weeds. As with the grass, weeds are preparing for winter and sending
food reserves underground and applying an herbicide now will be most effective.
Lawns are generally care-free and it is sometimes easy to forget they need a little TLC. A little work to ensure winter survival will improve their appearance next year.