Winter preparation is an important step in seasonal maintenance for anyone involved in the green industry.  Like all plants, grasses need special care before winter.  While warm season grasses (which become dormant in winter) and cool season grasses (which will actively grow well into fall) require different types of maintenance, there are some basic steps that should be followed regardless of what your turf looks like.  Here are our top three tips for getting turf ready for the winter season.

Keep Up Maintenance

Continue to mow the grass until it stops growing, and remove any leaves that have fallen on the ground.  Both long grass and leaf cover, in combination with snow cover, can lead to the growth of snow mold and other diseases during winter.  Save yourself from extra work in spring!

Apply Appropriate Fertilization

Before grass goes dormant and stops actively growing, treat it with a root biostimulant, such as one that includes seaweed extracts.  The hormones found in these biostimulants, especially cytokinin and auxins, help increase the volume of the roots, which will help them perform better and survive through the winter.  Only apply fertilizers with nitrogen to cool season grasses (such as bluegrass, fescues, and ryegrass) that will continue to grow through the fall and benefit from the additional nutrients.  Warm season grasses (including Bermuda grass, Buffalo grass, and St. Augustine) become dormant in winter, and encouraging growth in fall with nitrogen will cause them to use up stored nutrients and may promote winter diseases.  Most experts suggest an application of a potassium fertilizer for warm season grasses, such as a 0-0-18 or 0-0-30.  Applying at a half to one pound of potassium in the fall will help them survive winter dormancy and prevent spring dormancy.

Water As Needed

Grasses continue to respire in the fall and into the winter, which means that they still need water to survive.  If the autumn period becomes very dry, some occasional irrigation may be needed to keep turf thriving until the ground freezes.  There are also hygroscopic products that will help maintain water in the ground during dry conditions.  An application in late summer and again in late fall, before freezing temperatures, will help turf survive until growing season returns.

With the proper end-of-season care for your turf, you can head into winter confident that everything will be in good health.  You’ll be off to a strong start in spring when everything starts growing again.  If your turf needs additional help beyond these practices, we have a program designed to make winter lawn prep easier.