Lawn*Doctor Lawn Care Insights: Preparing the lawn for winter

There are many tasks involved in caring for a lawn throughout the year that often get overlooked. Winter preparation is one of them. Preparing your lawn properly for the oncoming stress of a Midwest winter is a very important task that shouldn't be forgotten. This involves clearing as many leaves, limbs, landscaping debris, mulch and any dead plant material that may have found its way onto the lawn from an landscaping projects throughout the year. This is commonly referred to a fall cleanup and is currently being performed daily across the county. The lawn should also be trimmed back to the minimal height as possible without removing more than a third of the leaf tissue or scalping the lawn down to the crown. A late fall fertilizer should have been or being applied that consists of a high Nitrogen fast release form. This allows for immediate uptake as the plant is still alive and before going dormant. The turf will absorb the fertilizer as it is still above 50 degrees and will store it similar to how our bodies store carbohydrates. This allows for the turf to survive during the winter months and have the energy needed in early spring as the snow melts and temperatures rise for early green-up and growth.

Lawn mowed short and leaves cleared up ready for winter

Winters with extended snow cover can often cause serious eye sores in the lawn composed of snow mold damage in the early spring. This is the result of excess grass leaf tissue matted down under a heavy blanket of snow for an extended period of time. As the plant is still alive under neath the gasses that it emits get trapped and oxygen is scarce. This leads to the formation of pink and gray snow mold and turf damage. The other damage to a lawn that is often seen in early spring is where snow was cleared for pets or foot traffic and the turf was damaged from extended periods of below zero temperatures. This is usually a spot or area right off of a patio or sidewalk where a snow shovel has cleared the snow. Often homeowners with dogs do this to clear a spot for the dog to go outside during the winter. Creating a designated area for your pets in a landscaping bed or non-turf area for going outside in the winter can help easily fix this eyesore before spring arrives.