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Fall Lawn CareLawn care doesn't end when fall begins. |
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Transcript: Fall Lawn Care
When the weather cools off in fall and winter, our warm season turf grasses don't go fully dormant; they stay somewhat active even though their growth has slowed down to a crawl.In order to have a good, strong, healthy grass, you need to provide a little extra nutrition.
Now if your lawn is green and healthy like this, you won't need any additional fertilizer. But if you feel like it's a little weak and needs some vigor, put on a 4-1-2 or 3-1-2 ratio of product at about the rate of one-half pound per 1000 square feet of soil surface. That will help green your lawn up and keep it healthy in the winter. You want to put that on in early to mid October. That way, it's not going to cause a lot of increased vigor because temperatures have cooled off and the day lengths are shorter.
When leaves fall on your turf during the winter months, you want to be sure to rake them up or run over them with a mulching mower in order to mix them back down into the turf. That way, the turf continues to get sunlight. If you leave the leaf cover over the surface, it will shade the turf and really stress it.
Finally, avoid over seeding. Some people like to over seed because it gives them a green lawn all winter. However, that's competition for your turf, both for sunlight and nutrients, and in the spring, when the turf is starting to wake up from winter and start growing, it can cause increased disease problems, stress your turf, and cause it to thin out quite a bit.
With your common sense tip on cool season lawn care, I’m Skip Richter.
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Last Updated:
July 6, 2006