3 Steps to Winterize Your Lawn

As we move closer and closer to winter time, temperatures cool and grass slow their growth. It’s nice because we can move out of the once-a-week mowing routine and start using our Sundays to watch football and relax.

Winter time is a peculiar time of year for Florida as it opens the door for weeds to invade our lawn. Have you ever drove around in early spring and looked at all the brown yards sprinkled with green? You’d be surprised to know the sprinkles of green are actually thriving weeds and the brown is the dead St. Augustine grass. It’s sad because it doesn’t have to be that way. Here’s some (inexpensive) things we can do now to ensure a healthy lawn through winter and build a stronger landscape for spring.

Pre-Emergents

Pre Emergents are important to apply as soon as the temperatures drop because we have such a short window. Too hot and it kills our lawn. Too cold and it does nothing to weeds. A pre emergent is a cluster of chemicals designed to prevent broadleaf weeds from growing. It’s crucial for winterizing your lawn. Regretfully, Home Depot and Lowes sells consumer grade. Our advice? Find a company that can winterize you lawn with or without a contract in place.

Fertilization

Slow release granular fertilizer keeps nutrients on-demand through the winter. St. Augustine goes through a “hibernation” period by folding it’s foilage and sometimes turning colors, but that doesn’t mean it’s dead. The stems and roots are alive and it still needs nutrients and water to live.

Irrigation & Water

Depending on where in Florida you live, chances are you’re going to get a freeze. Make sure you wrap any above ground pipes, like a backflow preventer, with insulation and tape. The freeze will degrade the PVC making it more brittle come spring time. Now is the time to get your irrigation heads inspected, adjusted, and fixed. Why now? Frankly, because it’s cheap this time of year. Irrigation companies are extremely busy in the spring time and dead in the winter time.

When the freeze temperatures come, water your lawn in short increments in the middle of the day (if possible). Watering first thing in the morning or at night will surely kill your St. Augustine. Like previously mentioned, your grass still needs water, but be conservative.

Hiring a professional landscape company can save you money in the long-run. Nobody wants to replace their lawn after a hard winter, so make sure you take the proper steps to winterize your lawn.