We get this question often. It’s cold outside, bermuda and zoysia grasses are dormant, and the holidays are either right around the corner or have just passed. Why would you need lawn care for dormant grass that can’t use the treatment?
In a recent blog about fall lawn care, we used an analogy to explain why fall lawn care is important. We compared fall lawn care to a lego set, and that analogy rings true for why we encourage customers to sign up for our winter rounds. They are foundational steps that set the structure for our growing season applications. While the warm season turfs are dormant, it’s a prime opportunity to correct and maintain common deficiencies in our metro-Atlanta soils, preparing our landscapes for a successful green-up and summer growing season.
So What Exactly Is Winter Lawn Care?
- Our final round of the year is lime.
- Even people beyond our state lines are familiar with our Georgia red clay. While there are some advantages to our unique soils, there are also trade-offs. It is often acidic, for instance.
- The application of dolomitic limestone corrects or maintains pH levels in our soils, keeping them in an ideal range for our turf species and allowing key nutrients to be readily available for consumption. Overly acidic soils negatively affect turf health and can bind these nutrients. A soil test can be performed, part of which will identify the pH in your lawn. Unless the test reveals your soil is in an optimal range, a lime application is ideal for maintaining a healthy foundation for the turf.
- Round 1 is winter fertilizer.
- Do I really need fertilizer in the winter? Not all fertilizers are created equally. Depending on the time of year, we have different goals in mind for our applications. Winter is a great time to add key nutrients to the soil that will be ready for use as dormancy breaks.
- Round 2 is our first round of spring pre-emergence.
- It’s often still cold out during this round, and that’s intentional. Pre-emergent products must be in place before spring weeds emerge. That often means putting the initial round out while it’s still cool outside.
- Post-emergence weed control.
- Even the best pre-emergent products and applications can be challenged by the environment. If a few weeds do squeak by, we spray them while we’re making our general applications to make sure we are faithful to our promise to destroy weeds and defend lawns.
We like to think that no round is more important than another. Every round contributes to our overall goal of clean, beautiful lawns. In Georgia, we have the advantage of rarely fighting snowfall, meaning we have the opportunity to perform winter lawn care to prepare our soils for success come spring time. Give us a call or visit us online to discuss winter turf care, and learn how it fits in our programs tailored for your lawn. Team up with Nature’s Turf.
