Winter is a beautiful season in its own right, with the snow covering the entire landscape and keeping your turf safe and snug until the arrival of the warmer season. However, winter can also take a heavy toll on the health and beauty of your lawn. Luckily, our lawn care Nashville experts are here with tips on how to prevent this from happening. But what exactly could happen to your lawn? The umbrella term is winterkill, and below we explain how it could affect your lawn.
But is there anything you can do to avoid the pitfalls of winterkill? While they cannot be dodged entirely, our lawn care Nashville experts have several tricks up their sleeve that will keep your lawn safe and snug until spring comes. Check out our range of winter solutions for your lawn.
Problem: Snow Mold
Too much snow can be a bad thing for your lawn. Grass that spends a month covered in snow becomes susceptible to the apparition of several types of snow mold, the most common types of which are gray and pink snow molds. Why does this happen? The layer of snow on top of the grass effectively insulates the ground and this difference in temperature, between the warmth of the soil and the cold snow favors the development of snow mold.
Solution: There is no foul-proof method against snow mold, which can ensure you that your lawn will be 100 per cent safe from it. However, our lawn care Nashville professionals will try to minimize its effects by making sure the grass is completely dormant for winter. Also, we usually recommend species of grass that are better equipped to survive cold weather, such as rough bluegrass, creeping bentgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, colonial bentgrass, annual bluegrass, tall fescue, and red fescue. While it’s a good idea to have us plant such grass for you, you should also know that perennial ryegrass is especially prone to developing gray and pink snow mold, heavily damaged by it, and usually does not survive winter in top shape. Another preventative measure we employ during the fall maintenance lawn care session involves the avoidance of fast-releasing nitrogen fertilizer, as such substances are conducive for the apparition of gray and pink snow mold.
Problem: Winter Desiccation
Any lawn owner knows the soil must be maintained humid, in order for the turf to grow healthy and strong. In winter, however, cold winds can damage your grass and soil by excessively drying them out. This phenomenon is referred to as winter desiccation.
Solution: As stated above, it’s a good idea to make sure your lawn is fully dormant for winter. To this end, we dethatch our client’s turf, aerate its core, remove all dead leaves that have fallen during the autumn and make sure their drainage system is in mint condition. We also apply a slow-releasing fertilizer formula during the fall maintenance visit. Not only does such fertilizer make for strong grass roots, which have time to properly develop in winter, but it also protects against winter desiccation. In some cases, however, winter desiccation is almost impossible to avoid. For this scenario, we recommend installing a snow fence, which will make it more difficult for the cold winter winds to damage your lawn.
Problem: Ice Damage
Ice is one of the main enemies of lawns in winter, which is why it’s important to make sure the drainage system on your lawn is working properly. Otherwise, the ice likely to form out of improperly drained water will come to damage your turf.
Solution: We check, double check, and can even upgrade the water drainage system on your lawn. Part of our lawn care Nashville services is the installation of a drainage system that makes the ground absorb the water. This way, no pools are formed on the surface of the ground, so there is no water there to freeze.
Problem: De-Icing Damage
Believe it or not, de-icing efforts can also come to damage your lawn, to just as big an extent as ice itself. The substances used in de-icing products for municipal roads should not come into contact with your lawn; neither should the substances you use to ward ice off your driveway, alleys, sidewalks, or pathways. These substances are toxic to the soil and once drained into the ground will also come to affect the health of your lawn.
Solution: As stated above, we recommend the installation of snow fencing.
Problem: Meadow Voles
Unbeknownst to many lawn owners in Nashville, meadow voles can actually set up their habitat underground, on your lawn, and use the grass on it to feed themselves in winter.
Solution: If your grass is properly trimmed for winter, chances are meadow voles will not find it inviting enough – and you’ll also be risking less damage, if they do pay you a visit. That’s why we mow our client’s lawn to at least 2.5 inches long during the season’s final mow.
Ideally, you should call in our lawn care Nashville experts before the year’s first massive snowfall. However, Mother Nature is sometimes unpredictable – and she is definitely impossible to control. While we encourage Nashville residents to call us in as early during the season, in order to avoid winterkill as much as possible, we can also take care of lawn repair work for you in spring, if need be. Yet, this winter, as you look at your lawn, remember that it’s always easier to prevent than to cure and take us up on our offer of winter lawn care.
Proudly providing Lawn Care to Nashville since 2003.