Spring may seem far away, but your fall lawn care routine affects how your grass looks the following year. Creating a fall lawn care plan gets your yard ready for the winter and helps it thrive in the next growing season.
The shift from summer to fall lawn care should happen in early autumn — typically in September. However, the timing can vary based on your location and when the temperatures start to drop. The type of grass you have is also a factor — warm-season grass goes dormant sooner than cool-season grass in the winter, so many fall care tasks need to happen earlier in the season. Continue with the lawn care tips for fall until late October or early November when the grass stops growing for the season.
Tips for Fall Lawn Care
The mowing, watering and fertilization schedule you use for summer helps you get the lush lawn you want, but come fall, it’s time to slow things down and prep for winter. Customizing your fall lawn care to the type of grass you have helps your grass stay healthy and avoids any unnecessary stress or damage.
Cool-season grass grows better in lower temperatures and stays active longer into the fall months. Examples of cool-season grass include Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, creeping bentgrass and fine fescue. Warm-season grasses go dormant sooner since they prefer warmer temperatures. Common warm-season grasses include St. Augustine grass, Zoysia grass, Bermuda grass and carpet grass. Learn what to do to a lawn in the fall with these tips for cool-season and warm-season grasses.
Mowing
Grass doesn’t stop growing until it frosts over in winter, so there’s no reason to stop mowing come autumn. Continue cutting your grass at its normal height until it stops growing. How long this takes depends on where you live and what type of grass you have. Northern climates typically have a shorter mowing season than warmer areas.
Warm-season grasses thrive in hotter temperatures, so it makes sense that they go dormant earlier in the fall. These varieties often start going dormant when the temperatures fall below 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cool-season grasses hang on a little longer, so you may need to mow them longer. They usually go dormant for the winter when the temperature drops to 45-55 degrees consistently.
You can tell the grass is ready for winter when it starts to turn brown. It tends to have a straw-like appearance and may have a dry texture. Watering doesn’t make the grass spring back to life when it’s dormant.
As you near the dormant period, gradually decrease the height of your grass to prepare it for winter. While the ideal height during the growing season varies by the grass variety, the best length for winter is 2-2.5 inches for all varieties. Gradually going shorter makes the transition easier on the grass.
Watering
Even when the air is cooler outside, continue watering in the morning as long as the temperatures are above freezing. This allows plenty of time for the grass to dry off before nightfall. Cool-season grasses may need to be watered for longer than warm-season grasses since they tolerate lower temperatures and take longer to go dormant. In some areas, cool-season grass doesn’t go completely dormant in the winter and could need occasional irrigation throughout the cold season.
Autumn rain results in less evaporation, providing plenty of natural moisture for the grass to sustain itself. Even so, you should keep tabs on how much water your grass is getting with a rain gauge. If the lawn isn’t getting one inch or more of moisture per week, you should water it.
Raking
When leaves fall on your lawn, they block out sunlight and can prevent plants from making food. Additionally, the soggy moisture they hold can lead to lawn fungi. Raking also helps remove any thatch that may have built up. A leaf blower or vacuum won’t remove thatch, so it’s important to use a traditional rake occasionally. Start raking as soon as the leaves fall in order to keep these passageways open. Even after the leaves stop falling, you should continue to rake as the wind blows them onto your property. Raking once a week isn’t too hard right?
Aerating and Overseeding
Over the summer, your lawn has probably suffered from some degree of soil compaction and heat stress. These two problems often cause most (if not all) of the brown or thinned grass you may have experienced last season. Aeration is the process of removing soil plugs from a yard in order to free up passageways for precious nutrients to reach the grassroots, nutrients they often struggle to bring in under compaction and stress.
Fall is especially ideal for aerating cool-season grasses, which are still strong in the autumn months. They tend to be weaker in the spring when they’re just coming out of dormancy. In the summer months, cool-season grass may go dormant during hot periods. Aerating during those times could cause damage to the grass. Early fall is an ideal time to aerate your cool-season grass — aim for about 30-45 days before the first frost. This is also a good time to overseed your lawn.
For warm-season grass, earlier aeration and overseeding are often better. Late spring to summer is an ideal time range for those grass varieties. That allows for enough warm temperatures to help the new seeds germinate.
Fertilizing
If you want your lawn to look better and be healthier, fertilize in the fall. This process will give your lawn plenty of nutrients to get it through the winter and help the grass grow stronger in spring. If you decide to aerate in the fall, you should fertilize soon afterward in order to ensure that the nutrients will reach deeper into the soil.
The timing of your fall fertilizer application depends on the type of grass you have. If you have cool-season grass, plan to fertilize around the end of October, so the fertilizer encourages root growth throughout November. This timing gives the grass time to recover from the hot summer temperatures that can make it go dormant temporarily.
For warm-weather grass, fertilizing in early September in most climates, or when the weather starts to cool, allows for enough root growth time before cooler weather causes the grass to go dormant. Your fall fertilizer should typically be a lighter application than you use in the summer. Avoid fertilizing warm-weather grass past the end of September. Stimulating too much growth close to cooler weather could damage the grass when winter hits.
Pest Control
Insects that live in your lawn now can cause serious problems once it starts growing after winter ends. If you notice a lawn pest problem on your grass, take care of it in early fall to limit the damage. You can apply a pesticide, or reach out to us to identify and eliminate lawn pests, such as grubs and armyworms.
Weed Control
In the fall, new grass growth diminishes, which allows weeds to take root. Poor lawn care practices can also permit weeds to become prominent in the fall. For instance, if you cut your grass too short early in the fall season, it could be more prone to weed growth.
Being aggressive with weed control in the fall minimizes the growth of unwanted plants, so your lawn looks better in the spring. Overseeding is one way to suppress weed growth in cool-season grasses. Pulling weeds by hand when you spot them is another effective method for cool-season and warm-season grass varieties.
Keeping on top of the fall leaf cleanup in your yard also helps with weed control. Letting the leaves sit on your lawn can lead to dead spots. That leaves your lawn looking patchy and provides spots for weeds to take over. Rake the leaves regularly, and bag them to keep them off the lawn. Another option is mulching the leaves. It makes a little extra work for you, but it keeps your lawn healthy.
Keep a Tight Schedule
All of these fall lawn care steps must be performed like clockwork. If you seed and fertilize too close to winter, the soil won’t be able to take in nutrients. Aerate while it’s still too hot out, and the process will not be nearly as effective. The key to a healthy lawn next year is a tight fall lawn care schedule. If you struggle to find time to work on your lawn this fall—or if you’d like to put your yard in expert hands—our lawn aeration service and power seeding can get your lawn in the best shape of its life when spring arrives again.
These fall lawn care tips can help prepare your lawn for the next year. For professional fall lawn maintenance, we provide personalized services and application choices to help your lawn be the best it can. Get a free quote for your personalized fall lawn care services today.
