Turf skunk experts explain when water your lawn during the winter is a adept idea , and how to do it right .
Gerardo Martinez Cons / Getty Images
During the wintertime months , your lawn is either growing slowly or resting in quiescency , depending on theclimate in your neighborhood . Mowing is greatly reduced or nonexistent and many lawns are blanket with a thick level of snow for week on ending . As snow covering ebb and flow in cold regions and lawns in ardent region experience fluctuating temperatures , there might be an episodic motive to leave body of water . We checked with experts find out if and when you should irrigate your lawn in wintertime to keep it in honest shape for give .
Credit:Gerardo Martinez Cons / Getty Images
Moisture Holds Onto Heat
wintertime come to lawns with a one - two puncher of cold temperature and drying winds . Fully hydrous turf can withstand wintertime ’s temperature swings advantageously than drought - strain grass , thanks to water ’s power to book heat energy .
“ Wet soil will retain passion more readily than juiceless soil , ” explains Dara Park , associate professor of water and land relationships in turfgrass organization at Clemson University , and Bryan Smith , domain extension agent at Clemson , in a theme they wrote on wintertime irrigation . “During a winter day , the sun can somewhat warm the grease surface . If the stain is blind drunk , this heat is lost tardily during the evening and night hr , ” they note . “ Lawn grasses subject to insensate damage may be less likely to suffer cold injury due to the longer heat retentivity of the damp soil . ”
Bottom line : dampish soil act as an insulator , slowing warmth loss across a pasture plant ’s root zona . It ’s not just actively growing grasses that benefit from blind drunk soil warmth retention . Dormant grasses benefit too . Although dormant grasses are not actively producing novel roots and shoot , their root are living . When stain temperatures dip too low-spirited , the rootage are harmed and the plants can wane .
Water Regularly in Fall
Fall irrigation is even more critical than watering your lawn in winter . Both lovesome - season and cool - seasontypes of grassesprepare for wintertime by retaining wet and nutrients in fall . When water supply is in scant supply in fall , plants are not able-bodied to adequately organize their roots and shoots for the coming frigidity and drying winds .
“ The consequence of farsighted , dry periods during nightfall and winter is injury or death to part of the plant life root systems , ” says James Klett , propagation landscape painting plantsman at Colorado State University . He point out that turf grass weaken by fall and winter drought are more susceptible to insect and disease problems than fully hydrous plants .
furnish turf green goddess with about an in of weewee a week in fall . Even though shoot ontogenesis is reduced , andmowing is less frequentthan it was in summertime months , the grass plants are actively building resilient solution systems that canwithstand whatever winter throwstheir mode . All that solution growth ask regular piddle .
Water Turf in Winter as Needed
Warm - time of year gage , such asbermudagrass , St. Augustinegrass , andzoysiagrass , go dormant in winter . sess blades turn dark-brown and some become brittle . The root system enters a state of quietus , ceasing growth . coolheaded - time of year grasses , such as Kentucky bluegrass , fescues , andperennial ryegrass , planted in cold regions go torpid in winter too .
A dormant lawn is not absorbing water or nutrients . There is no need to irrigate abeyant sward unless the soil is excessively dry , advises Park and Smith . Generally winter rain and C ply the urine sod grass needs to live .
Lawns in the Desert Southwest are an exception . The arid landscape , fuse with drying winter winds , necessitate provide sod with about one in of body of water every match of hebdomad according to experts at Colorado State University . Winter tearing also helpscombat clover mites , which ravagedry lawnsin winter in the Southwest .
Regular water is criticalwhen establishing a new lawn for the first two months or so , no matter the time of twelvemonth . Continuewatering a fresh seed or sod lawninto winter until a strong root system is established — usually 8 hebdomad or so after plant .
Winter Watering Tips
If you need to irrigate your lawn in winter , follow these tips to get the most benefit from it .
Apr 18 F| H 1803 | U , Print 2024 | . landscape painting irrigation direction part 4 : winter irrigation & winterizing . Home & Garden Information Center .
