Is your lawn suffering from winter injury? Have you noticed that certain areas of your lawn have an unhealthy color and that some of your grass looks like it is dying? If so, your lawn could be suffering from something known as winter injury. When that happens, it may take a significant amount of time for your lawn to repair itself, and you may have to reseed or resod portions of your lawn. The question then becomes one of how to prevent or repair damage caused by winter injury. To help with that, here are some signs that your lawn may be a victim of winter injury:
Snow Mold
Snow mold, as its name implies, gives your lawn a moldy appearance. As your lawn begins to turn green following a cold winter, patches of grass with a white, gray, yellow-green or even pink color may cover a significant portion of your lawn. Snow mold is the result of a fungal infection that occurs when portions of your lawn stay damp and cold for an extended period of time. As snow and ice begin to melt and the grass is exposed to sunlight and a breeze, snow mold will sometimes die out. Otherwise, the following treatment is recommended:
Treatment for Snow Mold Winter Injury
Snow mold prevention begins with raking your lawn in the fall and ensuring that your lawn drains well. This will prevent excess debris from creating a layer of wet insulation that promotes fungal growth. When you fertilize your lawn in the fall, use a fertilizer with a lower concentration of nitrogen to prevent an overabundance of top growth. If your lawn is already suffering from snow mold, aerate your lawn to help it heal faster. You may need to reseed or resod certain areas. When doing so, though, be sure to use a seed or sod that is resistant to disease to prevent this problem from recurring.
Damage from Lawn Rodents
Your lawn may also be suffering damage from voles or other rodents. Such damage is particularly noticeable in the winter when rodents begin to feed on grass stems and roots because of a scarcity in their normal food supply. You may notice damage around plant beds or in areas where your grass meets up with decks, sheds or other structures. If you have a large infestation of rodents, significant portions of your lawn may be damaged.
Treatment for Lawn Rodents
The best way to eliminate lawn rodents is to reduce their food supply. You can minimize the amount of debris on your lawn by implementing the proper weed control measures and through the use of tree trimming. It is possible to trap rodents, but you may need the services of a professional lawn care or pest control company to do that. Once you have done what you can to reduce the presence of rodents and their food source, you can repair damaged areas through aeration, reseeding and resoding.
Crown Freeze
When turf grasses absorb a lot of water and are then exposed to freezing temperatures, the top of the grass will often freeze. When that happens, water inside the grass blades turns into ice and expands, which damages the cellular structure of the grass blades. This condition, known as crown freeze, can also be caused by frost and can be very damaging to your lawn. Your lawn is more likely to suffer from crown freeze if drainage is poor and water tends to stand on your lawn for extended periods of time.
Treatment for Crown Freeze Winter Injury
The best treatment for crown freeze is to improve your lawn’s drainage system. You may have to fill in low areas that accumulate water and erect berms to control water flow. Be sure that your gutter downspouts are not contributing to drainage problems. You also may want to consider installing a French drain to remove excess water. A French drain is a trench that contains perforated pipe and gravel or rock. As water seeps into the ground, it flows through the gravel into the perforated pipe and is carried away to the desired location.
Get Professional Help
Sometimes it is necessary to get professional help to solve winter lawn injury. A professional landscape company can provide landscape design and construction that will improve drainage and make your lawn less susceptible to winter injury. In addition to regular lawn care, they can also provide such services as weed control, pest control, tree trimming, de-thatching, aerating, bed care and leaf collection.
