"Why Winterize my Lawn?"
(Winterizer = Late fall fertilizer)
Many people see the weather getting cold each fall and think that further treatments are a “waste,” and skip the late fall service.
According to most universities, and through our 25 plus years of treating over 20,000,000 square feet worth of turf, we have seen the winterizer as one of the most important aspects of a lawn care program.
Timing is key to this application. Many companies and homeowners put down the "winterizer" in early to mid September, but we still consider that early fall. Most professionals agree that a winterizer needs to be put down when the grass blade growth slows, but the roots are still actively taking up nutrients, with average soil temperatures in the 30s to mid 50s. This varies depending on the fall weather (we may see some brief warm-ups or brief freezes), but generally in our area, timing is appropriate early- to mid-October through mid-December.
"WHY?"
Late fall fertilizer is healthy for your lawn. Quickly absorbed nitrogen is stored in the newly grown fall roots. The large reserve of extra nutrients become stored carbohydrates in the plants. Since the grass has mostly stopped growing up (above the surface), it can focus all that photosynthesis and if it is performing photosynthesis it is still growing, it just may not be growing up.
This storage of energy does a few things.
- Hardens up the grass for winter
- Gives the plant the needed food to survive our always variable winter
- Prepares the lawn for a green up when we finally do warm up
Every few years we have a mid winter where the temps are warm enough to keep the soil just above freezing and we still have decent sunlight with minimal snow cover. We do get calls from customers "in-the-know" that ask if we can do a secondary winterizer in late December, which we do. Their lawns look great the following spring.
A professor said years ago "If you send a lawn into winter thin and weak, guess how it will come out of winter... even more thin and weak!" The goal of our winterizer is to send you lawn into winter "Fat and Sassy" so it is full of nutrition and full of energy to come out great in the spring.
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