What to Expect When Your Warm-Season Lawn is Dormant

With the cold weather here until March or April, many people retreat in their homes, only to emerge again when things start to warm up. However, if you don’t inspect your lawn occasionally when it’s dormant, you may wind up having issues getting it to come back to life in the spring.

What Does it Mean When Your Lawn is Dormant?

When frigid temperatures move in, they affect you and your grass. For the grass, it will likely go dormant, but do you know what this means? With colder temperatures, your lawn is going to go into a dormant state. This means it’s no longer growing, but it’s still alive.

Browning and Tiger Striping

At some point, you will notice your entire lawn is brown. However, before this happens, you may notice something that is referred to in the industry as “tiger striping.” This is when a few sections of your grass turn brown, while the other parts remain green. This is completely normal, and nothing to be concerned about.

Avoid Heavy Traffic

While a dormant lawn can handle some levels of traffic and can tolerate being walked on, this should not be excessive. The heavier the traffic is on your lawn while it is dormant, the longer it’s going to take for you to see the vibrant, bright green come back when the weather gets warmer.

Continue Caring

If your grass needs cutting, make sure to keep cutting it. While you don’t want to cut it too short, it’s still a good idea not to let it get too long. If you aren’t sure if your lawn needs to be mowed, reach out to the professionals. They can inspect your grass and let you know what needs to be done or avoided to ensure the grass remains healthy.

Get Professional Help

While it may not seem like it, your lawn still needs to be cared for during the colder months of the year. If you don’t have the time or ability to do this on your own, one of the best things you can do is to hire a professional landscape service.

Most companies offer a year-round care and maintenance plan that includes season-appropriate actions, such as aeration, fertilization, seeding in the winter, and mowing, clean up, and more during the summer. Be sure to find out about these plans, as they can remove the burden of having to care for your lawn.

While it may seem like your lawn is pretty self-sufficient during the winter months, and this is partly true, don’t ignore it completely. If you do this, you may find that you have a hard time getting it to “green up” in the spring. However, with the tips and information here you should be set to ensure your lawn remains healthy through the winter, especially if you decide to hire the pros for help. Contact Kansas Turfmasters to make sure your lawn is green and vibrant when spring comes!