Fall is arguably the most important season for Utah lawns because cool-season grasses look their best, and their roots start absorbing nutrients to help the lawn in the spring. If you fertilize in fall, your lawn's root system will be healthier the following year. You should also cut your lawn short before the first freeze and remove fallen leaves to prevent snow mold from developing on the lawn in the winter.
Check out our blog post for helpful fall lawn tips: stewartslawn.com/blog/essential-fall-lawn-tips/
Call or text our office at 801-226-2261 or visit our website for a free service quote:
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Transcript:
I'm Jason Stilson, and I am the Director of Lawn Care Operations here at Stewarts Service Group. One question we are constantly asked is how to keep bluegrass lawns healthy and green all year. A major key is maintaining it in the fall. If you want a lawn that is healthy all year round, make sure you follow the fall lawn tips in this video!
The first step is to fertilize in the fall. Fall fertilization is essential for cool-season grasses like Kentucky bluegrass because it helps strengthen the root system before it goes dormant.
We recommend fertilizing the lawn twice in the fall, once in early fall so it can help the lawn bounce back from summer stresses, and once in the late fall to strengthen the root system and prepare the grass for the spring.
The next step is to aerate and overseed. If your lawn is thinning, you should aerate, then over-seed with a bluegrass-perennial ryegrass mixture. When you aerate, make sure you use a sanitized aerator to prevent lawn diseases from transferring into your lawn. The best time to over-seed and aerate is usually in September because the temperatures are ideal for bluegrass.
Then, before the first hard freeze, you want to start cutting your lawn short. Cutting the lawn short before freezing, winter temperatures arrive will help prevent diseases like snow mold from developing on the lawn over the winter. It also allows the grass plants to focus on strengthening the roots and not putting energy and nutrients into the grass blades.
Likewise, you should also remove wet leaves and debris and various items from the surface of the lawn before it snows. This will also help prevent snow mold and other fungi onto the lawn.
Finally, fall is a good time to pull any weed grasses and then reseed those areas if needed. Most grass-type weeds are unaffected by broadleaf weed control sprays that are formulated for lawns. The best way to get rid of these weed grasses is to use a non-selective herbicide like Round-up, let the plant completely die down into the roots, and then dig them out. If you only dig them out and there are still weeds in the soil, the weeds can return. Then over-seed in the areas to prevent weeds from growing back.
Stewart’s offers a lawn spraying service that includes fall fertilization treatments. For more information, you can call or text our office at 801-226-2261 for a free lawn service quote, or visit our website at stewartslawn.com.