It’s easy to get excited about providing care for the lawn in early spring, when winter weather has kept you indoors and you welcome the warm sunshine on your cheeks. But come October, most homeowners are ready to be done with lawn maintenance for the year.
This is especially true this year, when excess rainfall caused cool-season turf grasses to keep growing through the dog days of August as it was in early spring, requiring weekly or more frequent lawn mowing.
Autumn is the perfect time of the year for certain lawn maintenance tasks, and cooler temperatures mean that you may not even have to break a sweat accomplishing these tasks. Devoting some time and resources preparing cool-season turf grass for winter weather and spring recovery will pay
dividends next spring. Here are some lawn care tasks to consider accomplishing this fall.
Fall is the time to test your soil and adjust pH
Fall is the best time to have a soil test done on your lawn and adjust soil pH if needed. Fall is the optimum time to apply lime to adjust pH, as it takes up to six months for the pH to fully change in the soil after application of lime.
Soil testing is recommended every three or four years, and OSU Extension provides soil testing for lawns, gardens and farm fields. Soil sampling kits and instructions are available for purchase at the Franklin County Office of OSU Extension, 2548 Carmack Road. Kits are $15 each and include lab testing fees for soil fertility and pH, as well as a fertilizer recommendation. More information about soil testing is available at go.osu.edu/franklinsoiltesting.
Fall fertilization is critical
For cool-season turf grasses, fall is the most critical time to apply needed fertilizers. Apply a quick-release, high-nitrogen or complete fertilizer in October to promote root growth and store nutrients needed for green-up when grass plants break dormancy in late winter or early spring next year.
For many years, OSU turf grass specialists recommended a late-fall application of nitrogen fertilizer in late November or even December. Several years of research has now shown that turf grass plants cannot uptake much nitrogen fertilizer when their metabolism slows in late fall and winter. For this reason, the current research-based recommendation is to complete quick-release nitrogen fertilizer applications to lawns before the end of October.
It's time to lower the mower blade
During the hot, dry summer months, the best height to mow cool-season turf grass lawns in Ohio is 3.5 to 4 inches. This height helps produce deeper roots which can find moisture during dry weather. Taller grass also provides some shading of the soil, which keeps the root zone cooler.
As winter approaches, gradually reduce the height of your mower blade to 2 to 2.5 inches. Cutting lawn grasses higher than 2.5 inches going into winter allows the grass to bend over and mat down under the weight of snow. This matted, soggy layer traps moisture against the soil, creating the perfect environment for development of fungal diseases such as snow molds.
Tall grass also provides excellent winter cover and nesting material for voles, mice and other small rodents.
Next spring, be sure to raise your mower blade back up to 3.5 to 4 inches for the season. Too many homeowners regularly “scalp” their lawns during spring and summer because they like a more manicured, golf course putting green appearance. Doing this will make your lawn less resilient to any stresses including dry weather and diseases.
Control weeds in fall months
Broadleaf weeds can still be controlled in fall by spot treatments with a herbicide as long as they are actively growing. Winter annual weeds such as chickweed, henbit and bittercress have germinated in central Ohio lawns and should be treated with spot treatments of a herbicide to prevent further spread this winter. These weeds like cool temperatures and will continue to grow all winter if not controlled now.
While it is too late to apply a herbicide to clean up crabgrass escapes in the lawn, make a map of crabgrass locations in your lawn and treat those areas next spring and summer with a pre-emergent crabgrass herbicide.
Don’t ignore the leaves in your lawn
Fallen leaves can provide winter shelter and nesting areas for beneficial insects and small wildlife. The best place to leave the leaves for insects and other critters is in unmowed areas of the yard such as shrub and flower beds and other mulch-covered locations.
Leaving a thick cover of leaves on the top of turf grass can cause fungal diseases such as snow molds.
Mike Hogan is Extension Educator, Agriculture & Natural Resources and associate professor with Ohio State University Extension. He can be reached at hogan.1@osu.edu.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: October is the most important month for your Ohio lawn
