Certainly when we think of living in Florida, we do not generally think about losing our lawns to freezing temperatures. However, some homeowners in Florida may find themselves needing to replace portions of their lawn in the spring due to the cold weather. Here are some tips about how to prevent or reduce winterkill by preparing your lawn for the winter months and how to let your lawn recover from the big chill with minimal damage.

Preparing Your Lawn for Winter

All of our warm season turfgrass species go into some degree of dormancy during the winter months, slowing their growth down and they may or may not stay green. This is a natural cycle, regardless of where you live in the state. In North and even Central Florida, lawns may stay green or may turn brown, either of which can be normal. Even in South Florida, lawns do not grow as quickly in the winter, even though they may remain green (less mowing required!). Regardless of where you are in the state, you should work to keep your lawn as healthy as possible through mowing, irrigating, and fertilizing practices. 

Coming Out of the Freeze

Freezing temperatures will turn lawns brown. Do not panic, this is a normal part of winter dormancy. When the days become longer and temperatures start to warm up in the spring, the growing points will become active, bringing green growth to the lawn again.  Lawns generally do not require as much irrigation during winter months, so scale back your irrigation systems. In Central Florida, you may need to irrigate weekly or every other week, while in North Florida, it may be every three to four weeks. You will not need to mow for some time; when you do need to mow again, be sure to cut at the highest recommended height for your grass type. Do not "scalp" the lawn, as this makes it less able to recover from freeze damage.

How can you tell if your grass has truly succumbed to a winter freeze or if it is only dormant? One way is to cut small plugs of the grass (with roots and shoots attached) and plant them in a pot, put it in a warm spot with natural sunlight and see if the grass begins to grow.  

If your lawn does not recover come springtime, remove the decayed vegetation from the affected areas and replace with either sod pieces or plugs. Do this before weeds have a chance to germinate and take hold of the ground. It is possible that not all of your lawn will be affected, perhaps just those areas that are most exposed to the cold temperatures.

You may also find that your lawn has been damaged by freezing temperatures. Our most common lawn grass, Floratam St. Augustine, is the most sensitive to cold temperatures. Zoysia, Bermuda and Bahia grass are more cold tolerant. When freezing temperatures have been preceded by warm temperatures, damage is more likely. Grass can look wilted, then turn whitish and then black. All may not be lost – but you will have to wait until spring to really know for sure. Cold damage initially may look like drought stress, but adding to much water while the grass is nearly dormant is not necessary and will waste water resources. 

We have seen quite a bit of fungus this year due to homeowners not changing their routines/habits with the change of weather conditions. Even in Florida temperatures drop in the 30’s and 40’s.  During Florida winters your lawn goes into dormancy so it is necessary to cut back on watering to once a week unless we are experiencing a drought. When a lawn is in dormancy it grows very little and will need to be mowed less often. If your lawn is cut too short it opens it up to fungus and other diseases then your lawn will develop brown patches. Most of the time your lawn will recover and fill back in and become green again but it will take some time for recovery depending on the amount of damage. It’s not just too much watering or cutting the lawn too short that can cause fungus it is when using a lawn service to cut your lawn, the mower goes through fungus and it is transferred to other lawns.  When noticing brown patches in your lawn please call GreenTec Pest Control immediately so we can spray a fungicide to help the fungus from spreading. Below is pictures I took of my lawn, I have not cut my lawn since first of November and I only water once or twice a week depending on the amount of rain we have gotten. If you have a sprinkler system and it is raining you will have to shut it off to keep from over watering your lawn. My lawn is also serviced by GreenTec Pest Control .  If you have any questions or concerns please call me (Michelle) at (727) 847-6733.  GreenTec Pest Control is always here for your lawn and pest control needs. 

Have a great weekend from all of us here at GreenTec Pest Control.