Why is my Grass Brown in the Winter?

 

The winter season is here, Sacramento is receiving good amounts of rainfall but your grass is still brown? Are you starting to question your current landscaper? Logic would say that grass should be the most green during the winter/fall season. It is cooler during this part of the year and with adequate rainfall why would the grass not be brown? Well against all logical thinking, grass does require more than one might think. However after you get done reading this short article you should be armed with information in order to conquer your property or be able to discuss with your current landscaper how to properly assist your sod areas in greening up for the season.

 

There are 2 types of grass:

Warm Season Grass (Bermuda grass, centipede and St. Augustine).

These turfs prefer warm weather, more specifically these turfs preform warmer soil. You find some of the warm season sod blends during the spring still struggling to turn green due to lack of sunlight or over watering and soils staying cool. These particular varieties need the soil to heat up in order to release them from their dormancy. This explains why different sections of grass begin to green prior to other patches in the yard or maybe comparing your neighbor to your yard.

 

Cool Season Grass (Fescues, Bluegrass & Ryegrass)

These particular variety types differ very much from the Warm Season varieties. These cooler have different growth patterns and weather preferences. Cool season grasses don’t actually like it to be too cold either. They prefer spring and fall months the best due to the amount of sunlight and weather temperatures. These types of varieties slow down/stop growing in the coldest weather as well as during high temperature weather.  

 

Grass is Brown for 5 reasons:

1. Lack of Water
2. Diseases
3. Insects
4. Lack of Nutrients
5. Fertilizer not thoroughly watered into soil. 

In order to determine the issue of your sod. You need to go through these four line items and determine what the sod area is or is not receiving. We always like to take an initial walkthrough of the area. The easiest to spot are insect infestation and lack of water. These also are the easiest to fix. To determine if your sod is receiving enough water, simply dig up about 4-6 inches below grade and feel if the soil is moist. This will be the best indicator to determine if your sod/soil is receiving enough water. Insect infestation is also fairly easy to spot. Insects like to gather in clusters. See multiples of any type of pest on your lawn area is bad news. If insects are found try to get a good picture and visit your local nursery for advice on the proper steps to remove your friendly guest.

The next step we like to take is determining if the grass was burned by previous fertilizer. Unless you are new to the property you should know when your property was recently fertilized. When fertilizer is not properly watered into the soil, it can burn the sod, causing your grass areas to be brown. Even though some fertilizer are meant to add chlorophyll (helps in greening). Fertilizer is also a salt and salts pull water away. If you don’t properly water fertilizer into your lawn. It will actually burn the sod causing it to be brown. This will take much longer to bring back to life and will need additional care and attention. 

 

Concrete Landscape Services

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