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Fall is a transitional period for your lawn between the mid-summer slump and upcomingwinter dormancy.
It’s an important recovery time that nourishes and cleans up your lawn.
These fall lawn care maintenance tips will prepare your grass for a vigorous start next spring.
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With sunlight levels already dropping, these materials starve the lawn of sunlight and trap moisture.
Rake leavesand debris on a rolling basis instead of letting it pile up on the lawn.
Keep a lawn rake nearby to move the leaves onto the closest hard surface quickly.
Use aleaf blower or vacuumto scoop up more leaves with less effort.
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Leaf mulchers condense piles of leaves by a ratio of up to 16-to-1.
Some mulchers even chew up thin branches.
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Mow Lawn
Your lawn continues to grow well into fall and needs to be mowed.
Bagging the clippings helps to scrub the lawn of light debris.
Mow your lawn a couple more times in October or until the grass has stopped growing for the year.
From November to February, you should be able to store the mower for the winter.
Thebest time to mow the lawnin the fall is around 10:30 am or later.
Starting after mid-morning gives the morning dew enough time to evaporate.
Aerate Lawn
After a year of use, the lawn’s soil becomes heavily compacted.
Rain, snow, leaves, and foot traffic contribute to this.
The problem is pronounced if the soil is heavy in clay rather than being lighter and sandy.
Tight soil doesn’t allow air and water to penetrate.
Aerationopens the soil by adding holes every few inches across the lawn.
Aerate the lawn either with core or spike methods:
Should I Call a Pro?
Landscapers can ease the considerate work of DIY lawn aeration by using large lawn aerating machines.
Remove Thatch
Thatch is the spongey layer of decaying material between the grass and the soil.
But too much thatch slows or prevents air, water, and nutrients from reaching the soil.
Fall is the best time to fertilize the lawn because conditions are cool and moist.
Fertilizing when it’s hot and dry can burn the lawn beyond repair.
Fertilize a lawntwo or three times a year.
Fall is the last fertilization in the cycle before winter sets in.
Aim tofertilize your lawn in late fallOctober or November, in some areas.
Overseed Lawn
As your lawn ages, it strains harder to let viable sprouts grow.
Weeds crowd out desirable grass sprouts, eventually creating a yard of weeds instead of lush grass.
Overseeding is the solution.
Fall is the best time to overseedbecause the weather is temperate.
Also, you’re already doing other procedures, like aeration, that work in concert with overseeding.
Be sure to overseed a month before the first frost.
To overseed your lawn, first dethatch and aerate.
Core aeration is preferable because it creates large holes for the seeds.
Control Fungus
Brown, dead patches in your lawncan be triggered by underwatering or chemicals.
But often, the culprit is brown patch fungus, or Rhizoctonia solani.
Introducing more air and water to the grass usually fixes the problem.
Dethatch and aerate the lawn.
Try these methods before applying fungicides.
Manage Weeds
Weeds mar your lawn’s good looks.
But worse than that, they can take over the lawn after enough time.
Fall’s mild climate is favorable for lawns, but also for weeds.
Before applying herbicides, pull as many weeds as possible by hand.
Use a weed killer to treat widespread weed problems or for larger lawns.
Thebest weed killersfor lawns are selective: they kill certain weeds but spare the turf.
Manage Pests
Insectsdamage a lawnin two ways.
One, they directly harm the lawn, creating irregular patches that are brown, dry, or wilted.
Two, they provide a rich supply of food for other animals like birds and raccoons to feed on.
However, establishing a lawn from seed is difficult unless all conditions are right.
Rolling out sod ensures a better rate of success, and weeds are less common.
Sod is pre-grown grassthe topmost layerthat comes in rolls or squares.
Fall is an ideal time to lay sod.
Schedule the project to end no later than the end of October.
Apply fertilizer to your lawn in late fall.
In most areas, late fall is from October to November.
Do not apply fertilizer when it is still hot and dry, as this can burn the lawn.
You should cut your grass to a medium height in the fall.
Do not cut your grass short in the fall because the grass roots will need extra protection during winter.
You canleave grass clippings on your lawn.
Mulched grass clippings add nutrients to the lawn.
Use amulching mowerto minimize the size of the clippings, and help them integrate into the lawn.
University of Minnesota Extension.
Managing weeds in lawns.
University of Minnesota Extension.
Pests in Gardens and Landscapes: Lawn Insects.
Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California.
MSU Extension Bulletin E-2911, June 2004 - Nine Steps for Establishing a New Lawn Using Sod.
Michigan State University Extension.
