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Here's what's happening with lawns across our area right now.
Winter Damage
Winter Damage
Winter in Hampton Roads can be surprisingly rough for fescue. It rarely gets cold enough to cause actual winter kill but fescue lawns can still experience a range of issues in this season:
1. Color Loss from Temperature Swings (Discoloration)
1. Color Loss from Temperature Swings (Discoloration)
Frequent temperature swings can cause your lawn to deplete its nutrient reserves as it vacillates between "spring" growth during warm spells & semi-dormancy during cold snaps. High precipitation levels can exacerbate this issue. The result is that fescue lawns can stagnate & lose color (giving a yellow appearance) especially if the lawn is not mowed regularly. In the pictures above the lawn has burned through its nutrient reserves and is showing signs of seasonal discoloration.
2. Oxygen Depletion from Soil Saturation
2. Oxygen Depletion from Soil Saturation
Frequent heavy rain drives free oxygen from the soil, causing significant winter discoloration.
3. Frost damage - Direct Low Temperature Kill
3. Frost damage - Direct Low Temperature Kill
This can happen when the moisture in the grass freezes and ruptures cells within the plant.
4. Physical Damage
4. Physical Damage
This can occur if a plant has weight put on it while it is frozen. This most commonly happens from walking or mowing frozen turf.
Keep Off Of Frozen Grass
Here's how you can help your lawn retain its color this winter:
Ensure proper Fall & Winter Fertilization
Ensure proper Fall & Winter Fertilization
Our fall fertilizers contain at least 30% (often up to 50%) slow release nitrogen to help spoon feed a lawn during winter. The fertilizers also contain a complete micronutrient package. It is imperative that all fescue customers receive rounds 5, 6 & 7 every year as these three fall fertilizer applications contain the overwhelming majority of the nutrients that we supply each year and help prevent winter damage.
Aerate & Seed Every Fall
Aerate & Seed Every Fall
Aeration helps replenish soil oxygen levels which prevents anaerobic conditions (from heavy rain) and improves drainage.
Yearly seeding ensures young, actively growing plants are present, helping to mask the appearance of struggling older plants.
Keep Off Of Frozen Grass
Keep Off Of Frozen Grass
Everyone (adults, children, turkeys, dogs, Santa, mowing contractors, mailmen, elves, etc.) should stay off of frozen grass. Once the sun hits grass, it usually defrosts quickly (even on cold days) but until it is soft and pliable, please keep off the grass.
Continue Mowing Regularly
Continue Mowing Regularly
Regular mowing (at least biweekly) will help keep all of the plants in the lawn actively growing and making carbohydrates.
If seasonal discoloration persists despite the steps above give us a call and we'll evaluate your lawn.
Winter Mowing
Winter Mowing
Even in mild climates like Hampton Roads, your lawn still benefits from occasional mowing during the winter. This practice is important for keeping both cool-season and warm-season grasses healthy, managing weeds, and ensuring your lawn looks its best in the spring.
For Cool-Season Lawns (Tall Fescue)
For Cool-Season Lawns (Tall Fescue)
In Hampton Roads, Tall Fescue doesn't go fully dormant in winter. As noted by experts at Virginia Tech, it simply slows its growth. Mowing regularly helps your lawn in a couple of ways:
Improve Health and Color: Mowing removes the brown, dried-out leaf tips that develop from frost and dry winter air. This instantly improves the lawn's color.
Absorb Sunlight: This "cleanup" cut allows more sunlight to reach the new, healthy, undamaged blades. This helps the grass make food and remain in an active, healthy state, even in cooler weather.
We suggest mowing every 2 - 4 weeks in December, January & February with weekly mowing beginning in March.
For Warm-Season Lawns (Bermuda, Zoysia, St. Augustine)
For Warm-Season Lawns (Bermuda, Zoysia, St. Augustine)
While these grasses turn brown and go dormant, they are not dead. An occasional cut during the winter, especially during one of our inevitable warm spells, is very helpful.
Reduce Disease: Mowing helps remove and break up the matted layer of dead, dormant leaves. This improves airflow across the soil and prevents moisture from getting trapped, which significantly reduces the risk of fungal diseases that can rot the dormant grass.
Maximize Recovery: Keeping the dormant turf "clean" allows the sun and warm air to reach the runners during mild spells, helping the lawn recover from any winter damage and prepare for a stronger green-up in spring.
We suggest mowing every 4 weeks in December, January & February & March with weekly mowing beginning in April or May.
For All Lawns: Winter Weed Control
For All Lawns: Winter Weed Control
This is one of the most important reasons to mow in winter. Weeds like henbit, chickweed, and annual bluegrass are actively growing.
In order for a systemic herbicide (a weed killer that is absorbed by the plant) to work, the weed must be actively growing. If a weed is stressed, dormant, or too mature, it won't absorb the chemical, and your application will fail.
Occasional mowing keeps these winter weeds in a more active, juvenile growth state. This makes them much more vulnerable to any weed control products you apply, ensuring you get the best results and enter spring with a cleaner lawn.
⚠️ Reminder: Never mow frozen grass. Wait until it is soft & pliable! ⚠️
⚠️ Reminder: Never mow frozen grass. Wait until it is soft & pliable! ⚠️
Fescue Maturation
Fescue Maturation
Grass plants emerge from the seed as a single leaf.
Once emerged the grass plants will gradually thicken over a few months as they reach maturity.
Below are pictures of a lawn that I seeded on 10/19/24. I've checked frequently on its progress over the last few weeks. I'll continue to post pictures here over the next few months, so that interested readers can follow the turf's progress to maturity.
Seed germination in 5 pictures.
Seed germination in 5 pictures.
10/19/24
11/2/24
3/22/25
10/31/24
11/23/24
10/24/24
11/2/24
10/31/24
3/24/25
Mushrooms are popping up across the area.
Mushrooms are not a sign of fungal disease and do not generally cause problems for turf.
Mushrooms do not respond to fungicide and cannot be treated as part of a disease control program.
Some mushrooms are toxic. Please don't eat mushrooms that you find in your lawn. Dreamlawns cannot help you identify edible mushrooms.
Mushrooms are a sign of naturally decaying organic matter in the soil, often wood chips from old tree stumps.
Sometimes improving soil drainage can help resolve mushrooms.
Mushrooms will go away on their own as the organic matter is depleted or when the soil moisture falls below their acceptable threshold.
The Poa Problem
The Poa Problem
Poa Annua (annual bluegrass) & poa trivialis (rough bluegrass) are thriving across the region. Mitigating either of these weedy bluegrasses in a fescue lawn is a difficult process with no easy solutions or shortcuts.
● Structurally bluegrasses are very similar to fescues, in fact some varieties can even cross-pollinate creating hybrids. Their similarity makes it difficult to treat one without harming the other.
● Both poa annua & poa trivialis spread very aggressively. Poa annua spreads by producing high volumes of seed, while poa trivialis spreads laterally across a lawn on above ground "runners" called stolons.
● Tall fescue does not produce viable seed at residential mowing heights nor is it capable of lateral expansion. You'll typically lose about 1/3 of the overall density of a fescue lawn each summer (maybe more without proper mowing, watering & protection against fungal diseases), and weedy bluegrasses will definitely capitalize on the lack of competition offered by receding fescue.
So the expanding nature of bluegrasses vs the receding nature of fescue makes controlling plants in the poa family difficult, especially given the similarities between bluegrass & fescue. What can be done?
First, it's critical to keep your fescue as healthy as possible to increase the competition that it offers to bluegrass.
● Mow high. Sometimes it's tempting to cut as low as possible in an effort to remove poa annua seeds. Resist this temptation as it will make the problem worse. Mowing high allows the fescue to absorb more sunlight and better feed itself. It will also reduce sunlight reaching the soil which help to both lower soil temperatures and deprive young poa annua plants of sunlight.
● Water heavily but infrequently in late spring and throughout the summer. The goal is 1 - 1.5 inches of water applied in one or two watering sessions. Watering more frequently encourages fungal diseases (which reduces fescue density) and helps poa annua seeds germinate in summer.
● Seed each fall with a clean seed blend certified to be free of both poa annua & poa trivilias. Seeding is critical to help replace fescue density lost over summer, but many budget seed blends available at box stores or garden centers are contaminated with weedy bluegrasses. Buy quality, certified seed from reputable seed distributors. We suggest (and use) Aqua Maxx available at Landscape Supply on Quality Court in Virginia Beach. After seeding, every seed must be watered 2 - 3 times per day until germination is complete.
● Protect your fescue against disease. Fungal diseases such as brown patch can cause devastating injury to fescue. While these diseases will also injure bluegrasses, fescue will not recover from the damage until fall seeding, while the more aggressive poa pants will recover on their own and spread into damaged areas. We offer a 5 round program that also protects against damaging insects such as grubs & fall armyworms. For those who are DIY inclined, monthly treatments of Headway G should offer sufficient protection. Begin treatments in April or May and continue until Aug or Sept.
Poa annua will die off in spring, but return in August. Poa trivialis will decline over summer. Sometimes keeping the fescue healthy eliminates the need for poa suppression and many homeowners are disinclined to take on the additional expense of poa suppression for a seasonal problem.
Once the fescue is protected, we can look at bluegrass suppression options.
● We offer suppression plans for both types of weedy bluegrass.
● These plans are not included with our standard service.
● These are suppression plans, meaning that the goal is to suppress, not eradicate the bluegrass.
● There is no point in suppression until all of the needs of the fescue are met, so we can't jump straight to these applications unless the steps outlined above are carefully followed.
● These applications are highly dependent on both temperature & season. Some years we will not be able to complete the entire program. You will never be charged for an application that we can't complete.
If you'd like to discuss options for managing these weedy bluegrasses, call us today.
Lightning helps fertilize your lawn. No, seriously.
Lightning helps fertilize your lawn. No, seriously.
Rainstorms can greatly benefit your lawn in a few ways:
● A soaking rainstorm provides a more even watering than even the best tuned irrigation system.
● Most of the atmosphere (78%) is made of nitrogen but most of that nitrogen is unavailable to plants until it is broken down into a usable form. Lightning has a strong enough electrical charge to break chemical bonds, helping to form nitrogen dioxide.
● Nitrogen dioxide dissolves in water, forming a fertilizer which is delivered to your lawn with each raindrop.
● Rainfall also helps soil micro-life convert existing organic soil content into usable nitrogen, further increasing the nutrients available to your turf.
● Cloud cover helps to provide a reduction in heat stress by reducing the amount of light that reaches the surface.
● Cloud cover also helps to "prime" the lawn for photosynthesis by encouraging plants to become very active once sunlight returns.
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