Spring will be here before you know it. Now is a good time to start planning for a healthy landscape with the warm weather approaching, and Swingle wants your landscape to be ready with these 6 early spring landscape care tips.
Snow Mold:
The first early spring landscape care tip is, Snow mold. Snow mold is a fungal disease that appears in the early spring as the snow melts. The mold gets an early start when we have a heavy snow early in the season before the ground has frozen.
There are two types of snow mold: gray and pink – the same color of the fungus in the lawn. Symptoms first appear as straw colored patches in the lawn (three to six inches in diameter) as the snow melts in the spring. These matted patches continue to enlarge as long as the grass remains cold and wet. These patches fuse together to cover areas of twelve inches or more. As the grass dies, the mat disappears and the grass becomes crusty and brittle.
What you can do to help in the spring? One of the most important things you can do is to rake the snow from your lawn. This will dry the grass out and discourage fungal development. Yard aeration is also helpful. Fungicides are not recommended and are totally ineffective once the disease appears. Under severe conditions, the grass patches are killed and seeding or sodding will be necessary. Call a Denver lawn service company if you need assistance inspecting and protecting your lawn from snow mold.
Lawn Mites:
Even during the winter months, lawn mites are active and can damage your lawn prior to the spring. Mites will leave you with brown, straw-like dead areas if left untreated. Some of these areas may not even be visible until your lawn starts to green up in the spring.
During the winter months it is important to remember to water your lawn. Pay close attention to areas that are more likely to have water evaporate quickly. This will help prevent mites from feeding on a distressed lawn. Areas left untreated may require seeding or sodding come the spring. Swingle offers a three-application mite program over the winter months.
Foot Traffic and Leaves Leftover From Fall:
Heavy foot traffic on your lawn during the winter months can cause problems in the spring. Continual foot traffic will hurt your lawn and could eventually cause the areas to die. In the spring, if the brown patches die, sodding or seeding will be needed.
Now is a good time to rake up any remaining leaves or debris hanging around the yard. Raking will help break-up thatch or dead grass and allow more food and nutrients to reach the soil. If you have Aspen trees in your landscape, it is important to rake up the leaves to avoid Aspen Leaf Spot on your lawn. For landscapes with berries and pine needles, it’s essential to remove them from the lawn’s surface. Berries and pine needles can change the pH of soil, which can lead to thinning of the lawn. Thinning, dry lawns are inviting to winter lawn mites.
Winter Tree Watering:
Colorado’s dry climate appreciates winter watering. We cannot always rely on the snow to provide all the moisture your trees need. It is best to water on a warm day, with temperatures over 45 degrees and areas where the ground is not frozen. Trees will need a lot more water than your lawn. Watering earlier in the day will give roots a chance to soak up the water. Swingle offers ReCharge Deep Root Tree and Shrub Watering Services. These services will help keep your trees and shrubs healthy and strong. It is too early to activate your sprinkler system, so it’s a good time to get out the garden hose (and don’t forget to disconnect it when you’re done).
Tree and Shrub Pruning:
Have you had your trees and shrubs pruned yet? Winter is the best time to prune broken, diseased, or dead branches as they’re in the dormant season. Pruning now will help your trees and shrubs grow properly in the spring, and help protect trees from disease and insects. Pruning will also help save your trees from breakage should we get a late spring snow storm.
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