If not treated this can cause long term damage and mean a lot of recovery work in the Spring.

Do get in touch and book a fungicide treatment if you’re concerned on  020 8417 1752

The Winterisation treatment is a specially blended formulation of Iron and Seaweed that attacks moss as well as providing superb micro nutrients for the turf during the winter months. It promotes root strength rather than top growth so no extra mowing will be involved above that which you would normally be contemplating.

If your lawn is looking a little unhappy over the winter months then we can gladly find you a slot in the diary for this treatment.

What are the repercussions for your lawn?

Under the snow, the grass does not completely stop growing but slows to an extent where the metabolism of the grass plant is barely moving.

Unfortunately it is common for turf grasses to develop diseases such as Fusarium Patch under the snow blanket where it is quite warm and disease pathogens can be incubated and encouraged to spread. Read my post on Fusarium for more info.

The best thing that you can do at this point to protect your grass from snow damage is to allow only the minimum amount of traffic over the lawn. The lawn will contain differing levels of frost, so walking on the surface will cause the layers to shift and create a shearing action causing the roots to break resulting in weakened plants this spring.

As the frost dissipates, the upper surface may lift slightly – known as heave. If you don’t have a roller on the back of your mower it might be an idea to give the lawn a gentle roll in the spring (trying not to compact the soil particles too much) if things don’t settle down between now and then.

Of course once air temperatures rise all of this extra moisture is likely to make the upper surface of the lawn soggy – just another reason to keep off the grass as much as possible to avoid compaction. Not good news for small footballers I’m afraid!

MOSS

We have found that due to a horrible wet August, a lot of our lawns are looking pretty mossy this year; unlike weeds, moss cannot be completely killed off as spores live on post treatment. Therefore even if we have done our best to rid our lawns of a moss infestation this autumn you may see it rearing its ugly head again. If this is the case we would recommend a moss control this winter to retard any growth now,  making the spring task of getting your lawn back in shape much easier (and less costly!).

COMPACTION

Moss thrives on lawns which are suffering from compaction meaning that as a result of poor drainage, water sits on or near to the surface. By aerating you loosen the soil which allows the water to drain away with greater ease and permitting better oxygenation of the root zone.

We are spiking lawns that could benefit from some extra aeration this winter. If your lawn is very soggy after rain or you have worn areas due to use (paths to sheds, areas used frequently for garden games etc) then spiking could really make a difference in preparation for a lovely lawn next spring.

LEAF FALL

With the recent cold weather the trees are shedding their final leaves. Make sure you remove the leaves as soon as you can as they encourage worm activity on the surface, shut out the light and oxygen and will generally be deleterious to the health of your lawn. Be warned: piles of leaves left on lawn for any length of time will kill off the grass underneath!

MOWING

Oh yes, and don’t forget to get out there on a dry afternoon and give your lawn at least one haircut this month!

A word of warning, however: walking on frozen grass will crush the cells inside the leaf (as they are mostly water and therefore hard and brittle when frozen), which will damage the plant – so please keep off your lawns as much possible until the frost has gone.