During the winter my lawn has become sparse and died back, resulting in bare patches. What should I do?
During autumn, turf will start to go into its winter condition. This means that generally a lawn will begin to look paler in colour. As temperatures drop further going into winter, lawns will not appear as dense or healthy. In the colder months, which also have reduced daylight, grass growth virtually stops. As a result no nutrients are being absorbed by the grass plants and photosynthesis activity levels are extremely low. During this time when your lawn is vulnerable, it may suffer from a range of conditions, including Fusarium Patch Disease, high worm activity, chafer grub development, or Red Thread. All of these conditions, and others not listed, occur naturally and they will lead to patchiness within a lawn, the extent of which is dependent on the extent of the conditions. As the grass plants are virtually dormant during winter, recovery will not be seen until well into the next spring growing season.
Rolawn Medallion® turf is sown with the finest cultivars available. This gives high disease resistance and strong recovery from winter conditions. Medallion® will begin to recover when the grass starts to grow again in the spring. We would advise leaving your lawn until the growing season is well underway to see the level of natural recovery.
If recovery of your Medallion® lawn is partial you may wish to overseed any bare areas which are still visible. Overseeding a quality lawn is a basic element of any lawn maintenance programme. Alternatively, for areas that have suffered more severely patching with replacement Medallion® turf may be appropriate.
If your lawn tends to die off during the winter there may be an underlying problem which is causing the lawn to suffer, for example, water logging, poor soil structure, compacted soils, heavy surrounding foliage, lack of a quality autumn feed or lack of winter dressing. All of these cause a lawn to be under stress; lawns under stress become more susceptible to disease and will decline further in winter than a healthy well maintained lawn. Consequently, a good year round maintenance regime is all important.