A good fall lawn care regimen in North Dakota includes things like aeration, dethatching, leaf removal and fertilization. It refreshes your lawn, boosting its ability to survive winter stresses and setting it up for success in the spring growing season.
Let’s face it: our summers are short, so the faster your lawn rebounds in the spring, the more time you have to enjoy it. Follow these fall lawn care tips for North Dakota below and watch how much quicker your lawn takes off when the snow melts and winter releases us from its icy grip.
Fertilize Your North Dakota Lawn
Fall is a perfect time to fertilize your lawn. Cool-season grasses that are common in North Dakota grow new roots in the fall and need nutrients from the fertilizer to do so.
North Dakota State University recommends applying a 50 percent slow release fertilizer to your lawn around Labor Day. Doing so will:
- Repair any damage done to your lawn over the summer.
- Give it a thicker turf and stronger root system.
- Make it more resilient against drought, diseases, and winter.
- Help it green-up more quickly in spring.
Don’t fertilize after September; a lawn must be growing for it to take the fertilizer, and grasses in North Dakota stop growing after September, when the temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, don’t fertilize your lawn if it hasn’t come out of summer dormancy, or you might burn it.
Choose the Right Fertilizer
Fall and spring fertilizers are not the same. Spring fertilizers help your lawn green up, whereas fall fertilizers give it nutrients for it to store during winter. Because of this, don’t use leftover spring fertilizer as fall fertilizer.
Every bag of fertilizer has three numbers, each of which represents the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (always in that order) in the formula. In fall, use a fertilizer with the following attributes:
- Nitrogen (N): Look for a number more than 20.
- Phosphorus (P): Our soils have a lot of phosphorus, so you can use a fertilizer with a P of 0.
- Potassium (K): Look for a number between 5 and 10.
Aerate
Every great lawn benefits from aeration, especially those that suffer from heavy foot traffic, more than an inch of thatch, or are grown on heavy clay soils like the ones found here.
Aeration does the following for your lawn:
- Reduces soil compaction: Compact soil is so tightly squeezed that water, nutrients, and oxygen can’t penetrate it. Aerating it pokes holes in the ground, letting it receive the water, oxygen, and nutrients it needs while improving drainage.
- Improves root growth: Roots don’t grow well in compact soil. Aerating the soil loosens it and helps roots get the water, nutrients, and oxygen needed to grow into a healthy lawn.
- Reduces thatch accumulation: Too much thatch blocks water, nutrients, and air from reaching the soil. Aerating your lawn penetrates thatch and makes it less likely to build up. It also helps earthworms break down soil more easily.
The best time to aerate your lawn is in late August to mid-September, as that’s when roots grow and your lawn has broken out of summer dormancy. Use a hollow tine or core aerator to aerate your lawn because they remove plugs of soil and thatch from your turf, leaving pockets for air, water, and nutrients to seep through.
Pro Tip: Aerate your lawn once every one to five years for optimal growth.
Dethatch in the Fall
Thatch is a layer of dead and living grass shoots that grows above the soil and below the vegetation. A thin layer of thatch is a good thing, as it makes the lawn more resilient and insulates the soil and roots against extreme temperatures. It’s when you have a thick layer of thatch (at least one inch) that action must be taken.
Dethatching is destructive, meaning you’ll want to do it when grass is growing most actively and can recover quickly. For cool-season grasses, this would be in September. For more information, check out our dethatching guide.
Pro Tip: To measure thatch, cut a wedge out of your turf and go down two inches into the soil. (Think of it like cutting a piece of cake). Pull it out and measure the thatch’s thickness. Look for signs your lawn has excessive thatch before you cut.
Overseed Your Lawn
Overseeding your lawn involves adding new seed to your existing lawn to encourage new growth and prevent patches from developing. It’s also far less expensive and headache-inducing than replacing your entire lawn, so you’ll save money in the long run.
Fall is the best time to overseed your lawn because there aren’t as many weeds competing for nutrients. Overseed your entire lawn or repair bare patches before the end of September, as the soil is still warm and temperatures are dropping – a perfect environment for seeds to germinate.
Overseed after aeration for best results; the holes you create will let the seeds access essential nutrients more easily. As the new seedlings grow, they’ll fill in the holes. For step-by-step instructions, read our guide on aeration and overseeding.
Pro Tip: When you overseed, the soil should be between 50 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Check the soil temperature with a soil thermometer.
Remove Leaves
Autumn leaves might be beautiful and colorful, but they can cause a whole host of problems once they hit your lawn. Cool-season grasses need sunlight, nutrients, water, and air to grow green and lush, and leaves cut them off from that. They also harbor lawn diseases, insects, and rodents.
Rake your leaves from the ground immediately. Here are a few tips:
- Wait until 20 to 30 percent of the leaves have fallen off before you start raking (expect to rake more than once).
- Don’t wait too long, or the leaves will decompose and become harder to rake.
- Use a metal, bamboo, or plastic leaf rake.
- Rake them onto a tarp. Once it’s full, close it up and drag it away.
If there are only a few leaves on your lawn, leave them alone – they will decompose and add valuable nutrients to your grass.
Pro Tip: Use a mulching mower to chop your leaves into a mulch or add them to a compost pile. Check out our recommendations for the best mulching lawn mowers.
Mow
Cool-season grasses grow most actively when temperatures are between 55 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. As the temperature drops, grass growth slows down. Once the temperature drops below 45 degrees, it will stop growing, and you won’t need to mow your lawn for the rest of the year.
Mow less frequently in fall than in spring or summer. As it gets colder, gradually lower your mower’s height. Maintain your grass at a height of 1.5 to 2 inches. Any higher and you risk disease, whereas any lower won’t give it enough insulation from the cold.
Control Weeds
In fall, the soil is still warm and the weeds in your yard absorb and store nutrients for winter. These nutrients don’t belong to them, so use a combination of lawn maintenance and pre-emergent herbicides to bring these thieves to justice.
Wait until the first light frost before applying a pre-emergent herbicide. During this time, weeds divert their energy down to the roots, making it easier for the herbicide to seep into the roots and kill them.
Pro Tip: When buying a herbicide, get advice from a lawn specialist and read the label carefully, as some herbicides can destroy your lawn.
Water Smartly
During the transition from summer to fall, temperatures will drop and grass will stop growing. As a result, you won’t need to water as frequently, but that doesn’t mean you should stop watering altogether.
Frequency is just one part of the equation. You also need to water at the right time of day. Water between 5 and 9 a.m. so your grass can absorb all the water they can. Any later and the sun will evaporate the water. Don’t water in the evening, as a wet lawn is more vulnerable to diseases and fungi.
Your lawn needs 1 to 1.5 inches of water a week, including rainfall. It takes about 30 minutes to accumulate half an inch of rainfall, so water your lawn two to three times a week to achieve this goal. Stop watering once the first frost arrives.
Pro Tip: Water your lawn infrequently but for longer periods each time. Doing so will give the roots time to find moisture, making them more resilient. Watering too often for shorter periods of time will weaken the roots and make them more vulnerable to drought.
FAQ
What are some common turfgrass diseases in North Dakota?
Gray snow mold, pink snow mold, leaf spot, red thread, brown patch, summer patch, pythium blight, and rust are all common turfgrass diseases.
What are some common pests in North Dakota?
Armyworms, cutworms, sod webworms, chinch bugs, grubs, and billbugs are common lawn pests in North Dakota.
What is the best grass seed for North Dakota?
The best grasses in North Dakota are Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, fine fescue, and perennial ryegrass. Buffalograss and bahiagrass are the most common warm-season grasses because they can handle the cold.
Hire a Professional
North Dakota’s freezing winters makes fall the most important time to do your lawn chores. But an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and preparing your lawn for winter dormancy ensures it will be ready to grow green and lush when spring arrives.
But we know you’re busy. If you don’t have time to tend to your lawn, contact LawnStarter, and we’ll send pros to do your lawn chores for you.
Main Image Credit: Campbell House in Grand Forks, ND / Glorioussandwich / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
