Bermuda Grass in the Winter: 8 Helpful Tips as Your Lawn Turns Dormant and Brown - A-Z Animals

The immaculately manicured green lawn is every gardener’s dream! These flawless lawns, as alluring as they can be, take hard years of management though. There is far more involved than just seeding a lawn, watering it enthusiastically, and waiting for the grass to grow. Ground preparation and tilling, raking, fertilizing, and mowing are all needed. And after all that hard work, seeing those same lawns turn yellow and brown in the winter can be nothing but disheartening.

Winter is very unforgiving even to the best of lawns. As colder weather creeps in, It is only normal for popular warm-season grasses like the Bermuda grass to struggle to keep up its lush appearance. If you live in the colder northeast regions especially, you may be seeing brown patches forming on your lawn already. But, don’t leave your grass to look drab this winter. Here are a few helpful tips to keep your Bermuda grass looking green and healthy this upcoming winter season. But first, let’s try and understand why grass turns brown and goes dormant in the winter.

Why Does My Bermuda Grass Turn Brown in Winter?

If your Bermuda grass has started turning brown, there is no reason to be alarmed. It’s just the time of the year! As the seasons change and the temperatures drop, grass turns brown just like leaves change color in the fall. It is simply reacting to the intense cold.

Grass species such as Zoysia and Bermuda grass particularly, are ‘warm-season grasses’.They are adapted to live in tropical and subtropical climates. So, while they may be able to tolerate temperatures as high as 95° to100°F, when temperatures drop below 50°F, they go into dormancy and the grass begins to discolor.

When your grass begins to go dormant, don’t be quick to assume that your lawn is dead. Your grass will green back up in the spring again unless it has suffered damage from de-icing, heavy foot traffic, disease, or other such problem-causing insects.

What is Grass Dormancy?

Dormancy is the physiological process that grasses use to protect themselves from seasonal damage. Grasses such as the Bermuda grass, for example, require a steady supply of sunlight, nutrients, and moisture. But, as the winter’s gloom descends and these grasses start feeling sun-starved, they go into a period of complete rest or metabolic shutdown to conserve resources that will help them survive unfavorable weather conditions.

Browning or yellowing of leaves is typically the most common sign of reduced metabolic activity. Apart from that, you will also notice that growth slows down or stops completely during this period of dormancy (heave a sigh of relief because lawn mowing season is coming to an end!). But even when above-ground growth is minimal, the root crown remains alive, allowing the grass to survive and regrow when conditions improve.

How to Care For Your Bermuda Grass Lawn This Winter? Helpful Do’s and Don’ts

Helpful Do’s

1. Try Overseeding with Annual Ryegrass

There are very few things that can be more disappointing than watching your formerly verdant lawn turn brown and go dormant. If you want to keep up your lawn’s appeal, try overseeding your Bermudagrass with winter grasses like the annual and perennial ryegrass. While these cool-weather grasses may not be able to take the heat and dryness of summer, they will keep your lawn looking green and good throughout the winter. In milder climates, the ryegrass may even persist throughout the year.

The University of Arizona Pinal County Cooperative Extension recommends starting the overseeding process in late September or early October when the temperatures are still a little warm. Planting too late in the season will slow down the germination of the new seed and will result in a skimpy, uneven lawn.

However, if you do plan on overseeding your Bermudagrass lawn with annual ryegrass, it is also suggested that you take an occasional year ‘off’. If the ryegrass is still actively growing in the summer, your bermudagrass will have to constantly compete with its cool season counterpart for water, sunlight, and nutrients and this makes it stressful for the turf.

2. Fertilize Appropriately

In preparation for winter dormancy, it is always a good idea to apply a well-balanced winterizing fertilizer for your Bermudagrass. Normally, a fertilizer with higher Potassium content is recommended as it will enhance the winter hardiness of your turf. If soils are found to be in the alkaline or acidic range, lime or sulfur may also be added to balance your lawn’s pH levels. You do not want to apply nitrogen at this time though, as it can stimulate unnecessary growth.

The best time to fertilize your Bermudagrass is around 4 to 6 weeks before the first expected frost. Clemson University’s Home and Garden Information Center recommends applying one pound of potash (K2O) per 1,000 square feet.

3. Promote Lawn Health by Mowing

You want to continue to mow your grass until it stops growing. Bermudagrass can be mowed to normal height until nighttime temperatures fall well below 70 °F. For the last mowing of the season, however, you can raise the mower to allow slightly longer grass. The ideal height is around 2-2.5 inches. This will prevent the grass from getting overly stressed by the cold winter temperatures while also keeping it short enough to resist the spread of disease and thatch buildup.

4. Get Rid of Insects and Weeds

While your grass may appear to stop growing in the cooler months, winter weeds will not take a break even in the winter. They may invade your lawn when it is dormant and continue to kill it in the spring. It is important to, therefore, head off insect and weed problems before they take over your lawn.

Insect and weed control is best done before the first frost turns them to chaff. In the case of Bermudagrass, detrimental insect activity in the winter is typically uncommon. To eliminate common winter annual broadleaf weeds such as the henbit and chickweed, you can apply a pre-emergent herbicide in September. Bermudagrass is, however, known to be sensitive to certain herbicides, so you want to use these with caution. Follow the instructions on the label carefully to employ reduced herbicide rates.

5. Keep Watering Through Fall and Winter

Watering your Bermuda grass in winter is crucial to help it maintain its root health. While it is true that the grass may not be growing, the roots don’t stop growing. Conversely, the roots may grow deeper to prepare themselves for winter and the following spring. It is important to, therefore, give your lawn an occasional sip of water, to prevent the rhizomes and stolons near the soil surface from drying out.

In the winter, deep but infrequent watering is the key to keeping your lawn resilient and lush. You may only need to apply less than an inch of water a month. Water your grass early in the day to allow the maximum amount of water to be absorbed into the soil. If you water your lawn in the evening, it will leave your grass leaves moist and may promote fungal disease and growth.

6. Control Disease

Just like cold and flu viruses start to take a toll on people in the winter, winter stress can predispose grass to many diseases. When temperatures get too high, bermudagrass may become more susceptible to pathogens and pests as their defenses don’t work as well in the cold. To keep diseases under control, it is important to treat the grass with fungicides during the fall months. If your turf is weakened by disease in the fall or winter, it will be slow to recover in the spring.

Remove any leaves, clutter, or debris from your lawn. This will allow sunlight and air to penetrate the grass and prevent fungal diseases.

Helpful Don’ts:

7. Do Not Aerate the Grass

Aeration is a useful and necessary practice to help alleviate soil compaction and allow water, air, and nutrients to penetrate the grassroots. But aerating bermudagrass in the winter may not be ideal and will only put too much stress on the lawn. Aeration is best done in late spring or early summer when the grass is in its active growth period.

8. Avoid Heavy Foot Traffic

Frozen grass is fragile. You want to, therefore, avoid or at least reduce foot traffic on your winter lawn as it will damage the tender grass blades. If your grass is injured by heavy foot traffic, you may not immediately notice the damage. But as the snow recedes, and the turf becomes visible you may begin to notice dead patches on your grass.

Summary of the Most Helpful Tips for Bermudagrass Maintenance in the Winter

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