WINTER DORMANCY

A common question we get is: Why has my lawn gone brown in winter?

Let’s look at the reason why your lawn changes colour once winter arrives in the areas of the South Coast, Southern Highlands and the ACT.

You may have noticed the grass has lost a little bit of colour and you haven’t been mowing very often, if at all.

We grow warm-season turf varieties here at Turfco, such as Sir Walter DNA Certified Buffalo, Stampede Hybrid Buffalo,  TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda, Sir Grange Zoysia, Zoysia Australis and Eureka Kikuyu. Most Australian lawns are the same as they are suited to the hot Australian summers and relatively warm winters. This is the opposite for cool season grasses as they love cold weather but will wilt during our summer.

Sir Walter DNA certified will rarely go into full dormancy. It can survive frosts and will go dormant in very cold regions, but will recover quickly as temperatures rise.

TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda greens up earlier in the spring and stays green later in Autumn than other Bermuda grass varieties.

Sir Grange tends to see the effect of dormancy more than the rest, and will take the longest to come back.

Zoysia Australis can develop a red hue during the changing of the seasons.

Eureka Kikuyu will slow down but it retains a lighter green hue better than other varieties.

Below is a comparison of our turf display area in winter and in spring to see how the different turf varieties compare.

Warm-season grasses, as the name suggests, thrive in the warmer months of the year. During the cooler months, these grasses slow down and can go into a certain level of dormancy (depending on your region), discolouring over winter. In The ACT and southern highlands where it gets considerably colder, this will be more noticeable. Winter dormancy is a protection strategy that lawn grasses use to withstand freezing temperatures and frost. When grass becomes dormant the grass leaves can become thin and dry out. This helps the grass store its energy in the root system where the energy is required most. This change in growth normally occurs in warm-season grasses when soil temperatures drop below 14 degrees Celsius. When soil temperatures consistently rise back above this temperature your lawn will start to speed up its growth again.

There’s not a lot you can do during this time. But if you do want to improve the appearance of your lawn, we recommend applying a turf pigment like Colour Guard Plus. This product will keep a dormant lawn green for up to three months. It will also help limit some of the damage that frost can cause as well by keeping the blades up to 2 degrees warmer.

Colour Guard Plus comes in a handy 2L ready-to-use bottle that simply plugs onto your hose. This affordable product will cover up to 150m2, giving your lawn an instant facelift. It also comes in a 100ml Concentrate Bottle which covers up to 200m2.

CAN YOU LAY TURF IN WINTER?

Turf is installed successfully all year round in our region of Southern NSW. With the correct precautions, certain warm-season varieties can also be successfully installed in the Southern Highlands and the ACT regions during winter. Whilst the warmer months are the ideal time of year to lay a new lawn, winter is still okay.

There are even some benefits to laying a lawn in the cooler months:

• Lower water usage. You won’t have to irrigate your new lawn as much compared to when in the warmer months because the days are not hot enough to dry out your new turf. Your lawn will still need water (at least 2 water applications per day) but because of the cool air temperatures, water will not evaporate as quickly as it would in summer. You will need to maintain this watering regime until the turf establishes (the roots take firmly to the soil).

Just keep in mind, when laying a new lawn in winter the lawn will sit idle and not root down properly until the weather warms up and it starts growing again. This means the establishment period for lawns laid during the cooler months of the year is much longer than if you were to lay it in the warmer months.