The Winter Lawn Dilemma

The Winter Lawn Dilemma with Head Greenkeeper Spencer Cooper

Is it time to let go of the perfect lawn? We ask Spencer for his advice .

Do we need to water our lawns at home during winter?

No.

What if it's cold? And we haven't had rain for a few days?

Let the grass dry out and stress. It will go into a state of dormancy, and it will preserve itself until there is the next bout of rain. Don't water it because the more you can cause the grass to stress, the more it hardens and is better able to cope with tougher environmental factors such as frosts.

How often should we mow our grass in the winter?

It depends on the grass species. We’ve got two different families of grass, warm season grasses and cooler season grasses. The warm season grasses will go into dormancy in winter, and if there is frost they'll stop growing altogether. You don't need to mow them. So it’s important to understand what grass you’ve got predominantly in your lawn.

If you've got cool season grasses on your lawn, likeRyegrass, Fescue, Brown top, the most commonspecies, then typically once a week at a fairly highcutting height is best - you don't want to cut itsuper short in winter.

Remuera Golf Club, Auckland, NZ 2022

When you cut the grass in the winter should you leave the clippings on the grass?

With cool season grasses which grow during winter it's best to try and leave the clippings if you can. The grass tops are full of nutrients that are important to the plants: carbohydrates and proteins and amino acids. So, when you can cut it, let the clippings fall back into the canopy as it'll compost itself and help feed the plant again in a natural, sustainable way, which is really good.

Let the clippings fall back into the canopy as it'll compost itself and help feed the plant again in a natural, sustainable way.

Does this apply to leaves or should we be raking them off our lawn?

Leaves are completely different; you want to get rid of them. For example, I've got a big liquid amber tree in the back of my place which is dropping huge amounts of leaves now. They'll smother the grass so much that light can't get to the grass and will kill it. You must get rid of the leaves, grass clippings are small, and they won't stop light from getting to the grass, but leaves will.

Why do we need to poke holes in our lawn?

In winter, it’s good to punch holes in the lawn to get rid of extra moisture. If you can keep the surface of the ground drier, that's healthier for the plant. Roots are like the engine room of the plant. Getting air to the roots provides food and the right environment for them, so the grass plant will always be healthy. Oxygen is key to that process. Getting air into the soil is also important as there is an entire micro ecology in the soil basically made up of fungi and bacteria. And during the weight of winter, if the soil gets wet, it becomes anaerobic. So, there's no oxygen in the soil because of all the moisture. Bad pathogens and bad fungal diseases and bacteria breed in anaerobic soil and it can become very toxic.

Should we fertilize our lawn in winter?

The risk in winter is the loss of fertilizer through rain. When you go to school, one of the things they teach you about plant biology is that the plant will only use what it needs and discard the rest. So, if you fertilize plants at the wrong time, it might green up a little bit, but most of it'll just be lost and then you're simply wasting money. So, it's a balance between giving it what it needs, but not too much.

Do you think that New Zealanders are obsessed with their home lawns?

Yeah. Yeah. Yes. They are. (emphatic)I've had some amazing questions and queries from our members, and even had members of the public call me up and say, "Hey, I'm having problems with my lawn. Can you come and have a look?" One guy I went to see was down in Stonefield's. He had a little 20 square meter backyard. He wanted it to look just like Eden Park, striped up all year round. He literally would spend all his weekends just hand-picking weeds out of the grass.

So how often do you need to poke holes in your lawn for this to be effective?

You can almost never overdo it. Ideally what we do with the greens on the golf course once a month religiously. If we could do twice a month, we'd do twice a month. If we don't punch holes in, we create a bad microenvironment in the soil. The bad microbes will become so bad that you'll get bad, fungus disease outbreaks. And it'll kill the grass off.