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Is your commercial landscape ready for wintertime weather? You may think less needs to be done to commercial landscapes in the winter, but don’t make a mistake and stop lawn maintenance services.
Every part of your commercial landscape has to be protected to survive the colder winter season. Harsh weather can impact shrubs and trees. Here are several tips your landscaper should be doing.
Mowing
Winter ground care should start with an adjusted cut to the grass one inch shorter, leaving it two inches tall at the season’s end, especially if your grass is Bermuda, St. Augustine, or Zoysia.
Shorter grass helps prevent an overnight frost or a freeze which can lead to matted turf. If this happens, your grass is susceptible to disease and damage. Keep in mind that your landscaper should continue to mow the turf bi-weekly during the winter, so it’s still possible to achieve that shorter mow if your landscaper did not get it accomplished in late fall.
Prepare the Plants and Trees
Your flower beds should be updated to plant foliage better suited to endure the winter. A well-mulched flower bed will keep your plants insulated from the cold. But perennials will begin to go dormant when the chilly weather hits. Your landscaper should cut these back as their colors start changing.
Cold weather conditions can have an adverse affect on trees and shrubs.
Wintertime is the ideal time to trim any trees since they will go dormant. Trimming dead parts of the trees will ensure a beautiful and healthy tree for the warmer months. Your landscaper may want to wrap trees or shrubs in wrapping material around the trunks or base to protect them from the extreme winds.
Aerate Your Lawn
During autumn, your commercial landscape probably gathered a layer of dead grass stems and roots. You don’t want leaves or debris sitting on the grass for the entire winter season because it can suffocate the turf by blocking sunlight and stopping water evaporation which can lead to mold, fungus, and disease.
If this layer remains on the grass throughout the winter, it could kill your grass, leaving a mess when Spring arrives. But you can rescue it by aerating the grounds. The aeration procedure is to churn the soil, integrate the thatch into the landscape, and plant grass seeds allowing the grass to stay healthy during the winter.
Wintertime Weed Control
It is crucial to start weed control, beginning in autumn with pre-emergent herbicides and weed management treatments to slow down wintertime weeds. Another treatment should be applied in December to prevent weeds from growing into a bigger problem to manage. Spring weeds begin growing in the winter, so preventative treatments will stop them before they are able to develop.
Reset Sprinkler System
Reduce your irrigation system schedule to once-a-week watering. Ensure your landscaper checks the freeze and rain sensors to guarantee the system’s operating correctly. If the rain sensor receives too much moisture, it will stop your irrigation system functionality, but if the freeze sensor isn’t working properly, it will not turn the sprinkler system off when winter temperatures drop to a freeze which will cause excess ice to form on your hard-scape which leads to unsafe walkways or damage your irrigation system. Freeze events are unpredictable, but they do occur, so preparing your landscape is mandatory.
In addition, your landscaper has to winterize your sprinkler system to avoid frozen pipes by ensuring no water remains in the pipes to prevent freezing which can cause them to crack and burst.
These wintertime lawn maintenance tasks will preserve your landscape and ensure the best results for the Spring. Protecting your commercial landscape from the adverse effects of winter is essential. We hope our tips will assist with keeping your commercial landscape healthy during the winter months. Your landscaper should be completing these tasks; if not, it is time to change to a professional land management company like JBa Land Management.
Our team of professionals are available to service all-size commercial properties in the Dallas-Ft Worth Metroplex. Contact us at (214) 660-1500 to get your free quote.
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