October in the Northeast U.S. can be the best of times. Although the weather varies greatly from year to year. You can expect a hot and humid climate giving way to cooler temperatures.
This is also the time when you have to get your grass ready before it goes dormant. So you can ensure a thick, green and healthy lawn in the spring.
If you’ve neglected your turf, have broken sprinklers or problems with your irrigation system. It’s a good time to take care of it.
The best way to do it is to leave it in the hands of experts like Quench Irrigation. Which has decades of experience taking care of lawns for homeowners and commercial properties. Quench Irrigation can design an irrigation system that fits your landscape, budget and specific needs. Their experts can also inspect and repair your current system. But or update it to make sure it’s in tip-top shape.
Quench Irrigation also offers winterization for your grass, system start ups, backflow testing. But or installation of control management for easy lawn care. Everything to assure your greenery can withstand the harsh, cold temperatures and rejuvenate as soon as the warm weather appears again.
Continue to water the grass
It’s true you don’t need to water your grass as often as you did during the late spring or summer, but just because it’s getting colder doesn’t mean you don’t need to use your lawn irrigation sprinklers.
Don’t stop watering abruptly, but decrease the amount of irrigation gradually as winter approaches.
The knowledgeable experts at Quench Irrigation can set up your system to provide the right amount of water your greenry needs, saving your time and money.
But for irrigation to work properly, you need to make sure the entire system is in optimum shape. Are any heads, missing, broken, clogged? Or are heads tilted, spraying in the wrong direction or to far in or above the ground? All of this will cost you money, cause you to waste water and leave your landscape neglected.
Any of these problems must be corrected as soon as possible, just like a leaky head or pipe.
It’s also important to care for the controller, cleaning the cabinet or space holding it, making sure there are no wires loose or worn. Check if you need a new battery and that the controller is programmed for the appropriate season.
An efficient controller prevents overwatering or underwatering, which can impact not only your lawn, but your water bill.
Experts recommend your lawn gets at least an inch of water a week, even in the fall when there’s more rain, dew and less evaporation. That will ensure your turf is properly hydrated. You can achieve this by setting up a drip/micro irrigation. In this type of irrigation, water runs and slowly drips through holed pipes buried or lying slightly above the ground next to the grass.
Quench Irrigation employees will check the system you have by assuring the emitters are connected to the flex line, that the flex line is connected to the riser, and micro adjustment of nozzles.
In addition This is a good time to inspect valve covers, boxes and electrical connections.
Quench Irrigation staff will also check and adjust heads for optimal coverage, check rain sensor for proper operation and re-program controller according to the season.
Similarly, if your irrigation system doesn’t cover the entire area of your lawn, or the spray is too thin or misdirected, spraying onto sidewalks, decks, buildings or driveways, you’re throwing your money away and causing great harm to your grass.
Mow the lawn
And speaking of your grass, you don’t need to mow it as frequently as in the summer. But if’s still growing, you need to take care of it.
Don’t put the mower away just yet. Grass will grow up to the first hard frost, so you need regular cuts to keep it at an ideal 2 ½ -3-inch height. Leaving it too high or cutting it too low hurts its ability to survive the winter.
When you mow for the last time before winter, cut it down to anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 inches.
Remove the leaves
Caring for your lawn also means removing the colorful autumn leaves that litter your turf. They may look nice and pretty, but they block the light and trap moisture, which are no good for your grass. Whenever you see leaves on your lawn, blow them or take them away as often as you can, so your lawn will not die.
Decaying leaves also create a habitat for molds and other plant pathogens, which damage the grass. Chop them up into tiny particles and use them instead as mulch.
Air your lawn
Just as water and sun is essential for your law, so is air. This is a good time to loosen the soil. Aeration has to do with poking the soil with small holes to allow air, water and nutrients to seep in.
Experts recommend regular aeration once every couple of years to prevent the ground from becoming compacted and covered with a thick layer of roots, stems and debris that block water, oxygen, and nutrients from reaching the soil.
Don’t forget the fertilizer
Adding fertilizer at this time protects the grass roots from freezing in the winter and give the entire plant the energy to recover early in the spring.
The only way to know exactly what ype of fertilizer your soil needs is to have it tested for levels of nutrients. But a slow-release granular 24-0-10 fertilizer (indicating the numbers for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, respectively) will help keep the turf healthy at this time of the year. A shot of potassium will also help in root growth, disease protection and cold resistance.
Autumn Lighting
As the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer, lighting is ever more important.
Quench Irrigation can also install low-voltage landscape lighting to add security and safety to your home, add value and beauty to your greenery.
Soft light will transform your garden, pathways, shrubs and trees into inviting art forms and enchanted images that will enhance your most valuable asset, your home.