Lawn maintenance in the fall season is a little different than in the summer months, partly due to steadily dropping temperatures as well as decreased rain. As such, you want to make sure that your irrigation system is working as it should. You might need to make some irrigation system repairs or do some maintenance in advance of the dry winter months.
With all of that in mind, here are some tips for lawn care in the fall.
Lawn Care During Colder Temperatures
Your lawn will continue to grow even though temperatures are steadily declining. This means you should continue to mow your lawn for most of the fall.
You should also rake up the many leaves that will fall so that your lawn continues to get sun and fresh air. If you don’t rake them up, they will block the light and trap moisture underneath, which could kill part of your lawn if left for too long. Essentially, you want to keep your lawn active for as long as possible before the winter frosts come and the grass stops growing.
As the fall season progresses, average rainfall in Austin tends to decrease a little, although not much, with a typical spike in October. Therefore, if you irrigate your lawn a little more, you want to ensure that you don’t accidentally over-irrigate your lawn and end up drowning it.
On the other hand, you don’t want to assume that you don’t need to irrigate because the lower temperatures mean less evaporation and because fall brings more dew. You want to make sure that your lawn still gets at least an inch of water a week.
While temperatures rarely drop below 32 F in winter in Texas, they can trend pretty close on the lower end, starting towards the end of the fall. Therefore you need to make sure your irrigation system is prepared for the winter.
What Irrigation System Maintenance and Repairs Are Recommended?
Fall is the last chance you’ll get to sort things out before the winter chills roll around when you won’t want to spend time fiddling with your sprinklers outside.
During summer, your irrigation systems would have been used plenty and will be due for a good servicing.
The first thing to do is to clean the system by removing all debris ‒ including grass cuttings, dead leaves, sticks and soil ‒ from around sprinkler heads and gutters to prevent any overflow during winter months or clogging when the spring rolls around. Fall will contribute a lot to debris buildup, so you will want to be pretty regular about raking or blowing your lawn and your beds clear.
Secondly, you’ll want to check that your backflow valves are in good working condition so that come springtime, you can pop the system back on without a worry. If you don’t make sure it’s working properly, you could be faced with expensive repairs and fines as well, which you will want to avoid.
Once you’ve cleared away all of the debris, a good visual inspection of your entire system is worthwhile. During the summer months, heads may have become damaged or clogged, among other issues. This is a good time to ensure that your system isn’t leaking anywhere and that your sprinklers are all angled correctly.
If you need to carry out any repairs or replace any components, you should do so before winter hits in full swing so that, when spring returns, you can turn your sprinklers on with the full confidence that they will operate perfectly. You don’t want to be scrambling to get your sprinklers repaired at the eleventh hour in spring.
Also, you should make sure that critters and insects have not interfered with the proper functioning of your sprinkler system during the summer months when they are most active. Nests, burrows and other things could cause your irrigation system to function sub-optimally, so you should inspect your landscape to make sure that any changes caused by animals won’t cause problems going into the next year.
Finally, as the fall draws to a close and winter rears its head, you will probably want to winterize your sprinkler system by making sure that any points near or above the surface are protected from freeze damage. If the backflow valve is above ground, make sure it is properly insulated. For more information on how to do this read Protecting Your Backflow Preventer Assembly During the Winter.
To ensure that your lawn is well-maintained into the fall, irrigation repair and maintenance is a very good idea. Contact South Austin Irrigation for more advice and excellent service in keeping your lawn thriving through all seasons.
