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Key Points#

• Several common fall lawn tasks can hurt your lawn instead of helping it.
• These tasks weaken roots, smother grass, and encourage mold and pests.
• Instead, focus on aeration, dethatching, overseeding, and other beneficial tasks.

Lawns start to go dormant in the fall and reach full dormancy in the winter. During this critical period, it's important to avoid doing things that harm the lawn. 

We spoke with an agronomist to help you learn the fall tasks ruining your lawn—and what to do differently.

Overfertilizing #

Overfertilizing encourages late-season growth and poor root development, making grass vulnerable to winter damage, says Dr. Cleopatra Pfunde, with TruGreen. 

Applying too much fertilizer can lead to nutrients leaching into groundwater. Overfertilizing your lawn can also result in grass burn, a condition that causes the grass to turn yellow or brown.

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Poor Leaf Removal#

Leaving leaves on your lawn smothers grass, blocks sunlight, and traps moisture, leading to mold and disease, says Pfunde.

Fall is the time to step up your leaf management. Clear leaves from your lawn with a hand rake, a leaf vacuum, or a leaf blower. Or mulch the leaves using the leftovers as nutrients for the grass.

Mulching Wet Leaves#

Wet leaves don’t mulch well and can mat down, suffocating the turf. 

Instead, mulch leaves when they're dry. Use a mower with a mulching adapter. A light layer of shredded leaves can benefit the lawn by suppressing weeds, retaining moisture, and providing fertilization.

Avoid mulching diseased leaves, Pfunde says. Diseased or moldy leaves should be removed from the lawn.

Cutting Lawn Too High or Low#

Cutting the grass too short exposes it to cold damage, encourages winter weeds, and reduces the turf’s ability to store energy. 

Cutting the lawn too long reduces airflow and invites snow mold.

"The long grass bends and turns into a mat under snow-trapping moisture and organic debris, creating a microclimate for fungal pathogens," Pfunde says.

Start by mowing high, then gradually lower the blade height without scalping.

Not Watering Enough#

With increasing fall precipitation, it's easy to think that your lawn doesn't need artificial irrigation. Yet a lawn that's dry in the fall isn't prepared for winter dormancy, plus it's more prone to dessication and winter damage.

Don't stop watering your lawn in the fall. Add about an inch of water per week to keep your lawn healthy and prepare it for winter.

When Can I Do These Lawn Care Tasks?#

Some fall lawn tasks should instead be done in the spring or summer, while other tasks should be completely avoided.

• Overfertilizing: Fertilizing in the spring jumpstarts turf growth and strengthens root systems. "In the summer, a slow-release fertilizer is ideal for cool season grasses as they are not actively growing," Pfunde says.
• Leaf removal: Raking leaves is best done in the fall but also in the early spring to remove debris and promote air and light penetration, recommends Pfunde.
• Mulching wet leaves: Wet leaves should never be mulched, regardless of the season.
• Cutting lawn too high or low: Never cut the lawn too short or scalp it. In the summer, mow the lawn high to promote deeper roots and improve moisture retention.
• Reducing watering: Resume watering your lawn when the soil temperature is in the 40 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit range, usually in April or May.

5 Fall Lawn Tasks You Should Do Instead#

It's not enough to avoid fall tasks ruining your lawn. You also need to take on a few essential tasks to prepare your lawn for fall:

• Aeration: Aerate your lawn in late summer or early fall, right when the temperature has begun to cool. Aeration loosens compacted soil and improves root access to nutrients. 
• Dethatching: Dethatch your lawn with a convex dethatching rake, power rake, or a standard leaf rake. Dethatching removes the thick, mat-like layer of dead grass and other non-decomposed organic materials.
• Overseeding: Overseed your lawn by adding new grass seed over the existing lawn. Overseeding a lawn fills bare spots and introduces disease-resistant grass varieties.
• Proper fertilization: Fertilize your lawn in the fall, but avoid overfertilizing. "Lawn fertilization supports root development and energy storage for the winter and helps the grass turn green faster in the spring," Pfunde says. Fall fertilization should not be too early or too late in the fall. Pfunde recommends timing it a few weeks before the first expected frost.
• Soil care: After first testing the soil's pH balance, apply lime or sulphur to correct the balance, if needed. This enhances nutrient uptake and supports soil microbial activity.