October is here. With it comes pumpkins, candy, and dressing up. It's also the start of the holiday season. With all the fun around don't forget that your lawn still needs you. Right now is the time to start protecting your lawn from the upcoming winter months. Not only do you have to worry about the cold frosty weather but, you also need to worry about voles and fungus making their home in your lawn over the winter. Here are some tips and tricks to help protect your lawn over the winter.
Tips and Tricks
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| Voles |
Voles look similar to mice. They can be between the size of a mouse and a rat with short ears and a short tail. Commonly, they are brown or gray. Their main diet consist of grass, bulbs, and tubers. In the summer it is common for them to add garden vegetables to their diet. They will also add tree bark when resources are low. Female voles can produce a litter of up to eleven babies every three weeks and, they start producing offspring once they are a month old.
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| Vole Damage in a Lawn |
Normally, you don't know you have voles until you see their damage. Vole damage is usually tracks in your lawn. You can also get damage on the base of your tree where they have eaten the bark. There are a few options to get rid of voles.
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| Vole Damage on a Tree |
Fourth, set traps. Setting traps can be useful in reducing the population but usually do not fully get rid of voles. Peanut butter, oatmeal, and small seeds are great baits to put on traps. Put the traps in areas the voles use frequently to get from burrow to burrow. You may want to slightly cover the traps so pets and children do not get into them.
Fifth, chemicals can be used to bait and poison voles. Most of the pesticides used to take care of voles have to be applied by licensed technicians. You should always use chemicals as a last resort because they can poison birds and other predators.
Be Aware Of
1. Mowing short in fall is very beneficial for your lawn. It can help prevent snow mold and other fungal diseases from entering your lawn over the winter. Your last mow of the season should be right before the lawn goes dormant. Lawns typically go dormant when temperatures reach 50 degrees during the day. Normally, this is the end of October to the beginning of November. By your last mow of the season your lawn should be 2 to 2¹∕₂ inches long.
2. Right now is the perfect time to do you last application of fertilizer. It should be a fertilizer that is good for root growth. This will help your lawn stay healthy during the winter and green up faster in the spring. It will also help protect you lawn from diseases and store sugars for food during the winter.
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