Can Frost Damage Your Lawn?

What Frost Does To Your Lawn

The presence of frost on your lawn is not damaging alone. The trouble can occur when you walk or put lawn care equipment on your grass following a frost. Grass blades are somewhat protected by the frost covering, but when you step on them, the blades can break because of their fragile state.

You know those footprints that you see in your lawn after a frost?

That is frost damage. The only way that you can prevent the damage from occurring is to stay off of your lawn, until the air temperature warms and thaws the plant. You should avoid walking on grass, following a hard frost. If you notice that temperatures have dropped and you can see that crystallization has occurred on your lawn, the best thing to do is keep foot traffic to a minimum and hopefully avoid it altogether. Stick to walking on hard surfaces like your sidewalk and driveway instead.

If you do notice frost damage in your lawn (those footprints have now turned into brown spots), there is not much that you can do besides waiting until spring when the grass will begin to regenerate and fill in. Generally speaking, frost damage is cosmetic and any damage should grow out when soil temperatures warm and the growing season begins. If the patches do not go away at the beginning of the season, you may need to re-lay sod in those areas for warm-season grasses or get aeration and seeding for cool-season grasses the following fall.

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