Natural Green Lawn

This year was a bad one for long term snow cover, and produced lots of nasty snow mold in my lawn, and probably in your lawn too. You can identify snow mold in the lawn because it looks like slimy, greasy spots that are matted down big time. (see the pics) I know that snow mold looks bad, but if you follow these simple tips you’ll be just fine.

Rake The Snow Mold Areas

Pretty simple, but very important. You have got to get a rake on those moldy spots as soon as possible guys. Keep in mind that the sun will shine in the spring, but not a lot as it rains a ton. The heat and rain mixed can make the snow mold worse and even kill areas in the yard. If you get out and lightly rake those spots now, you will increase the air flow and help dry up the slime you are seeing, simple! DO NOT power rake it, however, as this is over-kill. Just use a hand rake and plow through it easily! The key is AIR FLOW!

Spring Fertilization and Snow Mold

After you lightly rake the snow molded areas, I want you to get down your spring fertilizer treatment. You can get my recommended lawn fertilizer program here. The key to the spring fertilizer is that it will help the lawn “grow out” and through the snow mold issue and recover. The first application of the year is most important, and the proper kind of fertilizer is very important also. The right balance of nutrients will assist the lawn in its recovery from winter stresses.

Proper Mowing

You may not need to start cutting quite yet, but when you do, be sure to mow tall and not stress out the grass anymore that the winter has done. If you notice the areas where the snow mold was at are still matted, that means you need to rake again. It would also be a great idea to aerate the lawn. Aeration removes cores of soil and will open up the air flow even more.

That’s it, just remember that raking the snow mold areas is very important and nitrogen makes it grow through. Simple!