Seasonal Maintenance

Walk your turf and look for any problems winter may have caused. Check seams for gaps or lifting. Look at edges where turf meets concrete or pavers to make sure nothing has pulled loose. After the next rain, watch for any spots where water pools instead of draining.

If you see areas where fibers look broken or stubbly, that is freeze damage. Note those spots for potential repair.

Give your turf a thorough cleaning following the steps in Chapter 3: Deep Cleaning. This clears out anything that built up over winter, including mold or mildew that may have developed under snow cover.

Pay extra attention to shaded areas and low spots where moisture tends to hang around. These are the places most likely to have mold or decomposing debris after winter.

Spring brings pollen season, so rinse your turf more often. That yellow-green film covering your turf is not just ugly; it can clog drainage and feed mold growth.

During heavy pollen weeks, rinse your turf every 2 to 3 days with a strong spray from a garden hose. Do not try to brush dry pollen off. That just pushes it deeper into the fibers.

Winter weight and freeze-thaw cycles compress your infill over time. Use a ruler to check the depth in several spots. The infill should sit about three-quarters of the way up the fiber blade.

If it has dropped noticeably, spread fresh infill evenly and brush it in with a stiff push broom. Low infill at the edges is a common cause of edge lifting and fiber matting.

On a hot day, turf can get too warm for bare feet and pet paws. The easiest fix is spraying it with a garden hose 10 to 15 minutes before you plan to use it. A light misting is all it takes to drop the temperature significantly.

For a permanent solution, shade sails, pergolas, or patio umbrellas over your most-used areas make a big difference. Switching from dark rubber crumb infill to light-colored sand also helps reduce heat.

In summer, bump your routine cleaning up to twice a week. Heat makes bacteria multiply fast, and odors get stronger. If you have pets, rinse their area daily during hot months.

If you use antimicrobial treatments, apply them more frequently in summer. The schedule that worked in spring will not keep up with summer heat.

Quality turf is built with UV protection that lasts years. But if you notice that sunny areas look noticeably different from shaded areas, fading is happening. Rotating furniture and planters periodically helps prevent uneven color patterns.

Your turf does not need watering to survive, but a quick rinse every 2 to 3 days keeps it clean and flushes out dust and contaminants. Water in the morning or evening for the best cooling effect.

Remove leaves regularly as they fall. A leaf blower works great for most types. Pine needles are the worst offenders because they are acidic, thin enough to slide between fibers, and tend to clog drainage holes. Use a stiff-bristle rake for pine needles rather than a blower.

If you have fruit trees nearby, pick up dropped fruit right away. Berries crush underfoot and leave dye stains. See Chapter 5: Stain Removal for treatment tips.

This is the single most important cleaning of the year. Do it 2 to 3 weeks before your area typically gets its first hard freeze.

• Remove all debris: Every leaf, twig, and seed pod. Blow it off, then hand-pick anything that is left.
• Rinse the whole surface: Flush everything through the drainage system.
• Apply antimicrobial treatment: This is your last line of defense against mold growing under winter snow.
• Brush the turf: Cross-brush to loosen compacted infill and lift matted fibers so water drains properly.

Two hours of thorough cleaning in November saves you days of work in March.

Make sure water drains through your turf properly before winter locks moisture in place. Run a hose and watch for areas where water pools. Fix any slow spots now.

Inspect every seam and edge connection. Cold temperatures cause materials to contract, and loose edges in November become fully detached edges by March. Touch up any weak spots with cold-rated adhesive while temperatures are still workable.

Light snow (under 2 inches): Just let it melt. Your turf handles snowmelt fine on its own.

Deeper snow: Use a plastic shovel and leave a 1-inch layer to protect the fibers. Push snow to the side rather than piling it in one spot. For heavy snow (6+ inches), a snow blower on its highest setting works, but keep the blower at least 2 inches above the turf surface.

When temperatures drop below 20 degrees, turf fibers become brittle and can snap under foot traffic. Try to stay off the turf on the coldest days. If your pets need to go out, consider putting down stepping stones or a rubber mat to create a protected path.

Pick a warmer day each month to walk the turf and look for these things:

• Standing water or ice pools (drainage issues)
• Debris blown in by winter winds
• Edges or seams that have pulled apart
• Animal digging at edges
• Pink or gray patches under thin snow (snow mold)

Heat makes pet odors 3 to 5 times stronger than in cool weather. Rinse pet zones at least once a day during summer, and use a hydrogen peroxide-based cleaner like Turf Mist weekly instead of monthly. Also, test the turf temperature before letting pets out. If it is too hot for the back of your hand, it is too hot for paw pads.

When pets use the turf in freezing weather, urine does not drain normally. It freezes in place and builds up layer by layer all winter. When spring thaw hits, it all melts at once and the smell can be overwhelming.

On warmer winter days (above 40 degrees), rinse pet areas with warm water. Even once a month makes a big difference in reducing the spring thaw odor.

After the last freeze, give pet zones a thorough hydrogen peroxide treatment to neutralize everything that accumulated over winter. You may need to repeat the treatment 2 to 3 times over a couple of weeks. Increasing treatments in fall also helps reduce what builds up over winter.