How to Manage Snow on your Lawn

Is your lawn currently covered in a white blanket? It’s probably looking very pretty right now, however snow can also be a challenging time for your lawn. Once the snow has melted, you may notice some unusual brown rings and matted areas on your lawn. This is the sighting of Snow Mould.

What is Snow Mould?

Snow Mould is a cold weather disease that thrives in lawns with poor air circulation. When snow settles on a lawn for any length of time it incubates the disease, which can only be seen once the snow has melted away and the lawn is left with unsightly patches.

When snow settles on a lawn for any length of time it will act as an incubator, causing disease-inducing pathogens to break out. Unfortunately, you will only become aware of its existence once the snow has melted away and the lawn is left with unsightly patches.

The fungus produces white patches which, in severe cases, can turn pink.

How to manage Snow Mould

As with all diseases, it is much easier to prevent than to cure - proper lawn care and maintenance is the answer. To avoid this disease, try to minimise snow on the lawn. However, if this is not possible, we can help by treating it with a special fungicide.

Lawn Disease Management is included in our Ultimate Programme but is also available as a separate treatment to any of our customers on our Standard or Basic Programmes. If you do notice this, we recommend contacting your local branch as soon as possible so we can advise a programme of recovery.

You may also have a few other questions when it comes to snow, your lawn and how it effects your GreenThumb treatments. We’ve tried our best to answer them below.

Can GreenThumb treat lawns in snow/ice?

Our bespoke service is lawn specific. Decisions as to whether a lawn is suitable to be treated, is made on a day by day, lawn by lawn basis, as conditions are constantly changing at this time of the year. If the lawn is ‘frozen’, affected by heavy frost and completely covered in snow, we will delay the treatment and reschedule it for a more appropriate time.

Can customers walk on their lawns if covered in snow?

Yes, they can but it comes with a warning that this will have an impact on the grass plant and could encourage disease issues. This is due to the compacting of the snow by footsteps and damage to leaf tissue which would encourage stress to the plant and therefore issues with recovery, however if we are moving into the warmer months then recovery is never too far away.

Does snow cause moss?

No, it does not cause it but can contribute if moss is an issue. Moss is a simple nonflowering plant and only needs moisture to increase its population, when snow thaws it provides that moisture, so do not be surprised to see moss increasing.

If you have any other questions regarding the snow, don’t hesitate to contact us. Our team are always on hand to offer expert advice. We will be more than happy to help.