(By Jared Hoyle, KSU Turfgrass Research and Extension)
Sunday morning I was out running around and noticed that we received one of our first frost of the year. But to my amazement people were out on their lawns. I even saw someone mowing their grass while there was still frost on it and another person fertilizing their lawn.
Walking, driving, rolling, mowing or whatever you are gonna do on turfgrass while there is frost out can be very damaging. Small little ice crystals form on the leaf blades then when you apply pressure by walking or driving on the grass, those crystals act like knives and cut into the turfgrass leaves, poking holes into the cells of the grass plant. From there you can kind of get the picture of what happens to the grass. Below is a picture where someone walked on the grass while there was frost.
The problem is now the turfgrass is damaged and there isn’t much time before winter for it to recover. So wait until the frost is gone before you drive, walk or whatever you plan on doing in your yard this fall.
