Proper Maintenance Practices for Grasses SUCCESSFUL GRASS MAINTENANCE TECHNIQUES It’s time, in February -March, to prune your warm season grasses in preparation for spring growth. This is the correct time for warm season grasses to be pruned as we start the beginning of the warm season, spring-fall. It’s time in October-November to prune your cool season grasses in preparation for seasonal rains and new growth period. Pruning grasses at the right time ensures their future success. Grasses pruned at the wrong time will surely suffer, begin to decline and ultimately give grasses a bad name. Grasses are perhaps one of the easiest plant groups to care for requiring maintenance only one time each year. While there are general time periods for pruning both warm and cool season grasses, ultimately the grasses themselves will provide the cues for the proper time to cut them back. • For grasses, only prune at beginning of growing season when approx. 2-3” of new growth has emerged from the base. Warm Season- prune in February-March; Cool Season- prune in October-November. • Only cut flat across the top: NO orbs, domes, rockets or torpedo’s! These odd shapes actually cause a slow death of the plant leaving dried “nubs” in the landscape which no one wants to see. When too much old growth is left from the previous season or pruned at the wrong time, sunlight and air cannot get to the base of the plant where new growth starts, thus leaving the plant unable to regenerate itself properly. See attached handout. Grasses are an amazing addition to the landscape providing wonderful texture, color, accent, movement, luminescence and beauty with years of almost carefree maintenance. Let’s all help in keeping grasses beautiful throughout the year by embracing proper maintenance practices.
