I always remembered a wise "older" gentlemen that managed turf for a living tell me how important it was to properly put turf to bed for the winter. He prefaced his analogy by pointing out that each night, we have a pretty set routine (dental and personal hygiene, putting on pajamas, setting or ensuring a comfortable temperature, taking your medicine/vitamins, etc.) that we follow to ensure as good night's sleep as possible. And of course, a good night's sleep is an important part of being prepared to handle the challenges of the next day. I thought I would use that analogy for us to review the routines that we should consider as we plan for 2012 - a lot that we do in the month of October will govern the health of our turf as we enter next spring.

For much of Virginia, an extremely wet month of September has pushed a lot of planned seasonal activities in turf management later on the calendar than usual. In particular, disease pressures on ALL grasses has been as high as I have ever seen during my career, with September seedings of cool-season grasses paying a big toll in many cases from Pythium blight and leaf spot. The cloudy, wet weather has pushed us back in our schedule and now we have one really busy month of October to make up for lost time. It will be busy, but we can do a lot of things over the next 4 weeks to put our turf to bed for winter in as good of condition as possible. Some things to be thinking about:

1) Soil temperatures are still suitable for cool-season turf seed establishments, but every day that passes is one less day of growth and development. Seedings should be completed by mid-October in our cooler Virginia regions, while our warmer climates typically have until the first of November to still achieve decent germination and establishment. Use the higher level of recommended seeding levels the later your seeding date, and even if all of the seed does not germinate this fall it is possible that it will emerge next spring. Always be responsible with phosphorus fertilization in order to protect water quality, but research out of Maryland has shown the value of starter fertilizers (e.g. 5-10-10) for establishing cool-season grasses under suboptimal temperature conditions.

2) If you miss seeding opportunities for new construction sites this fall, consider simply stabilizing the soil with annual ryegrass or a small grain such as wheat, barley, or cereal rye... 100 lbs/A is a legitimate soil stabilization seeding level for most of these annual grasses and should allow you to mow and seed directly over the top of the temporary cover next spring.

3) Are you current on your soil tests? There is never a wrong time to take a soil test. Our soils consistently trend downward in pH by their composition, our rainfall, and our management programs. Fall and winter months provide a great opportunity to make "off-season" corrections in soil pH and optimize your soil's chemical properties as active growth resumes next spring.

4) Fall N fertilization of cool-season grasses is absolutely critical for 2012 success. In particular, beneficial N fertilization can continue on through the month of November. Responsible fall N fertilization promotes a healthy turf, and a healthy turf better protects water quality. Apply no more than 1 lb of water soluble N/1000 sq ft per growing month during this season in order to avoid potential losses of this valuable nutrient. October is when first frost arrives most everywhere in the state, so N fertilization on warm-season grasses for all intents and purposes should be completed unless the turf has been overseeded for winter color/playability with ryegrass. Under these conditions, use smaller rates of N (1/2 lb N/1000 sq ft every 2-3 weeks after the ryegrass has emerged) in order to allow the bermudagrass to properly enter dormancy and promote ryegrass establishment. The most critical aspect of protecting water quality with fall fertilization is to be sure to apply no fertilizer to frozen soils at any time.

5) Equally important to all of the above factors (and what I see most often forgotten) is an appropriate mowing strategy for the fall. All summer long, most folks managing lawns have been mowing their cool-season grasses much too short across the board. Now that fall arrives and the grass health and density can actually be improved by regular mowing at the lower end of the recommended clipping range, it seems that mowing frequency goes down and the 1/3rd rule is ignored. A excessively tall turf entering the winter will have very poor winter turf quality because it loses most of its color due to cold temperature damage of the elongated leaf tissue. The prospect of snow mold and other spring diseases is also increased due to the matting of the turf. Conversely, the cutting height of warm-season grasses should definitely be raised before it enters dormancy. The first few weeks of October is probably the last opportunity one has to appreciably raise the cutting height of warm-season grasses in order to promote winter hardiness. Raising the height allows for more carbohydrate storage within the plant, taking advantage of the last few warm, sunny days with growth potential during the fall. A little more biomass also serves as a more effective "blanket" in protecting the growing points from extreme cold.

By following these tips, I believe that your turf will be "put to bed" properly for this winter. It will emerge from its winter slumber ready to perform for you in 2012. If you wish to learn more about science-based decision making in turfgrass management, consider participating in one of the upcoming Virginia Turfgrass Short Courses hosted by the VT Turf Team. The Turf Team will be in Charlottesville from December 12-14 and in Va Beach from December 14-16. Information and registration can be found at www.thevtc.org.

Dr. Mike Goatley is a professor at Virginia Tech, concentrating in research, teaching, and extension. Dr. Goatley writes columns for Landscape Supply's LSI Connections Newsletter.