Seasonal Turf Tips for Arizona & California: How to Keep Your Lawn Thriving This Winter

As winter settles into Arizona and California, homeowners and property managers face a unique set of challenges—and opportunities—when it comes to maintaining healthy, beautiful turf. While many parts of the country hunker down for hard freezes and dormant landscapes, the West Coast and Southwest enjoy a milder, more flexible season for lawn care. At West Coast Turf, we know that understanding these regional nuances is the key to keeping your grass performing at its best year-round.

Cooler Weather, Stronger Roots

Winter is one of the most important times for developing strong root systems, especially if you’re growing cool-season varieties or overseeded turf. In California’s coastal regions and much of Arizona’s desert climate, daytime temperatures stay ideal for slow, steady growth. This allows roots to deepen without the stress of extreme heat.

If you overseeded bermudagrass with perennial ryegrass this fall, now is the time to encourage healthy establishment. Maintain consistent irrigation—less than you’d apply in summer, but enough to prevent drying. In most areas, lawns only need about half an inch of water per week during winter. Deep, infrequent watering is best for promoting strong root development.

Seasonally Smart Mowing Practices

In both states, winter growth slows, but it doesn’t stop entirely. Continue mowing as needed, keeping your mower height slightly higher than during the growing season. This protects the grass from moisture loss and temperature fluctuations. For overseeded ryegrass, maintain a height of 1.25″–1.5″ to support a dense, vibrant winter lawn.

If your bermudagrass is not overseeded, you can reduce mowing dramatically. The grass will be dormant and golden, but healthy beneath the surface. Resist the urge to scalp or cut too short—this can damage the crown and delay spring green-up.

Fertilizing for Winter Success

Winter is a great time to feed cool-season grasses, especially in California’s mild coastal zones and Arizona’s winter lawns. Choose a balanced, slow-release fertilizer to support ongoing growth without encouraging excessive top growth. For dormant bermudagrass, skip nitrogen but consider applying a potassium-rich fertilizer to improve stress tolerance and support spring recovery.

If you’re not sure which product to use, West Coast Turf offers region-specific recommendations that take into account soil type, temperature patterns, and turf variety.

Watch for Winter Weeds

Cooler weather invites broadleaf weeds like clover, dandelion, and spurge. Keep an eye on your lawn and address weeds early to prevent spread. A pre-emergent applied in late winter can help prepare for spring, especially in warmer Arizona regions where weed cycles start early.

Prepare for Spring Now

Even though winter feels quiet, it’s the ideal time to plan spring renovations. If your lawn struggled last summer or you’re thinking about installing new sod, use the cooler season to assess soil health, irrigation efficiency, and turf variety. West Coast Turf’s lineup includes drought-tolerant bermudagrass and low-maintenance blends perfect for the changing water regulations in both Arizona and California.

Winter lawn care in Arizona and California is about working with the season rather than against it. With mild temperatures, manageable growth, and fewer pests, now is the time to support root health, enforce smart mowing habits, and prepare for a lush spring. Whether you manage a backyard, a sports field, or a commercial landscape, West Coast Turf is here with the turf varieties and expert guidance to keep your lawn thriving all year long. For more information visit: westcoastturf.com

I’d like to go over some common questions I have received through the blog in the last few weeks and see if it can help others with some of the same concerns. I always encourage everyone to send over your lawn questions and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

When should I start to transition my lawn back to bermudagrass?

I always recommend starting the process slowly in March and ramping up in April so your lawn has transitioned by May. I know that was a mouth full, but the truth is it’s not a short process unless you chemically transition your lawn. In March its ideal to start to gradually lower your mowing height and remove some of the turf canopy. This is not a scalp, this is lowering the height so the bermudagrass can breathe and get some sunlight. By mid-March you should be mowing two times per week and starting to see some thinning in the ryegrass. By thinning I mean bermudagrass leaves are starting to show between the ryegrass blades. Currently there is no need to fertilize the ryegrass, its time to back off on nutrition until bermudagrass season. In early April you can lightly verticut or even lightly power rake the lawn to remove some of the ryegrass giving way to bermudagrass. The more sunlight you can get in the grass, the faster you will transition. If the ryegrass remains extremely thick and lush you can expect it to provide excessive spring shade slowing down the bermudagrass. When soil temperatures reach 64 degrees (around April 15^th) go ahead and apply ammonium sulfate 21-0-0 at 5 pounds per 1000 SF to jump start your bermudagrass. Continue mowing two times per week and gradually lowering your heights until you see the bermudagrass take over.

Spring Transition, keep lowering the height…..

Can I still put down pre-emergent for broadleaves?

Most of the grassy weeds and broadleaves are now germinating so putting down the preemergent will not yield the results you’re looking for. At this juncture its best to spot spray weeds depending on the type. Make sure the product is labeled for the weed you’re trying to control and can safely be used on bermudagrass. Grassy weeds use different chemicals than broadleaves and not all chemicals are safe and effective so check with specialty stores for better products.

What can I do to repair the urine damage from my dogs? Read the rest of this entry »

With the recent heavy rains and slightly cooler temperatures no doubt people are thinking about overseeding their California and Arizona lawns. While the calendar says September 18th and you will surely see people overseeding, I suggest you wait a few weeks. Follow my California and Arizona sod tips for a beautiful lawn. Overseeding does not need to be a one day process. You can begin the process a little early. Then, when temperatures are in the 60’s at night, you will just need to give your lawn one last haircut, drop the seed and begin watering.

Preparing to Overseed

Prepping for overseed is often a large ordeal. By starting the process gradually you can eliminate the headaches associated with trying to do it all in one afternoon. I want to reiterate something I have been saying for the past few years. The height of the grass is not associated with a quality overseed. In other words scalping the grass down to the dirt does not guarantee good results. Opening up the turf canopy does.

The shorter you mow your lawn the tighter the leaf blades become. This makes it harder to get the ryegrass seed into the plant. If the seed is lying on the surface it will be slow to germinate and much of the seed will be lost. The seed needs a base to grow out of. Getting inside the grass plant allows for perfect moisture, heat, and a solid growing medium. By looking at my last statement you can now understand why I say without a good warm season grass base (used on popular California and Arizona lawns) you will most likely have a poor ryegrass season. The seed will establish much faster inside a healthy grass stand than it will on bare dirt.

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We’re halfway through August and the temperatures are still soaring well into the hundreds. As I sit here ordering my ryegrass seed for the farms I figured it was a good time to put out a short blog on preparing your lawn for the fall.

The hot/humid weather is ideal for warm season grasses, especially with sod in Arizona and California. If you had any weak areas in your lawn you saw one of two things happen over the last couple weeks. You either saw the weak areas begin to grow in size or you saw your problem areas fill in as the stolons moved across the open ground.

If your weak areas are getting larger you should take a close look at your irrigation system. Sometimes it appears sprinklers are getting great coverage but when you put out bowls to check for water volume you often find that area is being missed. One of the most common areas for this is right in front of your pop up sprinklers. That triangular spot right below the sprinkler is the hardest spot to cover on the whole lawn. The easiest way to fix this issue is to put in a dual spray nozzle. These cost around $3-$4 and can be installed in under a minute. Read the rest of this entry »

The days are getting shorter and the heat is starting to die down a little as we enter the fall season. With fall comes the onset of overseeding in many parts of the country and the West Coast is no different. For those new to overseeding let me give you a brief definition. Overseeding is simply the process of seeding a cool season grass into your warm season turfgrass in order to maintain winter color. This is not a mandatory process if you have grass, but it is one of the options that are out there for homeowners and professionals.

There are a few options during the fall months to take care of your lawn, and without question the most popular is to overseed. Outside of overseeding you have the option of using turf colorant such as Endurant to give your dormant grass a nice green appearance.  Or you can just let your lawn go dormant for the winter months (brown can be the new green!). There is no right or wrong approach, so decide what you would like to do as the temperatures begin to drop over the coming weeks.

If you will be letting your lawn go dormant it will stay fairly green until the first hard frost which is around Thanksgiving and will start to green up in late March. If you have a paspalum lawn you can usually get through the month of December with a green lawn and it will start greening up in early March.

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As we move through the dog days of summer in California and Arizona, now is a good time to evaluate your turfgrass lawn. The summer is the optimal time to grow warm season turfgrasses so it is important to get good growth before the end of the season. The golden rule is that all warm season grasses need to have 100 days of growing without any competition in order to maintain their health. That is 100 days without any lingering ryegrass in the way. Think back to when the ryegrass was completely out of your lawn? Was it June or did it hang around until July? If you didn’t transition it by mowing lower and verticutting then most likely you still had some ryegrass until the humidity increased and wiped it out in July. Read the rest of this entry »

With the fourth of July landing on a Thursday this year many of you will have a long weekend so I figured I would give you a to do list for your lawn. We’re probably a week or two away from getting any monsoon activity so now is a great time to clean up the yard and get it ready to grow when the humidity starts to kick in.

Living in the desert it is often tough to get ideal growing conditions for a warm season grass. The high temperature help bermudagrass and paspalum grow but what they really desire is humidity. The humidity is a kick starter for your grass and if your grass has space to grow you can expect to see some quick changes to your lawn. Before I go into detail about what you will gain from the humidity I should address anyone that still has lingering ryegrass from the spring. Ryegrass has a tendency to stick around in shaded areas at this time of the year but you can bet the first blast of humidity will wipe it out. If you’re looking to hold on to this grass because you can’t grow bermudagrass in that spot then you will want to apply a fungicide now and every 14-21 days throughout the monsoon season. This is not a guarantee of success but the best way to try and save it through the summer. Read the rest of this entry »