Is It Bad to Keep the Leaves on Your Lawn Over the Winter?

It's bad to keep the leaves on your lawn in Oklahoma over the winter because they can cause serious harm to its health. When you let the leaves sit on your lawn during winter, they will smother the grass and block its access to vital resources. Leaf piles on your lawn will attract pests as well, as the leaves will create an inviting environment for tiny critters to take refuge from the winter's chilly conditions and get food. Lawn diseases will also develop quickly when your lawn is covered in leaves. The leaf piles will create a moist environment where many fungi thrive and spread.

Leaves will smother your grass and block essential resources from getting absorbed.

Ignoring the leaves on your lawn and keeping them there over the winter can be detrimental to your lawn's health. As leaves accumulate on your lawn and create a thick layer over it, they will smother your grass and keep it from accessing essential resources. The leaves will block your lawn's access to sunlight and impede proper air circulation. Even during winter, your lawn requires sunlight to perform photosynthesis and will become weak without it.

It's important to clean up the leaves on your lawn in the fall so there are no thick piles of them covering your turf during the chilly winter months. This way, your grass can still absorb the nutrients it needs to stay in tip-top shape and emerge quickly in the spring.

Leaves will attract pests to your lawn.

Insect infestations are another potential risk to leaving the leaves on your lawn over the winter. As leaves pile up on your lawn, they trap moisture underneath and create an attractive environment for pests. The layer of leaves offers ideal shelter for different creepy crawlers where they can get a hiding spot from predators and some warmth during the winter. What's more, pests can use the decomposing leaves as a food source during the winter, giving them one more reason to linger on your property.

When pests are left to their own devices, they can cause serious damage to your lawn's health. Creepy crawlers attack grass in various ways, like feeding on the grass blades, munching on the roots, or drawing out fluid from your lawn. Removing leaves before winter ensures your lawn does not become an inviting place for them. It is a great way to protect your grass from potential insect damage that you might discover come springtime!

Leaf piles create the perfect environment for lawn diseases to develop.

Another reason why it is bad to keep the leaves on your lawn over the winter is because they foster the development of different diseases. Moisture gets trapped underneath the pile of leaves, creating a damp environment perfect for various fungi to thrive. The leaves will also block sunlight and prevent air from flowing properly, which will keep your grass damp and moist for longer. Snow mold and brown patch are some of the many diseases that can develop on your lawn in the winter, bringing down the health of your grass and resulting in a weak and brown lawn in the spring. All of these can be prevented by cleaning up the leaves on your lawn before winter sets in.

Schedule our leaf removal service by giving us a call today!

Keeping your lawn clean and manicured before winter is essential for maintaining its health. Here at LBR, we offer a leaf removal service to commercial and residential properties, as well as HOAs, in Tulsa, Owasso, Broken Arrow, OK, and nearby communities. When you sign up for this service, we'll make sure your yard is thoroughly cleaned by using a leaf blower to blow the leaves off your lawn and out of your landscape beds and vacuum them up for easy hauling. Schedule your leaf removal service today by calling us at (918) 252-5296!