# The warm-season lawn calendar.

Bermuda, zoysia, and St. Augustine all run on the same clock: they wake up when the soil warms, do their growing in the heat, and go dormant in fall. This is the whole season in order, keyed to soil temperature instead of calendar dates, with every recommendation traced to a university extension source.

Applies to: [Bermudagrass](/turf/bermudagrass), [Zoysiagrass](/turf/zoysiagrass), [St. Augustinegrass](/turf/st-augustinegrass), [Centipedegrass](/turf/centipedegrass), [Bahiagrass](/turf/bahiagrass)

9 sources cited · 18 min read · reviewed July 2026

## Timing beats dates

Everything below triggers off soil temperature, which arrives weeks apart across the warm-season range. Find your zone first so the windows on this page mean something.

- [Look up my zone](/tools/hardiness-zone)
- [Fertilizer calculator](/tools/fertilizer-calculator)

## Four soil temperatures run your whole year

Warm-season turf and the weeds that compete with it respond to soil temperature at the root zone, not to the date. Measure at 2–4 inches in the morning, and act on a sustained reading rather than a single warm afternoon.

| Temperature | Title | Note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 55 °F | Crabgrass germinates | Sustained at 2 inches. Your spring pre-emergent must already be down and watered in. |
| 65 °F | Green-up begins | The lawn starts moving. Wait for full green-up before the first nitrogen application. |
| 80 °F | Peak growth | Warm-season turf is at its most aggressive. This is when your fertility program does its work. |
| 70 °F | Falling in autumn | The trigger for preventative large patch fungicide and your fall pre-emergent. |

## The season at a glance

Typical US warm-season range · shift 2–4 weeks by zone

Bands show when each practice is in play. The darker the band, the more it matters that week.

### Growth stage

- Dormant (months 0–3)
- Green-up (months 3–4.5)
- Peak growth (months 4.5–9)
- Hardening off before dormancy (months 9–10.5)
- Dormant (months 10.5–12)

### Mowing

- Scalp down at green-up, after frost risk passes (months 3–4)
- Weekly or more (months 4–10)

### Nitrogen

- Feed every 3–4 weeks once fully greened up (months 4.3–8.7)
- Potassium only — no more nitrogen this year (months 8.7–9.7)

### Pre-emergent

- Spring application 1, before soil holds 55 °F (months 1.8–3.3)
- Split application 2, six to nine weeks later (months 4.2–5.4)
- Fall application for annual bluegrass, soil falling through 70 °F (months 8.4–9.8)

### Fungicide

- Spring dead spot follow-up on bermuda (months 2.6–3.6)
- Preventative large patch and spring dead spot, soil falling to 70 °F (months 8.5–10.2)

### Irrigation

- 1–1.25 in/week (months 3.8–6.2)
- Peak demand — watch for heat stress (months 6.2–9)

### Renovation

- Sod, sprig, seed and aerate during active growth (months 4.4–7)

Green-up, dormancy, and every trigger above move with latitude and elevation. In the lower South the season opens 3–4 weeks earlier than in the upper transition edge, so verify with a soil thermometer before you spread anything.

- Critical window — miss it and you lose the practice for the year
- Active but forgiving — do it in this range
- Soil-temperature trigger, not a date
- Dormant — nothing to do

## 01 · Fertility — Feed in the heat, and stop before dormancy

This is the single biggest difference between warm-season and cool-season programs. Warm-season grasses do their growing when soil temperatures are high, so nitrogen goes down through the summer — exactly when a fescue lawn should be left alone. Feeding starts after full green-up, not at the first warm week, because nitrogen applied to a lawn that is still moving carbohydrates out of storage pushes leaf growth the plant can't yet support.

Budget the season in pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet, then divide it into applications of roughly 0.5–1.0 lb N per 1,000 spaced 3–4 weeks apart during active growth. The total depends on the species and on how much you are asking of the lawn:

| Species | Season total | Note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bermudagrass | 3–6 lb N/M | Highest demand of the group. The low end for a basic home lawn, the high end for low-cut, irrigated turf. |
| Zoysiagrass | 2–3 lb N/M | Overfeeding builds thatch and invites large patch. Less is genuinely more here. |
| St. Augustinegrass | 2–4 lb N/M | Watch for chinch bugs and grey leaf spot when pushing the upper range. |
| Centipedegrass | 1–2 lb N/M | The one that dies from being loved. Excess nitrogen causes centipede decline. |

Stop nitrogen roughly 4–6 weeks before your average first frost. Late nitrogen keeps the plant pushing tender growth into cold weather, which costs winter hardiness and sets up spring dead spot in bermuda. Potassium is the exception worth considering in fall — it supports hardiness without forcing top growth.

Skip the guesswork on phosphorus and potassium entirely: a soil test through your county extension office costs a few dollars and tells you whether you need them at all. Most established lawns don't.

> **Do this, not that**
> Buy nitrogen by the pound you need, not by the bag. A 50 lb bag of 46-0-0 urea carries 23 lb of actual N — enough to cover 23,000 square feet at 1 lb per 1,000. Most homeowners over-apply because they spread a whole bag on a quarter of that.

- University of Georgia Extension — Lawns in Georgia: fertilization
- NC State Extension TurfFiles — Carolina Lawns
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension — Turfgrass fertilization

## 02 · Pre-emergent — The application where being two weeks late means doing nothing

Pre-emergent herbicide forms a barrier that kills germinating seedlings. It has no effect on a weed you can already see. That makes timing the entire product — and the trigger is soil temperature, not a date on a bag.

For summer annuals, crabgrass begins germinating when soil temperature at 2 inches holds near 55 °F for several consecutive days. Get the application down and watered in before that, because the barrier needs moisture to activate. Miss it and your only remaining option is post-emergent control on weeds that are already competing with your turf.

- **Soil holds 50–55 °F** (SPRING — APPLICATION 1): Targets crabgrass, goosegrass, and the summer annual grasses. Water in with roughly half an inch to activate.
- **6–9 weeks later** (SPRING — APPLICATION 2): The split application. Most products break down before germination pressure ends, and goosegrass germinates later than crabgrass.
- **Soil falls through 70 °F** (FALL — THE FORGOTTEN ONE): Stops annual bluegrass and winter annuals before they establish. The reason some lawns are clean in February and others aren't.

One important exception: do not apply pre-emergent to an area you intend to seed, sprig, or sod. The same barrier that stops crabgrass stops your turf from rooting. If you have a renovation planned, work backward from that date and leave the window open.

Read the label for your specific product and species — St. Augustine in particular is sensitive to active ingredients that bermuda and zoysia tolerate without complaint.

- Clemson Cooperative Extension HGIC — Managing weeds in warm-season lawns
- Alabama Cooperative Extension System — Annual grass weed control
- NC State Extension TurfFiles — Preemergence herbicide timing

## 03 · Water — Deep and infrequent, measured not guessed

An established warm-season lawn in active growth needs roughly 1 to 1.25 inches of water per week from rainfall and irrigation combined, and more during extended heat. Deliver it in one or two deep soakings rather than a daily sprinkle. Shallow daily watering trains roots to stay near the surface, which is exactly what you don't want going into August.

Two checks tell you almost everything. To learn your system's output, set out a few straight-sided cans, run a zone for fifteen minutes, and measure — most people discover their zones vary by more than they expected. To know whether the lawn needs water at all, push a screwdriver into the soil: if it goes in six inches easily, wait.

Water early in the morning. Overnight leaf wetness is what disease pressure feeds on, and midday irrigation loses a meaningful fraction to evaporation before it reaches the root zone.

Warm-season grasses will go off-color and dormant under drought and recover when water returns — bermuda especially. If you choose to let a lawn go dormant, commit: half-watering a drought-stressed lawn keeps breaking dormancy without supporting growth, and does more harm than leaving it alone.

- University of Florida IFAS Extension — Watering your Florida lawn
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension — Efficient lawn irrigation

## 04 · Disease — Fungicides are preventative, so the calendar is the product

By the time you can see large patch or spring dead spot, the infection happened months earlier. Curative applications on established turf disease are largely disappointing. The two diseases that define warm-season lawns are both controlled by applying in fall, at a soil temperature trigger, for symptoms you won't see until the following spring.

- **Large patch** — trigger: Fall, soil falling through 70 °F; hosts: zoysia, St. Augustine, centipede. Circular thinning patches that appear at spring green-up from a fall infection. Apply preventatively as soil temperatures drop, and again in spring in high-pressure sites. Poorly drained low areas show it first.
- **Spring dead spot** — trigger: Fall, before dormancy; hosts: bermudagrass. Dead circles that fail to green up in spring, worst on lawns pushed with late nitrogen. Fall preventative applications and lower fall nitrogen are the main levers. Recovery is slow because the pathogen kills roots and stolons.
- **Grey leaf spot** — trigger: Hot, humid, wet weather; hosts: St. Augustine. Lesions on leaf blades during extended humid heat, worsened by excess nitrogen and frequent irrigation. Back off both before reaching for a fungicide.

Cultural practice does more than chemistry for most homeowners. Mow at the right height, irrigate in the morning, keep nitrogen off the lawn late in the year, and improve drainage in the low spots where large patch always shows up first. If you do spray, rotate modes of action and follow the label interval — resistance is a real outcome of repeat single-product programs.

- NC State Extension TurfFiles — Large patch of warm-season turf
- Oklahoma State University Extension — Spring dead spot of bermudagrass
- University of Georgia Extension — Turfgrass diseases in the landscape

## 05 · Mowing — Height of cut decides what the rest of the program can achieve

Every species has a range it tolerates, and the low end of that range demands more of everything — more frequent mowing, tighter fertility, usually a reel mower and often plant growth regulator. Pick a height you can actually maintain, then hold it.

| Species | Height of cut | Note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bermudagrass | 0.5–1.5 in | Below about 1 inch expects a reel mower, more frequent mowing, and usually PGR. |
| Zoysiagrass | 0.5–2 in | Tolerates low cut but grows slowly, so recovery from scalping takes a while. |
| St. Augustinegrass | 2.5–4 in | Coarse and stoloniferous. Cutting it short thins the stand and invites weeds. |
| Centipedegrass | 1.5–2 in | Low input by nature. Keep it simple and leave it alone. |

Follow the one-third rule: never remove more than a third of the leaf blade in a single mowing. In peak summer that means mowing more than once a week if you are maintaining a low height. Returning clippings is free nitrogen and does not cause thatch — take them off only when you have let growth get away from you.

Raise the height slightly under drought or shade stress, and keep the blade sharp. Torn leaf tips lose more water and give disease an easier entry than a clean cut.

- Clemson Cooperative Extension HGIC — Mowing lawns
- University of Georgia Extension — Mowing heights for southern turf

## 06 · Renovation — Establish in early summer, and think twice about overseeding

Warm-season turf establishes when it is growing hardest, which puts sodding, sprigging, and seeding in late spring through early summer. That gives the stand a full season to root before its first winter. Late-summer establishment is the common mistake — it leaves immature turf going into cold weather.

Aeration belongs in the same window, during active growth, so the lawn can recover and fill the holes. Compacted soil limits everything above: water infiltration, root depth, and fertilizer response. Scalping down at spring green-up to remove dormant leaf tissue speeds soil warming, but do it after the frost risk has passed — not before.

> **The honest answer on winter overseeding**
> Overseeding a dormant warm-season lawn with ryegrass gets you green in January and costs you in April. The ryegrass competes with your turf exactly when it is trying to green up, and it holds soil temperatures down at the worst moment. Golf courses do it because they have to. For a home lawn where long-term turf quality is the goal, most extension programs advise against it — and dormant bermuda is not a problem that needs solving.

- University of Georgia Extension — Lawn establishment and renovation
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension — Winter overseeding considerations

## Related

- Guide: [Cool-season calendar](/guides/cool-season-calendar) — Tall fescue, KBG, and rye. Feed in fall, protect in summer.
- Guide: [Transition zone](/guides/transition-zone) — Where both options cost you something. The honest version.
- Turf type: [Bermudagrass](/turf/bermudagrass) — Sun-hungry, aggressive, and the fastest to recover from damage.
- Turf type: [Zoysiagrass](/turf/zoysiagrass) — Dense and shade-tolerant, but slow to fill in when injured.

## Sources

- 01. NC State Extension, TurfFiles — Carolina Lawns: a maintenance calendar for lawns in North Carolina.
- 02. University of Georgia Extension — Lawns in Georgia: establishment, fertilization, and maintenance.
- 03. Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center — Warm-season lawn maintenance.
- 04. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension — Turfgrass fertilization and efficient lawn irrigation.
- 05. University of Florida IFAS Extension — Watering your Florida lawn; St. Augustinegrass for Florida lawns.
- 06. Alabama Cooperative Extension System — Annual grass weed control in home lawns.
- 07. Oklahoma State University Extension — Spring dead spot of bermudagrass.
- 08. Mississippi State University Extension — Establishing and maintaining warm-season lawns.
- 09. USDA Agricultural Research Service — Plant Hardiness Zone Map, 2023 revision.

## This calendar, for your actual yard.

A guide tells you the window. LawnDominator watches your soil temperature and tells you the week — per zone, with the rate already calculated. 14 days free, no credit card.

- [Start 14-day free trial](/signup)
- [Find my zone first](/tools/hardiness-zone)