What is Happening to Your Lawn Under the Snow?

When Michigan’s first heavy snow arrives, most homeowners breathe a sigh of relief — the lawnmower can finally rest for the season. But while your grass may seem dormant under the snow, your lawn is still very much alive. At Owen Tree and Lawn Care, we believe that understanding what happens during Michigan’s long, cold winters is key to keeping your grass healthy and ready to thrive come spring.

Let’s take a closer look at how snow, ice, and salt affect your lawn and what you can do to protect your turf until the thaw in the spring.

How Snow and Ice Affect Your Lawn

Snow may look like a soft, insulating blanket and in some ways, it is. Having a consistent layer of snow can protect your grass from temperature extremes and drying winter winds. However, prolonged ice cover, uneven snowpack, and freeze-thaw cycles can create challenges that every Michigan homeowner should be aware of.

The Good: Natural Insulation

A steady layer of snow acts like a thermal blanket, shielding your lawn from windburn and extreme cold. This helps prevent your grass crowns (the growing point of each grass plant) from freezing and dying. This insulation is especially beneficial for cool-season grasses commonly found in Michigan, such as Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and fine fescue.

The Bad: Ice and Compaction

When snow repeatedly melts and refreezes, a common occurrence in Michigan’s unpredictable winters, it can create dense layers of ice that suffocate your lawn. Ice blocks the exchange of air and moisture, leading to oxygen deprivation in the soil and damage to the grass crowns. Additionally, walking or shoveling over frozen lawns can damage grass crowns and compact the soil, further stressing the grass plants and roots.

The Ugly: Delayed Spring Green-Up

Lawns that endure prolonged ice cover or compaction often experience delayed green-up in the spring. Patches may remain brown or thin while the rest of the lawn recovers, signaling that parts of the turf may not have survived the winter conditions.

What You Can Do:

• Avoid walking on your lawn when it’s frozen or snow-covered.
• Gently break up thick ice layers if they persist for more than a couple of weeks.
• Keep snow piles distributed evenly to prevent overly compacted areas.

Should You Worry About Salt Damage on Your Michigan Lawn?

Lawn areas near sidewalks, driveways, or streets may experience salt damage. The de-icing salts commonly used on Michigan roads (sodium chloride or rock salt) can leach into nearby soil, drying out roots and altering the soil’s chemistry.

How Salt Damages Grass

Salt draws moisture away from plant roots, leading to dehydration and “burn”. You might notice this as straw-colored patches of grass near road edges or walkways once the snow melts. Over time, salt accumulation in the soil can also disrupt the natural balance of nutrients, making it harder for grass to absorb what it needs to recover.

Signs of Salt Damage

• Brown, dead-looking streaks near sidewalks or driveways
• Thinning turf in roadside strips
• White, crusty residue left behind after snowmelt

How to Prevent It

• Use calcium chloride or magnesium chloride de-icers instead of rock salt — they’re less harmful to turf and plants.
• Create a buffer zone along sidewalks with mulch, gravel, or salt-tolerant plants.
• In spring, flush the soil by watering affected areas heavily to help dilute and wash away excess salt.
• Schedule a fertilizer treatment with Owen Tree and Lawn Care to rebalance nutrients and repair salt-affected turf.

Salt damage can be subtle at first but addressing it early ensures your lawn bounces back quickly once temperatures rise.

How to Protect Grass from Snow Mold Over the Winter

Snow mold is a common winter disease that appears as matted, gray, brown or pink patches on your lawn once the snow melts. It grows when snow sits on unfrozen ground for extended periods, creating a damp, insulated environment where the fungi flourish.

Types of Snow Mold in Michigan

• Gray Snow Mold (Typhula incarnata): Appears as light gray or white circular patches, usually non-lethal.
• Pink Snow Mold (Microdochium nivale): More damaging, with pinkish edges and potential to kill grass crowns.

Prevention Tips

• Mow Low Before the Last Snow: Keep your grass around 2 to 2.5 inches before winter. Long grass traps moisture, which promotes mold growth.
• Avoid Excessive Nitrogen in Late Fall: High-nitrogen fertilizer in late fall encourages lush top growth that’s prone to disease. Use a balanced winterizer instead.
• Improve Airflow: Rake and remove leaves, sticks, and other debris before the snow sets in.
• Apply a fungicide in late fall – usually late November.
• Aerate in Fall: Loosening the soil improves drainage and prevents the standing moisture that snow mold loves.

If snow mold does appear in spring, lightly rake affected areas to improve air circulation and allow the grass to recover. In most cases, lawns will self-heal with proper spring fertilization and sunlight. A fungicide application in the spring will not help the lawn recover from snow mold.

The Benefits of a Final Fertilizer Application Before the Ground Freezes

Many homeowners stop lawn care once the leaves are raked, but that’s a big, missed opportunity. A late-season fertilizer application, often called a winterizer, is one of the most important treatments for Michigan lawns.

Why It Matters

During late fall, grass plants shift their energy from leaf growth to root development. A winterizer fertilizer provides essential nutrients, primarily nitrogen and potassium, that strengthen roots and improve carbohydrate storage. This ensures your lawn stays healthier underground all winter long.

Benefits Include:

• Faster green-up in the spring
• Stronger, deeper root systems
• Increased resistance to winter diseases and cold damage
• Improved nutrient storage for early spring growth

Timing Is Key

In Michigan, the best time to apply a winterizer is typically between late October and late November. At Owen Tree and Lawn Care, we use professional-grade fertilizers tailored to Michigan’s cool-season grasses, ensuring long-lasting benefits through winter and early spring.

What Happens to Your Lawn Under the Snow?

It might look like your lawn is “asleep,” but there’s more going on than meets the eye. Underneath that snow blanket, your grass enters dormancy, a natural survival phase where growth stops above ground, but the roots remain active (as long as soil temperatures stay above freezing).

During lawn dormancy:

• Grass conserves energy and nutrients stored in its roots.
• Microbial activity slows, but beneficial organisms remain alive in the soil.
• Root systems continue limited growth, repairing damage and strengthening for spring.

This quiet period is essential to your lawn’s long-term health. By ensuring your turf goes into winter well-fed, aerated, and free of disease, you set the stage for a lush and healthy lawn once Michigan’s snow finally melts.

Final Thoughts: Helping Your Michigan Lawn Thrive Year-Round

Michigan’s winters can be harsh, but your lawn doesn’t have to suffer. With the right late-fall preparation, including proper fertilization, snow mold prevention, and salt management, you can protect your turf through even the coldest months.

At Owen Tree and Lawn Care, we take pride in helping Michigan homeowners achieve lawns that look great in every season. From fall fertilization to spring recovery treatments, our experts understand the local climate and soil conditions that make Michigan lawns unique.

Contact us today at 800-724-6680 so we can set up a lawn care program to help your lawn stay healthy over the winter and ready to grow in the spring.