DENVER — The first freeze of the season may be coming to Denver this weekend, but if you haven't winterized or blown out your sprinkler system yet, the lawn care experts say don't panic.
It could hit 32 degrees on Friday morning, but the better chance will come on Saturday morning. The forecast is for middle 30s on Friday and a couple hours in the low 30s on Saturday.
“In all the years I’ve been doing this, it has to stay 19, 20, 21 degrees for several hours for it to be an issue,” said Tony Hahn with Denver Commercial Property Services. He's been doing lawn care in Colorado for 40 years.
There are no concerning temperatures of that nature in the extended forecast, which currently runs through Oct. 26, and that type of cold usually doesn’t come until at least mid-November.
Hahn said it's a good idea to cover the part of the sprinkler system that sticks out of the ground called a backflow preventer. Hahn said you can buy covers made specifically for them, but a dark blanket or towel should keep the pipe from freezing.
It may actually be beneficial to keep the water flowing for a few more weeks.
“If you let your lawn go into the winter dry, then you’re just compounding problems,” Hahn said.
He said a lawn’s root growth is critical in October. If your turf is too dry in the fall, you could pay the price with bald patches in the spring.
And he said if you already shut sprinklers down, no problem – just be sure to manually water once a week until your lawn goes into full dormancy.
“I usually say try to get things shut off by Nov. 1, maybe the first or second week of November,” he said.
If you need professional help blowing out your sprinkler system, Hahn said you should make an appointment now for November because bookings are going fast. His company DCPS only handles large commercial properties.
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