Houston lawns never fully hibernate — they idle. The two dates that matter most: get pre-emergent down by mid-February, when soil temperatures hit 55°F here, and start watching for large patch fungus in October when night temperatures drop below 70°F. Everything in between is rhythm.
January – February: the setup months
The lawn is mostly dormant and mostly brown — that is normal. Use the downtime to clean up beds, sharpen mower blades, and service irrigation. The one hard deadline: pre-emergent herbicide by mid-February. Houston soil hits 55°F weeks before most lawn-care advice written for the rest of the country assumes, and once crabgrass germinates, pre-emergent does nothing. Do not fertilize yet; feeding dormant grass feeds winter weeds instead.
March: first mows
Green-up starts. Begin mowing when the lawn needs it, and resist the urge to scalp — one low mow to clear dead blades is fine for Bermuda, but St. Augustine should never be cut short. Refresh mulch in beds to 2–3 inches before the heat arrives.
April: first feeding
Fertilize after you have mowed actively growing grass two or three times — in Houston that is usually early-to-mid April. Watch spring St. Augustine for take-all root rot: yellowing patches where grass pulls up easily with rotted, blackened roots.
May: settle into the rhythm
Weekly mowing from here through September. Raise the cut height going into the heat — taller grass shades its own roots and needs noticeably less water.
June – August: survive the heat
Hurricane season opens June 1 — walk the property once and confirm drains and gutters are clear before the first named storm, not after. Water deeply and infrequently: about an inch a week including rain, ideally before sunrise. From July, patrol the hot dry edges along concrete for chinch bugs — expanding straw-colored patches that do not respond to watering are the tell. Skip heavy fertilizing during triple-digit stretches; stressed grass cannot use it.
September: armyworm watch
Fall armyworms arrive most years in late August or September, and a bad outbreak can strip a lawn in days. If you see moths kicking up when you mow, or brown patches with chewed blades and green stems, treat immediately. Early September is also the time for the year's second feeding.
October: fungus season
When night temperatures drop below 70°F and the lawn stays damp, large patch season begins for St. Augustine and Zoysia — rings of orange-brown turf, often in the damper parts of the yard. Cut back watering frequency, water only in the early morning, and put down fall pre-emergent for winter weeds by mid-October.
November – December: coast down
Mowing slows to leaf management. Keep leaves from matting on the turf — mulch-mow them if the layer is thin. Before the first hard freeze: disconnect hoses, insulate backflow preventers and exposed valves, and leave the grass a touch taller going into dormancy. Prune crape myrtles lightly if at all — topping them into stubs (the local ritual sometimes called crape murder) ruins their structure and is never required for bloom.