Every spring we get calls from customers convinced their lawn died over the winter. The vast majority of the time, it’s just slow to wake up — but there is a real difference between normal dormancy and actual winter kill, and it’s worth knowing how to tell them apart before you spend money on a resod you don’t need.
The Tug Test
This is the fastest way to check:
- Grab a small clump of the brown grass, including some of the crown near the soil.
- Give it a firm, steady tug.
- If it resists and stays rooted, the plant is alive — it’s just dormant and slow to green up. Be patient.
- If it pulls up easily with no root resistance, and the crown/roots look dry, brittle, or rotted rather than white and firm, that section is likely dead.
Check a few spots across the lawn, not just one — winter kill (when it happens) is often patchy rather than uniform, while normal dormancy affects the whole lawn evenly.
Spring Green-Up Timeline by Grass Type
Not all grass types green up at the same pace, and this trips people up constantly — especially when Bermuda next door is bright green while their Zoysia still looks brown.
| Grass Type | Typical Green-Up Speed |
|---|---|
| Bermuda (Celebration, Tifway 419, TifTuf) | Fastest — usually first to show color as soil warms in March–April |
| St. Augustine (Raleigh, Palmetto, Amerishade) | Moderate — greens up a few weeks after Bermuda |
| Zoysia (Palisades, Emerald, Zeon) | Slowest of all three — often still brown when Bermuda and St. Augustine are fully green |
If you have Zoysia and it’s still brown in early-to-mid March while your neighbor’s Bermuda is green, that is completely normal — Zoysia is famous for being the last one to wake up. Don’t panic and don’t fertilize early to try to “push” it; that wastes fertilizer on grass that isn’t ready to use it yet.
What Can Cause Actual Winter Kill
Real winter kill is less common than dormancy, but it does happen, usually from:
- A hard freeze below the grass’s cold tolerance threshold, especially without adequate soil moisture beforehand.
- Extended freezing rather than a brief overnight dip.
- Newly installed sod that didn’t have time to fully root before winter — established lawns handle cold much better than sod installed the previous fall.
Palisades and Zeon Zoysia have the best cold tolerance of the varieties we carry, and both held up through the 2021 Texas freeze — if those varieties look fully dead this spring, it’s worth a closer look, since they’re normally resilient.
What to Do
If the tug test says alive: Just wait. Resist the urge to fertilize early — feeding dormant or barely-waking grass wastes product and can even stress it. Wait until you see active green growth and have mowed at least once or twice before starting your fertilizing schedule.
If the tug test says dead: Patch or resod the affected areas once you’re past the last frost date. There’s no fixing dead grass — the crown is gone and it won’t recover.
Just Call Us
If you’re genuinely unsure after the tug test, call us at (281) 259-6375 and describe what you’re seeing — including which grass type, since the answer really does depend on that. If sections are confirmed dead, get a free quote for a spring resod.