February in the Southwest is deceptive. Daytime temps feel pleasant — maybe even perfect — but your lawn is at a critical crossroads. If you overseeded with winter ryegrass last fall, it’s about to start competing with your permanent warm-season turf. If you didn’t overseed, your Bermuda is still dormant and vulnerable. Either way, what you do in the next few weeks determines whether you’ll have a lush yard or a patchy mess come April.
Here’s your late-winter game plan for Southwest lawns.
Understand Where Your Lawn Is Right Now
In most of the Southwest — Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, Albuquerque — soil temperatures in late February hover between 50–60°F. That’s still too cool for Bermuda to actively grow, but warm enough that it’s starting to wake up underground. Root activity picks up before you see any green blades.
If you overseeded with perennial ryegrass, it’s thriving right now. That’s fine — it’s doing its job. But in about four to six weeks, you’ll need to start transitioning it out so your Bermuda can reclaim the lawn.
If you skipped overseeding, your yard is probably brown and dormant. That’s normal. Don’t panic, and don’t try to force green-up with heavy fertilizer. You’ll just feed the weeds.
Start Reducing Ryegrass Now
If you have a rye overseed, late February is when you begin the transition — not by killing it, but by gradually weakening it.
Lower your mowing height. Drop your mower down to about 1 inch. This stresses the ryegrass (which prefers 2–3 inches) while giving Bermuda more sunlight access as it starts to emerge.
Cut back watering slightly. Ryegrass needs consistent moisture; Bermuda is far more drought-tolerant. By easing up on irrigation — maybe reducing from daily to every other day — you tip the balance toward Bermuda.
Hold off on nitrogen. Any fertilizer you apply now feeds the rye more than the Bermuda. Wait until soil temps consistently hit 65°F (usually mid-March in lower desert areas) before your first spring feeding.
The goal isn’t to kill the rye overnight. It’s a gradual handoff. By late March or early April, rising temperatures will do most of the work for you.
Dial In Your Irrigation
Water management is everything in the Southwest, and February is the time to audit your system before you actually need it.
Run each zone manually. Walk your yard while sprinklers are running. Look for clogged heads, misaligned spray patterns, and dry spots. Replace any broken heads now — they’re cheap and easy to swap.
Check your timer schedule. If you’re still on a winter schedule (2–3 days per week), that’s fine for now. But have your spring schedule ready to go. Most Bermuda lawns in the Southwest need deep watering 3–4 times per week once temperatures climb above 90°F.
Water early. If you’re watering after 9 AM, you’re losing a significant percentage to evaporation. Set your timer for 4–6 AM. Your lawn gets the moisture, and you stay within most municipal water restrictions.
For a deeper dive on smart irrigation strategies, we’ve covered region-specific approaches that apply directly here.
Handle Weeds Before They Handle You
Late winter is prime time for pre-emergent herbicide in the Southwest. Soil temps are approaching the threshold where summer annual weeds — crabgrass, spurge, and puncturevine — start germinating.
Apply pre-emergent when soil temperatures hit 55°F at a 4-inch depth for three consecutive days. In Phoenix and Tucson, this often happens in late February or early March. In higher-elevation areas like Albuquerque or Flagstaff, you may have until mid-March.
Use a product with prodiamine or pendimethalin as the active ingredient. Apply evenly with a broadcast spreader and water it in with about half an inch of irrigation.
One important caveat: If you’re planning to overseed Bermuda or plant new sod this spring, skip the pre-emergent in those areas. It prevents all seed germination, not just weeds.
Prep Dormant Bermuda for Green-Up
If your Bermuda is still fully dormant (no overseed), here’s what to focus on:
Scalp the lawn in early March. Once you see the first hints of green — tiny shoots at the base of the brown turf — it’s time to scalp. Mow as low as your mower allows (usually around 0.5–1 inch) and bag the clippings. This removes the dead thatch layer and lets sunlight warm the soil directly, which accelerates green-up.
Dethatch if needed. If you have more than half an inch of thatch buildup, rent a power dethatcher or use a dethatching blade attachment. Heavy thatch blocks water, air, and sunlight from reaching the soil.
Apply a light fertilizer once green-up is underway. A balanced slow-release fertilizer (like a 16-6-8) works well for the first spring application. Don’t go heavy — Bermuda is aggressive and doesn’t need much encouragement once it’s actively growing.
Don’t Forget the Edges
February is a great time to clean up borders, edging, and hardscape boundaries. Bermuda is notoriously invasive — it’ll creep into flower beds, sidewalk cracks, and your neighbor’s yard if you let it.
Use a half-moon edger or power edger to redefine bed lines. Lay down fresh mulch in landscape beds to suppress Bermuda runners. A physical root barrier (even a simple plastic edging buried 4–6 inches deep) goes a long way.
Your February–March Southwest Lawn Checklist
- ✅ Inspect and test irrigation system
- ✅ Lower mowing height on ryegrass overseed
- ✅ Monitor soil temperature for pre-emergent timing
- ✅ Apply pre-emergent at 55°F soil temp
- ✅ Reduce irrigation frequency slightly
- ✅ Plan scalping date for dormant Bermuda (early March)
- ✅ Edge borders and refresh mulch
- ✅ Hold nitrogen until soil hits 65°F
The Bottom Line
Southwest lawns reward early planning more than almost any other region. The window between “too cold to do anything” and “too hot to recover from mistakes” is narrow — really just February through mid-April. Use this time wisely, and you’ll cruise through the summer with a lawn that handles 110°F days without flinching.
If you’re managing a Bermuda lawn in Arizona, Nevada, or New Mexico, our Lush Lawns: Southwest Edition covers month-by-month care calendars, watering schedules, and region-specific weed management in detail. It’s the playbook for keeping your yard green when everything else is turning brown.
For more on how to handle the summer heat in the Southwest, we’ve got you covered there too.