Highlights
- Drought is back, and Tuesday’s front may bring the first real rain in weeks — PG 1
- Last call for pre-emergent, no more nitrogen, and don’t scalp the lawn — PG 2
- The Great Ryegrass Debate: three questions to ask before you seed — PG 3
- Finish the fall garden and keep the frost cloth handy — PG 4
- A wet winter is forecast, and dry clay won’t soak it up — PG 1 and PG 4
October in Review
October started with a bang and ended with a whimper. The first three days brought storms, and I told you last month that the early rain felt like a good sign. It was a tease. From the 3rd through the last full week of the month, Houston’s official rain gauge picked up about three hundredths of an inch.
That feast-or-famine pattern defines 2026. More than 60% of the rain Houston has recorded this year fell in April, May, and June, and the drought has been creeping back since mid-July. By late October, nearly the entire region was abnormally dry or in drought, and more than a quarter of it was in severe drought or worse. The driest ground is south and east of town, including most of Brazoria County and parts of Liberty and Chambers counties.
The temperatures were friendlier. Houston’s first real cold front came through on October 16 with gusty north winds and weekend mornings in the 50s, and for a couple of days it felt like fall. Then the warmth came right back, with highs in the 80s through the end of the month.
November – Action Items for Your Lawn, Landscape, and Garden
Daylight saving time ends Sunday, so set your clocks back. The forecast has scattered showers over Halloween weekend, left over from a Pacific storm. The bigger story is a strong cold front expected Tuesday, November 3, with rain chances near 80%. Highs should be near 80 ahead of it and the 70s afterward, with mornings back in the 50s. Forecasts shift, so check the latest before you plan around it.
Please don’t count on Tuesday ending the drought. One estimate suggests it would take roughly 4 to 6 inches of rain to saturate our soils. A good soaking helps, but it doesn’t erase months of deficit.
The Long View: Winter Outlook
NOAA’s winter outlook, released October 15, favors above-normal rain across Texas from December through February. The Climate Prediction Center gives an 80% chance that at least a strong El Niño lasts through early 2027, peaking this November through January. The temperature signal is much weaker, so expect damp and gray more than frozen.
For your yard, that means the drought and the wet winter are about to collide. Dry, hard clay doesn’t absorb the first big rains well, so expect more runoff early on. Keep watering trees and new plantings through the dry stretch, and make sure water has somewhere to go when it finally shows up.
Lawn
Mowing
Weekly mowing is winding down. Every 7–10 days is about right as growth tapers, and it will slow even more as the grass heads into dormancy, usually in late November or December.
- Keep it at 3–3.5 inches, and never take more than one-third of the blade at a time.
- Do not scalp the lawn “to clean it up for winter.” That low first cut is a spring trick, and doing it now stresses grass that can’t recover before dormancy.
- Sharp blades still matter. Torn tips are an open door for fungus once the wet weather returns.
Fertilization
No more nitrogen for the year. If you put down your Nitro-Phos Fall Special (brown bag) in October, you’re done. If you haven’t, the first week of November is last call, and only if you can water it in. A dry lawn heading into dormancy can’t use it, and the leftover nutrients just wash away. If that’s your situation, skip it and plan on spring.
- Do not use leftover summer fertilizer. Extra nitrogen now only creates growth the grass can’t use.
- Roses: keep up the monthly feeding until the first frost.
Herbicide
Last call for Pre-Emergent Round 2 is the first half of November. Barricade or Dimension will stop winter weed seeds, but the product has to be watered in to work. If you applied it in October and it hasn’t rained, it’s still sitting on top. Run your sprinklers, or let Tuesday’s rain do the job. Skip the weed-and-feed. And if you’re planning to seed ryegrass, read the Great Ryegrass Debate below before you spread anything.
- Clover starts showing up this time of year. Don’t spray it now. Treating while the grass is dormant works better, and I’ll have the full clover plan for you soon.
- For other weeds, mowing is often enough through winter. If you must spot treat, use Spectracide Weed Stop or Bioadvanced All in One.
Pest / Insects — What to Watch This Month
Brown Patch and Large Patch
These fungi love cool nights and wet turf. The dry weather has held them back, but when this rain pattern arrives, they can pop up fast. Look for circular patches. Water in the morning only, skip the nitrogen, and use Heritage G if it spreads.
Drought Lookalikes
Not every brown spot is a fungus. Drought stress is the likely culprit this year. But while highs stay in the 80s, chinch bugs can still be at work, especially in the sunny spots next to concrete. If a patch doesn’t green up after watering, do the coffee can test before you do anything else.
Fire Ants
Expect new mounds after Tuesday’s rain. As a reminder, here are the three approaches that have worked for me:
- Option 1: Fipronil, applied by a licensed professional. It gives about 12 months of protection and also treats fleas and ticks.
- Option 2: A DIY granule like Amdro, Extinguish Plus, or Once and Done, followed by a mound treatment with a dust or liquid.
- Option 3: “Tarrow,” a borax solution on a piece of cardboard that the workers carry down to the colony. It’s cheap and leaves no poison in the yard, so it’s my pick if you have kids or pets.
Irrigation
This is where the drought changes the usual advice. In a normal fall, I’d tell you to shut things down. This year, don’t go on autopilot in either direction.
- Dormant lawns need little. About an inch every 2–3 weeks, counting rainfall, is a good rule. If Tuesday gives you a soaking, wait.
- Water trees and shrubs deeply, once every week or two, until the drought breaks. New plantings need more.
- Reset your irrigation controller when the clocks change, and keep the morning schedule.
- Before the first freeze, check your backflow preventer and exposed pipes.
The Great Ryegrass Debate
It’s the time of year to seed ryegrass, if you’re going to. It gives you lush, green grass all winter, and I get asked about it every November. The honest answer is that it depends on what you need it to do. Ask yourself three questions first:
- Do I need a living root in the soil? If you have a slope, a bare area, or a bank that could wash out, ryegrass is a fast, cheap way to hold the soil and build structure over the winter. With a wet El Niño winter forecast, that’s a good reason.
- Do I need turf for a sport? Soccer, golf, or a yard that doubles as a ball field? Dormant Bermuda doesn’t hold up to winter wear, and ryegrass does.
- Do I just want a green lawn in January? That’s a perfectly fair reason, and it’s the one that comes with a bill. That’s why I’m not a big fan of seeding for looks alone. If that’s you, answer three more honestly before you buy seed:
- Am I willing to feed and mow weekly from December through February? A dormant lawn gets the winter off. A ryegrass lawn doesn’t.
- How much extra fertilizer am I willing to apply? Ryegrass is a heavy feeder, so the no-nitrogen advice above doesn’t apply to it. You’re signing up to feed a second lawn, and to water it in a drought.
- Am I okay with a potentially weaker summer lawn? When spring arrives, ryegrass competes with your warm-season grass for sun and nutrients, then dies back with seed heads that shoot up in days. That competition can leave you with a weaker lawn going into summer.
There are some tricks to managing ryegrass, but they’re trade secrets. You have to know a guy.
If you do go ahead:
- Bermuda is the easy candidate. Scalp it so the seed touches soil. St. Augustine is a harder sell. You can’t scalp it without hurting the runners, the thick canopy blocks the seed, and all that watering to sprout it invites brown patch.
- Pick one: ryegrass or pre-emergent. Pre-emergent stops seed from germinating, ryegrass seed included.
- Go by soil temperature, not the calendar. Texas A&M’s target is about 72°F or cooler, 4 inches down. The best window for our part of Texas is running out, so don’t wait until December.
- Keep the seedbed moist until it comes up, usually 5–10 days, and plan the spring exit now. Feed your Bermuda, not the ryegrass, when the weather warms.
Garden
The cool-season garden is in full swing. The Harris County planting chart from Texas A&M AgriLife shows the window for transplants like broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower is closing, so get those in now, and be ready to protect them. Lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes, and garlic are still in their ideal window. Our average first freeze is around the end of November at Bush Intercontinental and closer to December 20 at Hobby, so keep frost cloth handy.
- Your fall tomatoes should still be producing. When a frost is imminent, pick the green ones. Fried green tomatoes are the reward.
- Drought means watering the garden too. Mulch 2–3 inches deep, and water in the morning.
- Fall is a great time to plant trees, shrubs, and sod, but plan on watering them through the dry stretch.
- Roses benefit from a fall pruning, ideally before you refresh the mulch.
A Note on Hurricane Season
Last month I told you the National Hurricane Center was watching a Gulf disturbance. It became Hurricane Isaias, the first hurricane of the season and the latest-forming first hurricane on record. It peaked as a major hurricane and made landfall near the Florida Panhandle on October 9, while Texas stayed on the dry side. The season officially ends November 30, and our part of the Gulf is essentially done for the year.
Municipal Drainage Happenings
Drought hit unirrigated drainage turf the hardest. Detention and channel areas rely entirely on rainfall, and the dryness is worst south and east of town.
Fall fertilization and herbicide programs are wrapping up. Pre-emergents in unirrigated districts depend on rain to activate, so Tuesday’s front is good timing. Districts that elected a pre-emergent have looked noticeably cleaner through the winter, and with a wet one forecast, I expect heavier weeds where nothing went down. Mowing cycles typically step down as growth slows, and the drought has already slowed it.
Dry weather is a gift for inspections. You can reach channel bottoms, outfalls, and pond edges that are usually muddy or underwater. Use the window. It’s the same story as May: months of buildup, then the big flush. Clear trash and debris from outfalls before the first heavy rain, and keep aquatic vegetation control on schedule.
Gentle rains (please) and green grass,
Hunter Soape