Sprinkler Shut Downs
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November 1st
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Cary's Corner - Football, Turkey, and Sprinkler Blowouts.
It Must Be November!
November might just be one of the best months of the year. The days are still comfortably warm. The nights are cool — but not yet the kind of cold that makes you question your life choices at 6 a.m. Hunters are out chasing that 12-point buck they’ve been dreaming about since spring. Leaves are showing off their fall colors.
And then there are the two best things about November:
Number one — Thanksgiving.
Hands down, the best holiday. You get all the food, a manageable dose of relatives, and no pressure to buy anybody anything. Just eat, nap, and watch football.
Number two — football itself.
By November, the season’s in full swing and my Chiefs are (hopefully) charging toward another playoff berth. If you’ve ever been to Arrowhead, you know the atmosphere is electric. When Mahomes does some Mahomes thing, the whole place shakes.
But what really makes Arrowhead special is the tailgating. The grills, the crowd, the smell of barbecue in the air — it’s heaven on earth… until the game ends and 80,000 fans all try to leave at once.
There’s always that first group of folks who think they’ll beat the traffic — only to discover 5,000 other people had the same idea. Then there’s the second group: 70,000 angry drivers sitting bumper-to-bumper, inventing new curse words and testing the limits of their patience.
And then there’s the final group — the smart ones.
The ones who don’t rush. They head back to the car, grab some leftover tailgate food, toss a football, maybe stream the late game on their phones. By the time they pack up, the parking lot is empty. No stress. No chaos. Just a smooth, peaceful drive home.
That’s the group I learned to be in.
And that’s exactly how sprinkler shut-down season works at ClassicLawns.
Why the Rush?
Every year, the first hint of frost hits the forecast and the phones light up like a Christmas tree. Everyone wants to be first. Everyone’s sure their sprinkler system is seconds away from becoming an ice sculpture.
But here’s the truth:
There’s no need to panic.
Ground temps in early November are still warm — usually in the 50s. A few chilly nights won’t freeze your lines or backflow. It takes several days of sustained hard freezes before anything underground even begins to freeze. One or two nights in the 20s won’t do it.
We’ve been winterizing sprinkler systems for quite awhile here in Springfield, and not one customer system has frozen before we got there. Not one.
Why You Don’t Want to Shut Down Too Early
If you’ve had seeding done this fall, your new grass still needs consistent watering.
And let’s be honest — November in Springfield can be dry. The last thing you want is to be dragging hoses across the yard in 45-degree weather trying to keep your seed alive.
Leaving your system on for a few extra weeks gives that new grass a solid start heading into winter. Once it’s established, then we’ll shut things down properly — at the right time, when the weather says it’s truly ready.
The ClassicLawns Approach
We start sprinkler shut-downs on November 1st and continue through December. That schedule lets us get everyone winterized efficiently and at the ideal time — not too soon, not too late.
So take a page from the patient tailgaters at Arrowhead:
Grab a brat, crack a cold one, and let the pros handle the timing.
Fez Q. Grass says it best:
“Chill out, folks — your sprinklers aren’t going anywhere!” 😎
We’ll get to everyone — we always do.
And if you’re not on our list yet, that’s the only reason to worry. 😉
