Soilclock

Louisiana 74°F soil temperature

Updated Nov 4, 2026, 7:41 AM EST

The middle reading of 5 Louisiana cities, 2 inches down, on Nov 3. Pick a city for its forecast and lawn calendar.

Louisiana cities today

Estimated daily average soil temperature at 2 inches, the difference from normal for the date, and the change over the last week. Louisiana spans warm-season grass country.

City2 in4 invs normal7 daysCrabgrass windowFall seeding ends
New Orleans 74°74° +5°+3° early Feb – Feb 15 –
Baton Rouge 74°74° +10°+6° early Feb – Feb 15 –
Shreveport 70°71° +8°+4° Feb 4 – Feb 26 –
Lafayette 73°74° +9°+6° early Feb – Feb 15 –
Lake Charles 75°75° +10°+6° early Feb – Feb 15 –

When to apply pre-emergent in Louisiana

Crabgrass pre-emergent goes down when 2-inch soil holds about 50°F. Across Louisiana that has typically happened first in New Orleans, around Feb 1, and last in Shreveport, around Feb 4. The window closes when soil holds 55°F and crabgrass starts sprouting.

What grows in Louisiana lawns

Crabgrass is the weed spring pre-emergents are timed for. Lawns here are mostly warm-season grasses such as bermuda.

Large crabgrass with its spreading finger-like seed heads
Large crabgrass in seed. Each plant can drop thousands of seeds that wait for warm spring soil.
Close view of a Kentucky bluegrass lawn
Kentucky bluegrass, the most common cool-season lawn grass in the northern US.
A low mat of bermudagrass with fine blades and seed heads
Bermudagrass, the warm-season grass behind most lawns from the Carolinas to Texas.

Other states